October 2023 Newsletter

 

October 2023:

Updates from the Smial of the Withywindle




Ok, so this month's newsletter is a little late, I was tied up at World Fantasy Convention late in the month, and since then I've been catching up on things.  You'd think a retired person would be caught up all the time, but here we are. - Bob Clark, Chief Newsletter Hobbit

Announcements: Online meeting in November, back to The Silmarillion, Hobbit Party, MiddleMoot report...

As we mentioned last month, we're going to try doing some meetings on Discord, for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that some of our members are remote, and this gives them an opportunity to join in.  More details below.

At our October meeting, we discussed Mary Shelly's Frankenstein.  We're going back to be reading from The Silmarillion for our November meeting.

I attended MiddleMoot in October, and I wrote up my report below.

We haven't had a Hobbit Party in some time, and we're hoping to hold Hobbit Christmas in December, stay tuned for details!




The Next Meeting of the Tolkien Society: Wednesday, November 22, 6:30 PM

For November, we'll continue meeting on Wednesdays, at ReRoll Tavern, and will do our best to get the Party Tree (our voice/video channel) going on Discord.  We think it may be quieter there on Wednesday nights than it's been on Fridays, and this would allow those on Discord to participate without as much background noise.

We'll be discussing Chapter XXIII, "Of Tuor and the Fall of Gondolin", in The Silmarillion.  Also, if you have access to Unfinished Tales, you can read "Of Tuor and His Coming to Gondolin".

If you're not on our Discord, please email tolkiensocietykc (at) gmail.com for an invitation.  If you're not familiar with Discord, don't worry, it's where we host our private forums, collaboration, and messaging space, you won't be signing up for a whole new social media platform or anything like that.  Discord has apps for computers, phones, and tablets.




MiddleMoot Report

I was able to attend MiddleMoot on Saturday, October 14 in Waterloo, IA.  It was a great conference, with presentations by a number of excellent Tolkien scholars.  I didn't recognize anyone in the room, but I did see some familiar faces once when the Zoom crowd appeared briefly.

The theme this year was "Tolkien and the Anthropocene".  The Anthropocene is the period of geological time we're in right now, defined as the period that's been influenced by human activity.  (if you don't know how to pronounce that word, don't worry, many scholars there didn't either!  The most widely used pronunciation is An-THROP-a-scene)  

John Neely spoke on “The Beauty Beyond the Walls: Tolkien, Lewis, and the Lie of Materialism”.

Luke Shelton (editor of The Mallorn) had the topic "Exploring the Hobbits".  He talked about how the hobbits are often seen as gateways for the reader to relate to the stories, but we don't often see character studies of them as themselves.

The next presentation was “To Remake Arda: Tikkun Olam and the Khazad” by Robert Steed (Signum and Hawkeye CC professor, and local organizer of the event).  "Tikkun Olam" is a Jewish concept has to do with the repair of the world, and he discussed the foretold repair of Middle Earth by Eru Illuvatar at the end of all things, and the possible role of the Dwarves in this.  Also, the often-unfortunate comparisons of the Dwarves and Jewish people.

Janet Brennan Croft (University of Northern IA, editor of MythLore) spoke on how Tolkien was influenced by his training in the Officers Training Corps.

Corey Olsen (Signum Tolkien professor, and national Moot organizer) spoke on the Moot theme generally, and whether the Anthropocene period is in effect in Middle Earth.

Aaron Naragon's topic was “Of The Rings of Power and the Anthropocene”.  This was an interactive discussion with the audience on the impact of the civilization shown in TV series, and the environment.

Adam Beaton spoke on “Disputed Origins, Grim Redemptions, and Bleak Futures: The Problems with Orcs”.  He talked about how Tolkien was never able to resolve questions on the origins, fate, or redemption of the Orcs.  He acknowledged that the topic of racism and the Orcs is a huge one, and didn't go into that part of the question.

I really enjoyed the Moot, and I'm looking forward to next year, when the Moot is scheduled to return to Kansas City.

    - Bob Clark, Chief Newsletter Hobbit

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