Tolkien's Influence on Fantasy
Tolkien's TheLord of the Rings is, of course, neither the earliest nor the only work offantasy that has exerted an influence on the development of the genre. Yet itis arguably one of the most important sources for many of the key texts of 20thand 21st century fantasy and is very often used as a work ofreference (author xy is “the new Tolkien”, “the Tolkien of xy” etc.). Itsenormous popularity has made it almost impossible to ignore or even to avoidcontact with its key-elements and stock-characters, such as maps, magic rings,elves, dwarves, wizards etc. They have been adapted by numerous later writersand artists and have become familiar icons of popular culture. Writing fantasyseemed, for a long time, to offer only two choices: to write in the traditionestablished by Tolkien, or against it. Recent authors, however, approach the‘tradition' with greater freedom and while acknowledging their debt to Tolkien,they no longer feel bound by the ‘authority' of the master. This developmenthas been furthered by a general trend towards the transgression of genreborders and the posthumous publication of much of the background materialrelated to the ‘sub-creation' of Middle-earth has opened up new vistas andprovided ample opportunities for independent ‘sub-creation'.
The Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena ishosting the 9th Seminar of the Deutsche Tolkien Gesellschaft (DTG)from 27-29 April 2012. The Seminar aims at exploring the various aspects ofTolkien's influence (or, alternatively, non-influence) on the development offantasy and contributions (either in German or English) not only from scholarsbut also writers/authors and other artists are welcome.
Please send a short abstract of your paper (nolonger than one page) till 30 November 2011 to ThomasFornet-Ponse: hither-shore@tolkiengesellschaft.de.