Greetings, all! We’ve been happy to include some new, exciting presentations over the past several weeks to add to our growing list. We’re pleased to add a presentation on Charles Williams and Tolkien by Dr. Sørina Higgins, an editor, writer, English teacher, and scholar of British modernist literature. Sørina is a Consulting Editor, available to work on manuscripts from draft through final publication. Dr. Higgins is currently writing The Oddest Inkling: An Introduction to Charles Williams, due out in 2024 from Apocryphile Press, and From Thaumaturgy to Dramaturgy: Staging Occult Modernism. Below is her abstract, which is sure to be a highlight of the conference.
Buttocks to Caucasia!
Tolkien Grumbling Along in Williams’s Wain
At the zenith of the Inklings’s social and creative energy, Tolkien wrote a poem about “Our Dear Charles Williams.” It is a long poem—over three pages—full of praise, gentle teasing, and inside jokes. There are many references that may escape the casual reader or the Tolkien scholar who is less familiar with Williams’s works. Furthermore, the exact nature of the friendship between Tolkien and Williams has been frequently debated; in this talk, I’ll clear up confusion about their mutual admiration, provide a detailed gloss of the poem’s more obscure lines, and put it into the context of odes written by one poet to another during their lifetimes (rather than in memoriam). As a result, we’ll get a richer picture of the lively atmosphere of the Inklings community that contributed to their great literary creativity.
Check out the full list of presentations below, which will include all kinds of great topics, from Dungeons and Dragons to Middle-earth history to the Story of Kullervo. In previous posts we highlighted our guests of honor Nicholas Birns, Donato Giancola, and Kristine Larsen.
Our call for presentations is now closed, but there is plenty of time to register for the conference and join us on June 15 at Baruch. Please get in touch if you have questions about the conference, and keep checking this conference site for updates in the coming weeks.
New York Tolkien Conference 