The Ninety-seventh Roving Ranger
Life and Works
January 20, 1982. Finn and Hengest (Abre numa nova janela) is published posthumously, edited by Alan Bliss.
January 21, 1889. Edith Bratt (Abre numa nova janela) is born.
January 22, 1928. Tolkien reads a paper, The Chill Barbarians of the North (Abre numa nova janela), at a meeting of the Newman Society (Abre numa nova janela), in Oxford.
January 24, 1972. Tolkien writes Letter 332 (Abre numa nova janela) to his son Michael on moving to Merton.
January 26, 1925. Tolkien writes a letter to Professor Joseph Wright (Abre numa nova janela) on the occasion of his retirement.
January 28, 1982. The Old English Exodus (Abre numa nova janela) us published posthumously, edited by Joan Turville-Petre (Abre numa nova janela).
January 29, 1968. Tolkien writes a letter to Ken Jackson (Abre numa nova janela) concerning “Bag End”.
January 30, 1914. The Chequers Clubbe (Abre numa nova janela), founded by Tolkien, is given permission to organize dinners.
February 2, 1939. J.R.R. Tolkien (Abre numa nova janela) writes Letter 35 (Abre numa nova janela), asking “Could you give me any idea of the latest date by which the completed MSS. ought to reach you?” ☺️
There is a very decent-looking piece with video recordings of Tolkien (Abre numa nova janela) (h/t Michael Flowers) [Youtube]
Events & Shows
Some amazing talks are coming up (Abre numa nova janela) at the University of Oxford as part of the Tolkien 50th Anniversary Seminar series (h/t to Garth).
The New York Tolkien Conference is returning this year (Abre numa nova janela) (and reminding me to do my write-up of the 2019 one I participated in!)
Alan Sisto had Tom Hillman over at the Tolkien Times (Abre numa nova janela) for a chat about Pity, Power, and Tolkien’s Ring (Abre numa nova janela).
Starting in August Tampere, Finland, will have a Lord of the Rings (Abre numa nova janela) show - again, based on the 2018 adaptation.
This unique production combines unforgettable theatre, original music composed by Tuomas Kantelinen and played by the Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as amazing circus performances by Sorin Sirkus.
For all events check out the International Tolkien Fellowship (Abre numa nova janela) [FB] and the Tolkien Guide Calendar (Abre numa nova janela).
Scholarship and Fandom
A ‘Call for Papers’ from the University of Freiburg has been published: Arcastar Lerinosse: A Multi-Disciplinary Approach to Arda (Abre numa nova janela) (deadline: Feb 16).
Glaurung, Heir of Fáfnir: Tolkien’s Reading of Old Norse Dragon Myth (Abre numa nova janela).
For a list of the translations of The History of Middle-earth see this Tolkien Guide forum post (Abre numa nova janela).
Congrats to Spain for being the only country so far to have them all translated. France, Poland, Hungary, Brazil and Italy are working on getting there (damn you, Germany!)
Now, this is largely conjecture but I love how both Anglo-saxon history as well as the history of early European Christendom are tied into Tolkien: Elrond, Bilbo, Colmcille and King Alfred (Abre numa nova janela). (I really need to write something about my all-time favourite, Alcuin.)
John McLaughlin is providing an amazing service with his site tolkientranslations.com (Abre numa nova janela).
DIARY OF A CITY GUARD – PART 1 (Abre numa nova janela) is a hilarious report on what a friend of mine needed to do to become a part of Rings of Power - and what happened.
Brian Sibley has noted with Facebook (Abre numa nova janela) that a new edition of The Maps of Middle-earth: From Númenor and Beleriand to Wilderland and Middle-earth is coming out in April (order with Blackwell’s (Abre numa nova janela)).
I've revised the text and added a new Preface telling the story of how (thirty years ago, in 1994) John Howe and I began collaborating on a series of little books devoted to Middle-earth cartography. This edition (now uniform with all the other Tolkien titles) contains dozens of new pencil drawings by John and (tucked inside the front and back covers) his four original colour maps ready to be displayed.
If only a tenth of Clifford’s speculations in this TORn post prove to be true then we are certainly in for a wild ride: Analysis: New “Rings of Power” Rumors Tease Unhinged Season 2 (Abre numa nova janela).
The German Tolkien Society has announced its Call for Papers (Abre numa nova janela) for this year’s Seminar, “Tolkien and his editors.”
Franchise and Merchandise
Amazon is learning the hard way that paying billions for content might not work: Amazon to lay off several hundred staff in Prime Video, Studios (Abre numa nova janela) [Reuters]
Despite its big budgets and buzzy programming, it can be difficult to truly gauge the success of Amazon’s entertainment business because it does not report separate financial results for the division.
Hobbits and Jack Daniel’s: can men’s wedding rings become ‘manlier’? (Abre numa nova janela) [Guardian]
Lord of the Rings: Online is moving towards its 17th birthday and has announced some of the festivities (Abre numa nova janela) and the game’s roadmap.
The Elevenses Bakery in Tampa, Florida, is celebrating its first birthday with a week of Tolkien-inspired sweets (Abre numa nova janela). [Instagram; also Facebook (Abre numa nova janela)]
Now, this is top tier merchandise (don’t forget the artisan keycaps): The Lord of the Rings™ Rohan (Abre numa nova janela) keyboard by Drop.
You can have a virtual look (Abre numa nova janela) at the “Magic in Middle-earth” exhibition that has been on tour for some time. It is now at Barnsley where the “Experience … Museum is looking for Britain’s Best Tolkien Memorabilia” (Abre numa nova janela), an online event on February, 21st.
Inter alia & Back in the day
Lynch could have done a Dune II - “half a script” has been found (Abre numa nova janela). [Wired]
‘Game of Thrones’ Creators’ Wild Road to Their Biggest Gamble Yet: Netflix’s ‘3 Body Problem’ (Abre numa nova janela) [Hollywood Reporter]
‘Impossible’ to create AI tools like ChatGPT without copyrighted material (Abre numa nova janela), OpenAI says. [Guardian]
Syndetics Unbound always does an annual chart race of books Popular in Libraries (Abre numa nova janela). [LibraryThing; for the US] Would you have guessed that Lessons in Chemistry (Abre numa nova janela) by Bonnie Garmus (Abre numa nova janela) was the most beloved library book in 2023?
If you want your version of Wikipedia to become a propaganda tool - simply copy the existing version and remove everything that is contrary to your view: Ruwiki (Abre numa nova janela).
Very decent list: Every Star Wars Movie That Allegedly Is or Isn’t Happening (Abre numa nova janela) [Vulture]
'Star Trek' on Mars? Curiosity rover spots Starfleet symbol on Red Planet (Abre numa nova janela) [Space.com (Abre numa nova janela)] Also a fairly decent write-up on the issues of Star Trek reboot #4 (Abre numa nova janela).
2024 seems to be good for surprises: Keanu Reeves and China Miéville to collaborate on new novel (Abre numa nova janela). [Wertzone]
According to German law I have to infom you all links to enterprises, artists, products etc. are [unpaid advertisements.] Some purchase links may earn me a small commission from Blackwell's, the bookshop of my personal trust.
If you are interested in my other Tolkien-related work please have a look:
The Tolkienist Blog (Abre numa nova janela) : Facebook (Abre numa nova janela) : Bluesky (Abre numa nova janela) : Instagram (Abre numa nova janela) : Mastodon (Abre numa nova janela) : Xitter (Abre numa nova janela)
You can support me by becoming a member with my Steady page (Abre numa nova janela).
If you happen to use Feedly (Abre numa nova janela) - why not subscribe to one of their most popular Tolkien blogs: thetolkienist.com ☺️
