Read & Review: "Tolkien and Diversity"

Diversity in the works and fandom of J.R.R. Tolkien has been a topic of much discussion in recent years as recognition grows that Tolkien's "mythology for England" is read by far more than the English ... or English speakers even. The Tolkien fan community is an international one, with fans from every inhabited continent on the globe bringing their perspectives to bear on the legendarium. Within this international community, Tolkien fans belong to myriad identity groups, some of them marginalized in both Tolkien's and the real world. Significant media coverage devoted to the diverse casting of Amazon's Rings of Power series rocketed these discussions—once limited to some fannish and scholarly enclaves—into the realm of popular discourse.

The 2021 Tolkien Society Seminar on the theme "Tolkien and Diversity" was therefore timely. The best-attended seminar to date, Tolkien and Diversity has now been published as a book containing some of the papers delivered at the seminar. In our latest Read & Review column, Shadow takes a look at the proceedings and what they have to offer to the Tolkien fan who is interested in the topic. They conclude that the proceedings balance discussion of the international fan community with papers about marginalized identities and provide a summary of each paper before offering advice to potential buyers about whether the book is a good addition to their Tolkien collection.

You can read Shadow's review of Tolkien and Diversity here.

Posted on 8 July 2023 (updated 8 September 2023) by SWG Moderators