Michael Foster (Tolkien Scholar)
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Michael Foster (Tolkien Scholar)
Michael Foster (b. 1947), known as Mike Foster, is an emeritus professor of English, and a Tolkien scholar. In 1978 he pioneered the teaching of Tolkien studies at university level. Biography Michael Alan Foster was educated at Spalding High School. He obtained his first degree in Arts at Marquette University in 1968, and that year became a teacher at Spalding High School. He then took a Master's degree at Marquette. In 1971 he joined the staff of the English department of Illinois Central College in Peoria, Illinois, eventually becoming a professor there. In addition, he worked as a journalist for the Peoria Journal Star. He taught there until he retired in 2005. While at Illinois Central College he taught fantasy literature from 1974, and a special studies course focusing entirely on J. R. R. Tolkien from 1978. This represented what in the context of sceptical attitudes was "a rare success" in the early history of Tolkien research; Foster later documented his teaching appr ...
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Tolkien Scholar
The works of J. R. R. Tolkien have generated a body of research covering many aspects of his fantasy writings. These encompass ''The Lord of the Rings'' and ''The Silmarillion'', along with his legendarium that remained unpublished until after his death, and the constructed languages that he invented, especially the Elvish languages Quenya and Sindarin. Scholars from different disciplines have examined the linguistic and literary origins of Middle-earth, and have explored many aspects of his writings from Christianity to feminism and race. Biographical Biographies of Tolkien have been written by Humphrey Carpenter, with his 1977 '' J. R. R. Tolkien: A Biography'' and of Tolkien's wartime years by John Garth with his 2003 '' Tolkien and the Great War: The Threshold of Middle-earth''. Carpenter edited the 1981 ''The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien'', assisted by Christopher Tolkien. The brief period after the war when Tolkien worked for the OED is detailed in the 2006 book '' ...
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Marquette University Press
Marquette University Press is a university press affiliated with Marquette University, located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The press was established in 1916 and mostly publishes books that focus on philosophy, theology, and history. The Press was a founding member of the Association of Jesuit University Presses (AJUP). See also * List of English-language book publishing companies * List of university presses References External linksMarquette University Press Press Press may refer to: Media * Print media or news media, commonly called "the press" * Printing press, commonly called "the press" * Press (newspaper), a list of newspapers * Press TV, an Iranian television network People * Press (surname), a fam ... Association of Jesuit University Presses University presses of the United States 1916 establishments in Wisconsin Publishing companies established in 1916 {{US-publish-company-stub ...
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Christianity Today
''Christianity Today'' is an evangelical Christian media magazine founded in 1956 by Billy Graham. It is published by Christianity Today International based in Carol Stream, Illinois. ''The Washington Post'' calls ''Christianity Today'' "evangelicalism's flagship magazine". ''The New York Times'' describes it as a "mainstream evangelical magazine". On August 4, 2022, Russell D. Moore—notable for denouncing and leaving the leadership of the Southern Baptist Convention—was named the incoming Christianity Today Editor-in-Chief. ''Christianity Today'' has a print circulation of approximately 130,000, of which approximately 36,000 is free, and readership of 260,000, as well as a website at ChristianityToday.com. The founder, Billy Graham, stated that he wanted to "plant the evangelical flag in the middle of the road, taking the conservative theological position but a definite liberal approach to social problems". Other active publications currently active within Christianity Tod ...
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Mythopoeic Society
The Mythopoeic Society (MythSoc) is a non-profit organization devoted to the study of mythopoeic literature, particularly the works of J. R. R. Tolkien, Charles Williams, and C. S. Lewis, all members of The Inklings, an informal group of writers who met weekly in C. S. Lewis' rooms at Magdalen College, Oxford, from the early 1930s through late 1949. History The Mythopoeic Society was founded in 1967 by Glen H. GoodKnight. Originally composed of discussion groups based in the Los Angeles area, it expanded to include organized branches across North America; in 1972 it assimilated the Tolkien Society of America. Membership is open to those who read, study, or write in the genres of myth and fantasy. Publications Three periodical publications are produced by the society: * ''Mythprint'' is a quarterly newsletter with notices of Society activity, book reviews and articles; Mythopoeic Society membership includes electronic Mythprint (PDF), also available in print format by sub ...
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The Tolkien Society
The Tolkien Society is an educational charity and literary society devoted to the study and promotion of the life and works of the author and academic J. R. R. Tolkien. It began informally in 1969, and held its inaugural meeting in 1970. It holds five annual events, namely a Birthday Toast, a Tolkien Reading Day, an AGM and Springmoot, a Seminar, and the Oxonmoot conference-cum-convention. The society publishes a bulletin named ''Amon Hen'', and a peer-reviewed journal, ''Mallorn''. It has local groups called "smials", one of which, the Cambridge Tolkien Society, publishes the open access journal ''Anor''. History In the November 1969 issue of ''The Middle Earthworm'', a letters of comment fanzine mainly aimed at British members of the Tolkien Society of America, Vera Chapman announced "if not quite the birth, at least the hopeful conception of a Tolkien Society of Britain". This was supplemented by a personal column by Chapman in the ''New Statesman'' published on 7 Nove ...
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Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large national audience. Daily broadsheet editions are printed for D.C., Maryland, and Virginia. The ''Post'' was founded in 1877. In its early years, it went through several owners and struggled both financially and editorially. Financier Eugene Meyer purchased it out of bankruptcy in 1933 and revived its health and reputation, work continued by his successors Katharine and Phil Graham (Meyer's daughter and son-in-law), who bought out several rival publications. The ''Post'' 1971 printing of the Pentagon Papers helped spur opposition to the Vietnam War. Subsequently, in the best-known episode in the newspaper's history, reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein led the American press's investigation into what became known as the Watergate scandal, ...
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Chicago Tribune
The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television are named), it remains the most-read daily newspaper in the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region. It had the sixth-highest circulation for American newspapers in 2017. In the 1850s, under Joseph Medill, the ''Chicago Tribune'' became closely associated with the Illinois politician Abraham Lincoln, and the Republican Party's progressive wing. In the 20th century under Medill's grandson, Robert R. McCormick, it achieved a reputation as a crusading paper with a decidedly more American-conservative anti-New Deal outlook, and its writing reached other markets through family and corporate relationships at the ''New York Daily News'' and the ''Washington Times-Herald.'' The 1960s saw its corporate parent owner, Tribune Company, rea ...
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Mythlore
''Mythlore'' is a biannual (originally quarterly) peer-reviewed academic journal founded by Glen GoodKnight and published by the Mythopoeic Society. Although it publishes articles that explore the genres of myth and fantasy in general, special attention is given to the three most prominent members of the Inklings: J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, and Charles Williams. The current editor-in-chief is the Tolkien scholar Janet Brennan Croft. The Tolkien Society describes ''Mythlore'' as a "refereed scholarly journal". History ''Mythlore'' appeared in January 1969 under the editorship of Glen H. GoodKnight, founder of the Mythopoeic Society. Early issues were fanzines, albeit with a "sercon" ("serious and constructive") bent; for a time it included alternate issues of ''Mythprint''. ''Mythlore'' became a peer-reviewed journal beginning with issue #85 (Winter 1999), under the editorship of Theodore Sherman. Since 2006, it has been edited by Janet Brennan Croft. The full text of ''My ...
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The Inklings
The Inklings were an informal literary discussion group associated with J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis at the University of Oxford for nearly two decades between the early 1930s and late 1949. The Inklings were literary enthusiasts who praised the value of narrative in fiction and encouraged the writing of fantasy. The best-known, apart from Tolkien and Lewis, were Charles Williams, and (although a Londoner) Owen Barfield. Members The more regular members of the Inklings, many of them academics at the University, included: * Owen Barfield * Jack A. W. Bennett * Lord David Cecil * Nevill Coghill * Hugo Dyson * Adam Fox * Robert Havard * C. S. Lewis * Warren Lewis (C. S. Lewis's elder brother) * J. R. R. Tolkien * Christopher Tolkien (J. R. R. Tolkien's son) * Charles Williams More infrequent visitors included: * James Dundas-Grant * Colin Hardie * Gervase Mathew * R. B. McCallum * Courtenay Edward Stevens * John Wain * Charles Leslie Wrenn ...
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Tolkien Studies
''Tolkien Studies: An Annual Scholarly Review'' is an academic journal publishing papers on the works of J. R. R. Tolkien. The journal's founding editors are Douglas A. Anderson, Michael D. C. Drout, and Verlyn Flieger, and the current editors are Michael D. C. Drout, Verlyn Flieger, and David Bratman. It states that it is the first scholarly journal published by an academic press in the area of Tolkien research (at least in the English language). Reception The Tolkien scholar David Bratman wrote that in 2005, Tolkien Studies had "retrenched into ''Lord of the Rings'' studies", centred on Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull's ''The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion'', though it was accompanied by mythological and medieval studies of Tolkien's work. In 2009, the Tolkien scholar Janet Brennan Croft wrote in ''Mythlore'' that "The continued and growing success of ''Tolkien Studies ''is a cheering indication that our narrow field of mythopoeic and Inklings studies is healt ...
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Balrog
A Balrog () is a powerful demonic monster in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth. One first appeared in print in his high-fantasy novel ''The Lord of the Rings'', where the Fellowship of the Ring (characters), Fellowship of the Ring encounter a Balrog known as Durin's Bane in the Mines of Moria (Middle-earth), Moria. Balrogs appear also in Tolkien's ''The Silmarillion'' and other posthumously published books. Balrogs are tall and menacing beings who can shroud themselves in fire, darkness, and shadow. They are armed with fiery whips "of many thongs", and its early drafts speak frequently of the whips of fire. ''The Lays of Beleriand'' describe Morgoth's prisoners tortured by Balrogs with scourges; and the Balrog in Moria (''The Fellowship of the Ring'', "The Bridge of Khazad-dûm") is armed explicitly with a "whip of many thongs" or strands. and occasionally use long swords. In Tolkien's later conception, they could not be readily vanquished—a certain stature was required by the w ...
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Tolkien Research
The works of J. R. R. Tolkien have generated a body of research covering many aspects of his fantasy writings. These encompass ''The Lord of the Rings'' and ''The Silmarillion'', along with his legendarium that remained unpublished until after his death, and the constructed languages that he invented, especially the Elvish languages Quenya and Sindarin. Scholars from different disciplines have examined the linguistic and literary origins of Middle-earth, and have explored many aspects of his writings from Christianity to feminism and race. Biographical Biographies of Tolkien have been written by Humphrey Carpenter, with his 1977 '' J. R. R. Tolkien: A Biography'' and of Tolkien's wartime years by John Garth with his 2003 ''Tolkien and the Great War: The Threshold of Middle-earth''. Carpenter edited the 1981 ''The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien'', assisted by Christopher Tolkien. The brief period after the war when Tolkien worked for the OED is detailed in the 2006 book ''The ...
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