Hi Robin, are you're going to deal with, among other things, Christopher Tolkien's "erasure" of female characters from the 1977 Silmarillion (something Doug Kane also touched on in "Arda Reconstructed")? Then I may have a tidbit for you that has nothing to do with J.R.R. Tolkien's Legendarium, but a lot with Christopher's approach as an editor.
In his work on the Heidrek's saga, Christopher actually erases a gender change in the text. As William Layher comments: "... I differ with Christopher Tolkien, who gives a false impression of the shift from male to female in the Icelandic text by translating 'Hervarr' and 'he' as 'Hervör' and 'she' in the English text, where the original clearly indicates the masculine name and gender." ("Caught Between Worlds: Gendering the Maiden Warrior in Old Norse" in: Women and the Medieval Epic. Gender, Genre and the Limits of Epic Masculinity. Ed. Sara S. Poor and Jana K. Schulman, Palgrave McMillan 2007, pp. 183-208; p. 207, note 29).
Dear Renée: Ooo, I had not heard of this instance (but yes, Kane's book was one of the influences that got me more interested in _The Silmarllion_ in a scholarly sense!). I don't anticipate that I will be writing much textual analysis for this project--the major focus will be on how academics, critics, and fans have engaged with the "histories" if Middle-earth. But given that Layher comments on the editorial change Christopher made, I'm happy to have this as another example of critical commentary! And the anthology looks interesting (too bad it's from one of the more expensive publishers, sigh!).
Hi Robin, are you're going to deal with, among other things, Christopher Tolkien's "erasure" of female characters from the 1977 Silmarillion (something Doug Kane also touched on in "Arda Reconstructed")? Then I may have a tidbit for you that has nothing to do with J.R.R. Tolkien's Legendarium, but a lot with Christopher's approach as an editor.
In his work on the Heidrek's saga, Christopher actually erases a gender change in the text. As William Layher comments: "... I differ with Christopher Tolkien, who gives a false impression of the shift from male to female in the Icelandic text by translating 'Hervarr' and 'he' as 'Hervör' and 'she' in the English text, where the original clearly indicates the masculine name and gender." ("Caught Between Worlds: Gendering the Maiden Warrior in Old Norse" in: Women and the Medieval Epic. Gender, Genre and the Limits of Epic Masculinity. Ed. Sara S. Poor and Jana K. Schulman, Palgrave McMillan 2007, pp. 183-208; p. 207, note 29).
Thought you might want to know this!
Renée Vink
Dear Renée: Ooo, I had not heard of this instance (but yes, Kane's book was one of the influences that got me more interested in _The Silmarllion_ in a scholarly sense!). I don't anticipate that I will be writing much textual analysis for this project--the major focus will be on how academics, critics, and fans have engaged with the "histories" if Middle-earth. But given that Layher comments on the editorial change Christopher made, I'm happy to have this as another example of critical commentary! And the anthology looks interesting (too bad it's from one of the more expensive publishers, sigh!).