ENGL 15
Tolkien: "The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings," and Oxford Winter 2020

This is not the current course catalog

Class Details

In this class we’ll read and discuss in depth the literary and imaginative richness of J. R. R. Tolkien’s beloved fantasy novels The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, as well as the aspects of his biography and the scholarly works he wrote while an Oxford professor that most illuminate his fantastical writings: “On Fairy-Stories,” “Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics,” and “Chaucer as a Philologist.” By combining the fantastical and the academic in Tolkien, we’ll get a better view of his imagined fortresses, castles, strongholds, of his elves, dragons and shires, as well as a better view of “the city of dreaming spires,” his beloved Oxford nestled in the green hills of its own Oxfordshire. Students are asked to participate in all class discussions, and, at the end of the class, students will be asked to submit a ten-page paper. Class will meet four times a week (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday) for one hour and fifteen minutes each session, and to prepare for each class you will be asked to read about fifty pages. Adjunct Instructor Bio: Ryan Riley earned a master’s degrees in literature from both Oxford and Yale, and a bachelor’s in literature from Harvard, where he started a literary discussion and writing group inspired by Tolkien’s Inklings.
The Class: Format: lecture
Limit: 30
Grading: pass/fail only
Requirements/Evaluation: 10-page paper
Prerequisites: none; if student has already read some or all of Tolkien's writings or seen the films, no need to worry, as there will still be much to learn about his imaginative world
Enrollment Preferences: preference will be given to students who write the instructor a short email explaining their interest in the class
Materials/Lab Fee: approximately $36 for books

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