Course Description--Through a Ring, Darkly
This course will look at Tolkien's weaving of myths into a vision of a cosmic structure that is at once fantastic and profoundly philosophical. Be prepared for many nights reading by the fire! We will read the complete texts of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, an academic essay written by Tolkien ("On Fairy-Stories"), a short story ("Leaf, by Niggle"), and a smattering of his letters. To further contextualize these, we will also read brief excerpts from the Voluspa, the Volsunga Saga, and the Silmarillion.
Works by J.R.R. Tolkien
Novels authored by J. R. R. Tolkien may be found in the General Stacks at PR6039.032.
Possible Catalog Searches
Here are some example searches on your class topic in the library catalog. To conduct your own searches, go to the library homepage.
Recommended Books & eBooks
Click on this link to search for books and articles on your topic. Type keywords relating to your topic in the box under "Search Everything."
Check out these books in print and/or online for further reading on your topic.
A Companion to J. R. R. Tolkien by Call Number: eBookISBN: 9781118517482Publication Date: 2014-04-02
Ents, Elves, and Eriador by Call Number: Transy Library General PR6039.O32 Z636 2006ISBN: 0813171598Publication Date: 2006-11-17
J. R. R. Tolkien by Call Number: PR6039.O32 Z62 2000ISBN: 9780618057023Publication Date: 2000-06-06
The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien by Call Number: PR6039.O32 Z48 2000ISBN: 9780618056996Publication Date: 2000-06-06
There Would Always Be a Fairy-Tale by Call Number: eBookISBN: 9781606353080Publication Date: 2017-12-17
Tolkien by Call Number: PR6039.O32 Z788 1998ISBN: 9780898708257Publication Date: 2000-12-04
Gather Background Information
Use broad reference materials to find out background information about your topic - this will help you narrow your future searches and will also give you keywords that will help you find the most relevant sources. Credo can be a good place to start for that first step in research.
- Credo Reference This link opens in a new window
Credo Reference provides access to a large number of encyclopedias, dictionaries, thesauri and other reference books. Subjects covered include art, biography, history, literature, music, religion, and science and technology.
- TolkienArticles and mind map about J.R.R. Tolkien on Credo
Databases with Articles
- Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window
Multi-disciplinary full-text database, with more than 8,500 full-text periodicals, including more than 7,300 peer-reviewed journals. Includes searchable PDF content going back as far as 1887. - JSTOR This link opens in a new window
Provides articles from 1,900+ scholarly journals in the arts, humanities, and sciences and around 5,000 ebooks. Coverage dates for journals are from the very first issue of each journal (the nineteenth or early twentieth centuries for many) and continues to 2 – 5 years prior to the current year (moving wall). - L'Année Philologique This link opens in a new window
L'Année philologique covers 89 years of classical bibliography from 1924 to the present day. This database contains scholarly works relating to every aspect of Greek and Roman civilization. - Literary Reference Plus This link opens in a new window
Provides a broad spectrum of information on thousands of authors and their works across literary disciplines and time-frames—to give students, professors, and researchers a foundation of literary reference works to meet their research needs. - MLA This link opens in a new window
The MLA International Bibliography is a subject index for books, articles and websites published on modern languages, literatures, folklore, and linguistics. It is produced by the Modern Language Association (MLA), an organization dedicated to the study and teaching of language and literature.
Scholarly Articles
Below is a sampling of scholarly articles written about Tolkien's Lord of the Rings.
Library Slides & Activities
Additional Resources on Tolkien
- Duquesne UniversityProvides interviews with Tolkien and a documentary about Tolkien.
- The Official Site of the Tolkien EstateContains information about Tolkien's life, including his writing, letters, scholarship and painting. Provides audio and visual recordings of book readings and interviews by Tolkien as well as the documentary, A Film Portrait of J.R.R. Tolkien.
Citation Information
- MLA Formatting & Style Guide The Purdue OWL, Purdue U Writing Lab, 2022This resource, updated to reflect the MLA Handbook (9th ed.), offers examples for the general format of MLA research papers, in-text citations, endnotes/footnotes, and the Works Cited page.
Katrina Salley
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