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Location
Weatherford, Oklahoma
Document Type
Paper
Event Website
https://www.mythsoc.org/mythcon/mythcon-54.htm
Start Date
25-7-2026 1:30 PM
End Date
25-7-2026 2:20 PM
Description
We know that although Tolkien wrote that his legendarium was “fundamentally linguistic in inspiration. . . To me a name comes first and the story follows”, in fact legendarium content preceded Tolkien’s invention of Elvish languages. I will argue that nevertheless the first part of the quotation is true: the legendarium was fundamentally linguistic in inspiration. Tolkien used symbolic language to access the musical and body-related aspects of language that the symbolic has distanced us from, simultaneously uniting two aspects of our nature while recognizing their inevitable separation. When we as children master the symbolic function of language we lose touch with its musical and body-related aspects as well as with the early relationship to our mothers in which they are embedded. This leaves us with a sense of loss that Tolkien’s writings poignantly both lessen and heighten. I will be talking about Tolkien’s own experiences of language that underlay and motivated his drive to evoke these early aspects of language, as well as about particular passages where Tolkien used language for such evocation. I will begin with how Tolkien “broke the veil,” and end with Eärendil.
Creative Commons License
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Included in
Fundamentally Linguistic
Weatherford, Oklahoma
We know that although Tolkien wrote that his legendarium was “fundamentally linguistic in inspiration. . . To me a name comes first and the story follows”, in fact legendarium content preceded Tolkien’s invention of Elvish languages. I will argue that nevertheless the first part of the quotation is true: the legendarium was fundamentally linguistic in inspiration. Tolkien used symbolic language to access the musical and body-related aspects of language that the symbolic has distanced us from, simultaneously uniting two aspects of our nature while recognizing their inevitable separation. When we as children master the symbolic function of language we lose touch with its musical and body-related aspects as well as with the early relationship to our mothers in which they are embedded. This leaves us with a sense of loss that Tolkien’s writings poignantly both lessen and heighten. I will be talking about Tolkien’s own experiences of language that underlay and motivated his drive to evoke these early aspects of language, as well as about particular passages where Tolkien used language for such evocation. I will begin with how Tolkien “broke the veil,” and end with Eärendil.
https://dc.swosu.edu/mythcon/mc54/schedule/13
