Tolkien taught in school - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

Lalwendë · 08-30-2004, 02:34 PM

It's great to see that universities in the US appear to have taken onboard Tolkien - is this a sign that they are more progressive? I'd be interested to know if any universities in the UK offer the opportunity to study Tolkien as an option. The nearest you could come to it here is by doing a final year dissertation, but then this would only be acceptable if you could find a tutor able or wiling to mentor you through it and mark it at the end. Certainly when I did my degree this would have been a big problem; I had enough trouble finding a tutor who could mark a piece of work I did on Kurt Vonnegut (for my final dissertation I elected to write a volume of poetry).

I think one of the problems in this country would be the stick the university concerned would get from the media. Universities suffer enough simply by offering courses such as history of art or media - the tabloids shout "waste of tax-payers' money". Recently one university offered surfing as an option and this has caused controversy - despite the course being heavily centred on science and business, and surfing being a huge part of the Cornish economy. I can imagine the headlines if Tolkien became a subject in our universities. Sigh.

But, Beowulf translated by Seamus Heaney - this is bound to be excellent, he's a fantastic poet.

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08-30-2004, 02:34 PM	#37
Lalwendë A Mere Boggart Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: under the bed Posts: 4,737	It's great to see that universities in the US appear to have taken onboard Tolkien - is this a sign that they are more progressive? I'd be interested to know if any universities in the UK offer the opportunity to study Tolkien as an option. The nearest you could come to it here is by doing a final year dissertation, but then this would only be acceptable if you could find a tutor able or wiling to mentor you through it and mark it at the end. Certainly when I did my degree this would have been a big problem; I had enough trouble finding a tutor who could mark a piece of work I did on Kurt Vonnegut (for my final dissertation I elected to write a volume of poetry). I think one of the problems in this country would be the stick the university concerned would get from the media. Universities suffer enough simply by offering courses such as history of art or media - the tabloids shout "waste of tax-payers' money". Recently one university offered surfing as an option and this has caused controversy - despite the course being heavily centred on science and business, and surfing being a huge part of the Cornish economy. I can imagine the headlines if Tolkien became a subject in our universities. Sigh. But, Beowulf translated by Seamus Heaney - this is bound to be excellent, he's a fantastic poet.