This module is part of the Academic Mastery program. Please apply to the AM program before enrolling in this course

This module is part of the The Hobbit in Context cluster.

In this module, we will read not the final published version of The Hobbit, but the growth of the story in manuscript and typescript, examining carefully how the story developed and in what directions. We will be able to see the ideas that were discarded along the way, as well as understand the choices that Tolkien made as he was writing.

This five-week module is designed for students who already have some experience in scholarly writing, preferably in the humanities, who understand how to read a literary text analytically, and who wish to challenge themselves to produce an extended piece of writing. Students are expected to have writing and grammatical fluency in English. The module may be repeated as many times as desired. Students watch recorded lectures by Dr. Corey Olsen, participate in weekly discussions with a member of our graduate faculty, and complete a final writing project.

Students are welcome to take modules individually and in any order that suits their scholarly needs, but this module builds upon ideas covered in "The Hobbit: Contemporary Writings."

Note: This module draws extensively upon lectures originally recorded for The Story of The Hobbit. Students in the MA program who have taken (or plan to take) that course may find significant overlap in the core materials.

Format: 4 weeks discussion; 1 week assessment (12 hours video; 8 hours discussion

Assessments: summative (final project)

Goals and Skills:

Students who complete the module will be able to clearly articulate an understanding of the ways in which J.R.R. Tolkien was developing his story for The Hobbit.

Students who master the material will be able to produce a well-organized, structurally coherent project, synthesizing two or more ideas, that explores the drafting and redrafting process that Tolkien was following in writing The Hobbit.

This course is graduate level in intensity.

Fee: 2 Signum Tokens