JRR Tolkien's Beowulf with Dr. Tom Shippey - Lecture 1

In January 2017, Signum University welcomed back Dr. Tom Shippey for a special, three-part series on J.R.R. Tolkien’s translation of Beowulf, originally published in 2014. As one of the world’s leading experts in both Tolkien Studies and philology, Dr. Shippey’s insights on the intersection of these topics are always much appreciated.
Tolkien’s involvement with the poem Beowulf was lifelong, yet much of his thinking has been revealed only recently, in the translation and commentary published in 2014, along with his story “Sellic Spell.” This, together with the 1982 publication of Finn and Hengest - as well as Michael Drout’s edition of the early drafts of Tolkien’s famous 1936 lecture - make it clear that Tolkien did not fully reveal his opinions on the poem in 1936, and indeed disguised them. These three seminars will go beyond the familiar statements of 1936 to try to reach Tolkien’s personal reactions to the poem, and the criticism of it.
Schedule
Session 1: The Monsters and the Critics - Thursday, January 12, 2017
Session 2: the Origins of England - Thursday, January 19, 2017, 4pm - 5:30pm EST
Session 3: The Glamour of Poesis - Thursday, January 26, 2017, 4pm - 5:30pm EST
For more information, check us out at: signumuniversity.org/