Abstract
In J. R. R. Tolkien’s tales set in the fictional region of Beleriand, the paradox of a union between immortal and mortal beings, and all that this dichotomy implies, is consistently reflected in wooded settings. At the same time, we can also discern a general direction, which will eventually bring both Elves and Men out of the dark woods and into the light in a symbolical process of enlightenment. However, the woods in the tales reflect both pitfalls and promises, making it impossible to interpret this natural environment as unequivocally positive or negative, but a mixture of both. Tolkien’s stance towards trees and forests can thus be seen as realistic rather than escapist in these tales.
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©2017 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Editorial
- Editorial
- Articles
- Tellabilities – Diatopic/Diachronic: Where and When a Story Is Worth Telling and Where and When It Is Not
- Paradox in the Woods: The Twin Destiny of Elves and Men in the Forests of Beleriand
- History, Time, and Lived Experience in Toni Morrison’s Beloved (1987), Jazz (1992), and Paradise (1997)
- Cooking and Eating Your Own Stories: (Metaphorical) Cannibalism in Margaret Atwood’s The Robber Bride
- Alice Munro and ‘Alternate Realities’
- Book Reviews
- Coleridge and Communication
- Fake Identity? The Impostor Narrative in North American Culture
- Patterns of Positioning: On the Poetics of Early Abolition
- Books Received
- Table of Contents Vol. 65 (2017)
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Editorial
- Editorial
- Articles
- Tellabilities – Diatopic/Diachronic: Where and When a Story Is Worth Telling and Where and When It Is Not
- Paradox in the Woods: The Twin Destiny of Elves and Men in the Forests of Beleriand
- History, Time, and Lived Experience in Toni Morrison’s Beloved (1987), Jazz (1992), and Paradise (1997)
- Cooking and Eating Your Own Stories: (Metaphorical) Cannibalism in Margaret Atwood’s The Robber Bride
- Alice Munro and ‘Alternate Realities’
- Book Reviews
- Coleridge and Communication
- Fake Identity? The Impostor Narrative in North American Culture
- Patterns of Positioning: On the Poetics of Early Abolition
- Books Received
- Table of Contents Vol. 65 (2017)