Welcome to SPACE, our adult continuing education program which offers interactive monthly courses for personal enrichment! Learn more here.

August 2024 Confirmed  Hybrid
Mixed Lecture/Discussion • Medium intensity
This module will focus on bodies in Middle-earth from a multitude of directions and fields of enquiry. We will address fascinating subjects such as Sauron's body, the physical differences between Gandalf the Grey and Gandalf the White and the age old question "Do Balrogs have wings?" [No, the case is not settled on this.] We will explore how Tolkien writes about gendered and racialized bodies and how he uses slap-stick carnivalesque bodily humor in The Hobbit. We will explore the artwork and film images too. The point will be that bodies very much mattered in the narratives that make up Tolkien's Cauldron of Story, and they matter in his Legendarium!

Required Texts

The Body in Tolkien's Legendarium, McFarland 2013
The Lord of the Rings
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This will be a Hybrid class (4 lectures & 4 discussion sessions). Each week will consist of 1 hour of recorded lecture and 1 hour of live discussion (not recorded) for a total of 8 class hours over the course of the month.

DELIVERY PLAN
1. The Monday sessions each week will be a lecture session (recorded live), shared with all students afterward in case they wish to review the session or were unable to attend it live.
2. The Wednesday sessions each week will be a live discussion session (not recorded).

Days and Times

Meeting Mondays & Wednesdays at 9:00 PM Eastern for eight 1-hour sessions on August 5, 7, 12, 14, 19, 21, 26, 28

Discord Details

#tolkien-general
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If you have any questions about the SPACE program, please reach out to [email protected].