University of Wisconsin Tolkien Society

Welcome to the web page of the University of Wisconsin Tolkien and Fantasy Society!

Last modified: September 28, 2009

Who we are

The Tolkien Society at the University of Wisconsin-Madison was founded in September 1966. It has been meeting once a month ever since (during the first several years, twice a month), with a very few misses here and there (e.g., there were a couple of years when the group did not meet during the summer, but usually it did). In January, 2001, we changed our name to the Tolkien and Fantasy Society to reflect our broad interests better.

We discuss:

The work of Tolkien (fiction, poetry, scholarly work, drawings and illustrations)
Critical essays about Tolkien
Adaptations of Tolkien's work (movies, plays, radio drama, comics)
The work of the Inklings and his other friends (such as C. S. Lewis, W. H. Lewis, Charles Williams, Owen Barfield)
Other fantasy and science fiction (e. g., E. R. Eddison, Kenneth Morris, William Morris, T. H. White, Peter S. Beagle, Ursula K. Le Guin, Robin McKinley, Patricia Wrightson, et al.)
The literature of the Middle Ages (especially the works that Tolkien himself studied, such as the Old English Beowulf and the Middle English Sir Gawain and the Green Knight)
World mythology (Tolkien was particularly interested in Germanic and Celtic myth)
Language (invented languages like Quenya and Sindarin as well as primary world languages)

Our journal, ORCRIST, appeared irregularly, and has not been published since 1977, though we still may revive it sometime. Eight issues were published, now mostly out of print, though copies of numbers 3, 4, and 5 (which were co-published as TOLKIEN JOURNAL numbers 11, 13, and 14 respectively) may still be available from the Mythopoeic Society, for those who are interested. There is a set in the Memorial Library on the UW-Madison campus, as well as in a number of other libraries across the U. S.

Meeting schedule

Fall Semester, 2009

Meetings will be held on Sundays beginning at 7:30 p.m. and concluding between

9:30-10:00 p.m. (CST). Union South, 227 N. Randall Avenue, on the UW-Madison

campus, has now been closed for rebuilding (expected to open in 2011). Meetings will be held in various places.

SEPTEMBER 13– TOLKIEN'S CHILDREN OF HURIN

To help our discussion of this posthumously published (2007) romance, Richard West will read his paper on "Lack of Counsel Not of Courage: J. R. R. Tolkien's Critique of the Heroic Ethos in The Children of Hurin". This meeting will be held in room 301 of the Kurt F. Wendt Library, 215 North Randall Avenue.

OCTOBER 11– SIGURD AND GUDRUN

Tolkien's Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun (2009) contains poems of power and passion (as Paul Thomas aptly describes them) written in modern English but using a traditional Old Norse verse form. They are best appreciated when read aloud, so we shall do that, taking turns to read (as medieval Icelanders did reading sagas on long winter nights), interspersing commentary and answering questions as we go along. Thus it will not be necessary that everyone have read this recent publication (only available in hardcover) before coming. However, there are 2 copies in the Madison campus libraries, 3 others elsewhere in the UW System libraries, and 11 more in the Madison Public Library system, so one has a good chance of borrowing the book. It would be helpful (though not essential) to have a general idea of the story of Sigurd (aka Siegfried) the dragon-slayer and the treasure of the Volsungs (or Nibelungs). This meeting will be held in room 301 of the Kurt F. Wendt Library, 215 North Randall Avenue.

NOVEMBER 15– CEMETARY FANTASY

Discussion of the use of ghosts and the graveyard setting in Peter S. Beagle's A Fine and Private Place (1960), Terry Pratchett's Johnny and the Dead (1993), and Neil Gaiman's Newbery-award winner The Graveyard Book (2008). This meeting will be held in room 301 of the Kurt F. Wendt Library, 215 North Randall Avenue.

DECEMBER 13– TOLKIEN ON FAIRY STORIES

Tolkien's "On Fairy-Stories" is available in many places, such as Tree and Leaf (Houghton Mifflin, 1965) and The Tolkien Reader (Ballantine, 1966). Verlyn Flieger and Douglas A. Anderson have edited Tolkien's longer and variant texts (Harper Collins, 2008) and we shall discuss what this adds to our understanding of this classic essay. This new edition has only a British hardcover publisher so far. It is available via amazon.co.uk or bookdepository.co.uk (the latter offers free postage including to the U.S.). If you can't find or can't afford a copy of the new book, read or re-read the essay in one of its earlier appearances. This meeting will be held in room 301 of the Kurt F. Wendt Library, 215 North Randall Avenue. It is traditional to have cake at our December meeting to celebrate the end of the semester and fortify us for final exams.

JANUARY 3, 2010 – TBA

We're still discussing what topic to take up this time. Celebration of Tolkien's birthday (he would have been 118 on this day). This meeting will probably be held in the Memorial Union, 800 Langdon Street. Check "Today in the Union" for the exact room either on one of the bulletin boards in the Union or on their website, http://www.union.wisc.edu.

How to join

Simply show up to meetings! There are no dues, no requirements, no hazings, no pledges. If you are active in the fantasy and/or science fiction community, feel free to bring items of interest to meetings; we always have a "News and Notes" time in each meeting.

For more information

For more information on the UW Tolkien Society, feel free to send us email at tolksoc@stdorg.wisc.edu.

Links and items of interest

Here is a listing of the contents of all published issues of Orcrist, the UWTS's journal.

And here is a listing of past meeting topics.

UWTS member Dorothea Salo runs a mailing list on the topic of Tolkien's invented languages. To learn more, read the Elfling list's web page.

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