CFP: Style and Re-vision in Tolkien (9/15/06; Kalamazoo, 5/10/07-5/13/07)
Style and Re-vision in Tolkien
While Edmund Wilson lampooned Tolkien's style, even more sympathetic critics
such as Burton Raffel have argued that Tolkien's style is not sufficiently
literary ,while some dismiss his writing as artless. More recently, Tom
Shippey has argued that the hybrid styles of The Lord of the Rings are
purposefully chosen for aesthetic effects. With the publication of the
History of Middle-earth, we can study the development of Tolkien's style and
analyze his writing process, both of which changed dramatically over time
and among literary works.