The Broken Scythe:
Death and Immortality in the Works of J.R.R. Tolkien
Roberto Arduini and Claudio A. Testi (editors)
Cormarë Series No. 26
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What is the central theme of The Lord of the Rings? J.R.R. Tolkien's
answer to this apparently simple question may surprise some readers:
"I do not think that even Power or Domination is the real centre of
my story [...] The real theme for me is about something much more
permanent and difficult: Death and Immortality" (Letters no. 186).
Despite this very clear statement, only a small number of published
studies have focused on these two themes. This collection of essays by
Italian scholars aims at filling this lacuna in the critical scholarship. The
nine papers, introduced by Verlyn Flieger's preface, are the result of a
two-year interdisciplinary project that concentrated on death and immortality
and provide a fascinating, multi-facetted exploration of these
fundamental aspects of Tolkien's work.
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List of Abbreviations
Preface
Verlyn Flieger
Introduction
Roberto Arduini & Claudio A. Testi
A Eulogy of Finitude:
Anthropology, Eschatology and Philosophy of History in Tolkien
Franco Manni
Tolkien's Legendarium as a meditatio mortis
Claudio A. Testi
Tolkien, Death and Time: the Fairy Story within the Picture
Roberto Arduini
On the Edge of the Perilous Realm
Lorenzo Gammarelli
The Wrong Path of the Sub-creator:
from the Fall to the Machine and the Escape from Mortality
Alberto Ladavas
"In the Mounds of Mundburg":
Death, War and Memory in Middle-earth
Simone Bonechi
Death, Immortality and their Escapes:
Memory and Longevity
Andrea Monda
Logic and Theology in Tolkien's Thanatology
Claudio A. Testi
A Misplaced Envy:
Analogies and Differences between Elves and Men on the Idea of Pain
Giampaolo Canzonieri
Bibliography
Index
Two book reviews in Mythlore (12th May 2013)
Book reviews in Inklings-Jahrbuch (12th April 2013)
New publication – The Broken Scythe: Death and Immortality in the Works of J.R.R. Tolkien (9th June 2012)
Upcoming publications (30th January 2012)
256 pages, Walking Tree Publishers 2012, Cormarë Series No. 26, ISBN: 978-3-905703-26-9.
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