Review of "Tolkien and Diversity" by daughterofshadows

Tolkien and Diversity

In July 2021, the Tolkien Society hosted a seminar on Tolkien and Diversity, attended by over seven hundred delegates from around the globe.

Having been one of those many delegates myself, it was delightful to revisit these talks nearly two years later in Tolkien and Diversity: Proceedings of the Tolkien Society Summer Seminar 2021. The papers in this collection can largely be split into two categories, though given the intricate nature of their overarching topics, overlap between the two is, of course, present.

The first covers Tolkien and cultural diversity, and explores how an international fan community interacts with Tolkien's works, through translations, art, and academic pursuits.

The second category explores the role of marginalised identities in Tolkien's own works and the fanworks inspired by them. (Note that the order in which these papers are presented here is not the same as in the collection.)

Though in truth each paper is deserving of its own review, for now a brief overview must suffice.

Tolkien and the international fan community

The collection opens with Sonali Arvind Chunodkar's "Desire of the ring: an Indian academic's adventures in her quest for the perilous realm", a paper that explores not just the reality of Tolkien scholarship in India and the struggles of gaining access to academic writings on Tolkien, but also how the readers' cultural and linguistic background can influence, support, or hinder their understanding and interpretation of Tolkien's works.

"Translation as a means of representation and diversity in Tolkien's scholarship and fandom", written by Martha Celis-Mendoza, highlights the importance of translating both Tolkien's own works and the academic writings surrounding these texts in an effort to broaden and strengthen Tolkien scholarship as a whole. This paper is also available in Spanish as part of the collection.

The final paper in this category is Joel Merriner's "Hidden Visions: Iconographies of Alterity in Soviet Bloc Illustrations for The Lord of the Rings". Stepping away from the topics of linguistics and scholarship, it takes a look at how culture can shape the art made to accompany Tolkien's work, especially under the influence of censorship. Unfortunately, the images discussed are not included in the text itself, nor are they linked in the footnotes, so I would strongly encourage everyone interested in this topic to also listen to the recording of the original talk, which can be found on the Tolkien Society YouTube channel.

Hidden between the lines: Marginalised identities in Tolkien

In "Stars Less Strange: An Analysis of Fanfiction and Representation within the Tolkien Fan Community", Dawn Walls-Thumma talks about the long-standing history of fanfiction exploring the experiences of women and queer characters in particular. Using data from the Tolkien Fanfiction Survey, she shows how these trends reflect the presence of fanfiction authors that belong to marginalised groups.

The other papers in this category continue to explore the experience of fans belonging to or characters fitting the criteria of groups that too often go overlooked when talking about Tolkien.

Robin Anne Reid analyses how queer atheists, agnostics, and animists engage with Tolkien's Legendarium in the paper of the same title, especially looking into how those readers view the claim that Tolkien's works are inherently Christian and what reading his works means to them on a personal level. The religious question is no doubt a contentious one, and this paper shines a light on a facet of the debate that often remains on the periphery.

The presence of non-white characters in Tolkien is an equally, if not more hotly debated, topic. In "The Lossoth: Indigeneity, Representation, and Antiracism", Nicholas Birns takes the time to explore the issue using the Lossoth, a people only mentioned in the Appendices of The Lord of the Rings. He suggests potential sources of inspiration for Tolkien, and discusses what their presence means in an otherwise heavily European-coded text.

Disabled characters are often present in literature, and Tolkien's works are no different. Using Beren, Maedhros, and Frodo as examples, Claire Moore investigates how Tolkien presents both the physical and the mental pain tied to their disabilities in "The Problem of Pain: Portraying Physical Disability in the Fantasy of J.R.R. Tolkien".

Unlike disabled characters, women in general, and Dwarf women in particular, are rather lacking in Tolkien's work. In "The Invisible Other: Tolkien's Dwarf-Women and the 'Feminine Lack'", Sara Brown analyses how the distinct lack of Dwarf-women influences Dwarf culture as a whole, and especially the continuation of their people. It also traces the development of Dwarf-women through Tolkien's writings.

Danna Petersen-Deeprose's paper "'Something Mighty Queer': Destabilizing Cishetero Amatonormativity in the Works of Tolkien" explores those relationships in Tolkien that lie beyond the bounds of "traditional" romances and friendship and the important roles these relationships play in the larger stories of the Legendarium.

Finally, the last paper of this collection hovers in the in-between of the categories outlined. In "'The Burnt Hand Teaches Most About Fire': Applying Trauma Exposure and Ecological Frameworks to Narratives of Displacement and Resettlement Across Elven Cultures in Tolkien's Middle-earth", V. Elizabeth King takes a topic that is currently all-too-present in the real world, and investigates how specific characters in Tolkien's works deal with displacement.

While it is perhaps not a fundamental piece for any Tolkien collection, if you are interested in expanding your horizons and learning about how fellow fans with backgrounds that might not match your own interact with and experience Tolkien, I warmly recommend Tolkien and Diversity. It honours the Tolkien Society's 2021 summer seminar in the best possible way, and reading it will undoubtedly leave you thoughtful and appreciative of the incredible vibrancy of this fan community.