Carl Franklin Hostetter is a

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 These encompass ''The Lord of the Rings'' and ''The Silmarillion'', along with his legendarium that remained unpublished until after ...

and

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

computer scientist A computer scientist is a person who is trained in the academic study of computer science. Computer scientists typically work on the theoretical side of computation, as opposed to the hardware side on which computer engineers mainly focus (al ...

. He has edited and annotated many of

J. R. R. Tolkien John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, ; 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philology, philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was ...

's linguistic writings, publishing them in ''

Vinyar Tengwar The Elvish Linguistic Fellowship (E. L. F.) is a "Special Interest Group" of the Mythopoeic Society devoted to the study of the constructed languages of J. R. R. Tolkien, today headed by the computer scientist Carl F. Hostetter. It was founded by ...

'' and ''

Parma Eldalamberon Parma (; egl, Pärma, ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, music, art, prosciutto (ham), cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,292 inhabitants, Parma is the second most ...

''.

Career

NASA

Carl Hostetter joined NASA as a computer scientist at its

Goddard Space Flight Center The Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) is a major NASA space research laboratory located approximately northeast of Washington, D.C. in Greenbelt, Maryland, United States. Established on May 1, 1959 as NASA's first space flight center, GSFC empl ...

in 1985. In the 1990s, he edited the proceedings of the Goddard Space Conference for some years.

Tolkien scholar

Hostetter is a

and key figure in the

Elvish Linguistic Fellowship The Elvish Linguistic Fellowship (E. L. F.) is a "Special Interest Group" of the Mythopoeic Society devoted to the study of the constructed languages of J. R. R. Tolkien, today headed by the computer scientist Carl F. Hostetter. It was founded b ...

. He has written numerous articles on the

linguistics Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...

Middle-earth Middle-earth is the fictional setting of much of the English writer J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy. The term is equivalent to the ''Miðgarðr'' of Norse mythology and ''Middangeard'' in Old English works, including ''Beowulf''. Middle-earth is t ...

. He ran the scholarly mailing list Lambengolmor from 2002 to its closure in 2020. He is the editor of the Tolkien linguistics journals ''

'' and ''Tengwestië''. By arrangement with

Christopher Tolkien Christopher John Reuel Tolkien (21 November 1924 – 16 January 2020) was an English academic editor, becoming a French citizen in later life. The son of author and academic J. R. R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien edited much of his father' ...

, he edited and published a large volume of J. R. R. Tolkien's writings on his constructed languages in ''Vinyar Tengwar'' (in various issues between 1991 and 2007) and in ''

'' issues 11 (1995) to 22 (2015).

Reception

John S. Ryan, reviewing the 2000 collection '' Tolkien's Legendarium: Essays on The History of Middle-earth'' (edited by Hostetter and

Verlyn Flieger Verlyn Flieger (born 1933) is an author, editing, editor, and Professor Emerita in the Department of English at the University of Maryland, College Park, University of Maryland at College Park, where she taught courses in comparative mythology, medi ...

) for ''VII'', called it a "luminous companion" to the 12 volumes of

's ''

The History of Middle-earth ''The History of Middle-earth'' is a 12-volume series of books published between 1983 and 1996 that collect and analyse much of Tolkien's legendarium, compiled and edited by his son, Christopher Tolkien. The series shows the development over ti ...

'', and "clearly indispensable".} The book won the 2002 Mythopoeic Scholarship Award for Inklings Studies. The Tolkien scholar Douglas C. Kane, while welcoming the 2021 book '' The Nature of Middle-earth'', writes that Hostetter "appears to overstep his role as editor" by presenting the materials according to his personal point of view. In particular, Kane states that Hostetter wrongly applies Tolkien's remark that ''

The Lord of the Rings ''The Lord of the Rings'' is an epic high-fantasy novel by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, intended to be Earth at some time in the distant past, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's boo ...

'' was fundamentally religious and Catholic to the whole of the legendarium. Kane calls this contrary to

's editorial practice, and "a blatant statement of intent". Kane quotes

's remark that Tolkien's work reflects the two sides of his nature; the work can be seen both "as Catholic ndnot Christian."

Books

Middle-earth

; Edited * 2000 '' Tolkien's Legendarium: Essays on The History of Middle-earth'' (with

) Westport:

Greenwood Press Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc. (GPG), also known as ABC-Clio/Greenwood (stylized ABC-CLIO/Greenwood), is an educational and academic publisher (middle school through university level) which is today part of ABC-Clio. Established in 1967 as Gr ...

* 2003 ''Early Quenya Fragments / Early Quenya Grammar'' (with Bill Welden) Cupertino:

The Tolkien Trust The Tolkien Trust is a British charity founded in 1977 that manages the money received from J. R. R. Tolkien's estate (the Tolkien Estate). Specifically, the trust enables its trustees, the members of Tolkien's family, to donate regularly to which ...

* 2005 ''The Collected Vinyar Tengwar'' (with Jorge Quiñonez) Crofton:

* 2021 '' The Nature of Middle-earth: late writings on the lands, inhabitants, and metaphysics of Middle-earth'' (texts by J.R.R. Tolkien) Boston:

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (; HMH) is an American publisher of textbooks, instructional technology materials, assessments, reference works, and fiction and non-fiction for both young readers and adults. The company is based in the Financial Dist ...

Space science

; Edited * 1993 ''Space applications of artificial intelligence: Goddard Conference''. Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA * 1994 ''Space applications of artificial intelligence: Goddard Conference''. Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA * 1995 ''Space applications of artificial intelligence: Goddard Conference''. Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA

References

External links

Carl F. Hostetter
at Tolkien Gateway
Carl F. Hostetter
at Goddard Space Flight Center {{DEFAULTSORT:Hostetter, Carl F Living people Middle-earth Year of birth missing (living people)