Tolkien's Sense of Time in LOTR

[Deimos]

I don't know if this is the right forum for this but I'm going to make the post, and the Mods , if need be, can move it.

I came across an article by Kevin Aldrich (of whom I know nothing) titled "The Sense of Time in JRR Tolkien's Lord of the Rings".
It was published in the journal Mythlore Vol. 15, Number 1, Issue 55 Autumn (1988).
Mythlore is "A scholarly, peer-reviewed journal devoted to the study of mythopoeic literature", published by the Mythopoeic Society.

I've posted the link to the page where there is a PDF of the article... (scroll down a bit to find it).
Mythlore article of JRTT's Sense of Time

I was able to download it.
Very much a scholarly article, and quite a fascinating read.

 

[Olorgando]

Immediately made me think of Verlyn Flieger's 1997 book "A Question of Time". It's been a couple of years since I last read it, but IIRC Flieger casts her net more widely as to sources JRRT absorbed and used for his treatment of the topic. Also, unsurprisingly with 250-odd pages to do it, goes into more detail about specific scenes in LoTR dealing with the question of (perceived) time.

 

[Deimos]

Immediately made me think of Verlyn Flieger's 1997 book "A Question of Time". It's been a couple of years since I last read it, but IIRC Flieger casts her net more widely as to sources JRRT absorbed and used for his treatment of the topic. Also, unsurprisingly with 250-odd pages to do it, goes into more detail about specific scenes in LoTR dealing with the question of (perceived) time.

Thanks for the reference to the Flieger book.
Apparently the book was an expansion of an essay she wrote in 1990.
Found the essay in the spring 1990 issue of Mythlore.
Essay: A Question of Time

 

[Olorgando]

Thanks for the reference to the Flieger book.
Apparently the book was an expansion of an essay she wrote in 1990.

As was Tom Shippey's 1982 first edition of his seminal "The Road to Middle-earth". Apparently in origin the script to a lecture Shippey had given at the University of Birmingham around 1969-70. Which script came to the attention of JRRT trough his then secretary Joy Hill. which led to a face-to-face meeting of (the then young) Shippey with JRRT personally - something few if any later (partial - including Flieger) biographers can claim to have had.

 

[Deimos]

As was Tom Shippey's 1982 first edition of his seminal "The Road to Middle-earth". Apparently in origin the script to a lecture Shippey had given at the University of Birmingham around 1969-70. Which script came to the attention of JRRT trough his then secretary Joy Hill. which led to a face-to-face meeting of (the then young) Shippey with JRRT personally - something few if any later (partial - including Flieger) biographers can claim to have had.

Wow. Very cool backstory on Shippey's book.
Best part for Shippey (as I'm certain he would agree) is discussion with Tolkien himself. 🙂

 

[Olorgando]

Wow. Very cool backstory on Shippey's book.
Best part for Shippey (as I'm certain he would agree) is discussion with Tolkien himself. 🙂

Shippey and JRRT had quite a bit of biographical overlap.
Both went to King Edward's School in Birmingham, roughly half a century apart. While Shippey studied at Cambridge, he became a Fellow of St John's College, Oxford, early on after his PhD in 1970, which led to his personal contact with JRRT, IIRC. In 1979, he was elected to the chair at Leeds University that had been created for JRRT in 1924. Shippey also taught Old and Middle English at the university level, as JRRT had ...

 

[Ent]

Thank you @Olorgando and @Deimos for pointing Ent in the directions contained herein, even if unknowingly.
Very valuable contributions.