A Harmless Vice: Tolkien’s Invented Languages
In 1954 the first two volumes of J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings were published (The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers). To celebrate this event, and following on from last year’s Tolkien seminars, Exeter College – Tolkien’s undergraduate college – is proud to host a series of free lunchtime talks organised by the Faculty of English on The Lord of the Rings. Open to the public these talks are aimed at going deeper in some key aspects of the novel, Tolkien as a writer, and some of the spin-offs it has generated.

Please note that all seminars will take place at the Fitzhugh Auditorium, Cohen Quad (Exeter College), Walton Street, Oxford, OX1 2HG:

Week 1(17/10/2024) – Holly Ordway: ‘Tolkien as Interpreter and Transformer of Culture: The Making of The Lord of the Rings as a Modern Book’.

Week 2 (24/10/2024) – John Garth: ‘Quisling and Prisoner: How the Second World War shaped the treason of Isengard’.

Week 3 (31/10/2024) – HALF-TERM NO TALK

Week 4 (7/11/2024) – Giuseppe Pezzini: ‘The authors and styles of The Lord of the Rings’.

Week 5 (14/11/2024) – Mark Williams: ‘A Harmless Vice: Tolkien’s Invented Languages’.

Week 6 (21/11/2024) – Grace Khuri: ‘Medievalism in the Margins: Echoes of Anglo-Saxon England in Appendix A of The Lord of the Rings – From Page to Screen’.

Week 7 (28/11/2024) – Michael Ward: ‘C.S. Lewis’s Influence on The Lord of the Rings’.

Week 8 (05/12/2024) – Stuart Lee: ‘The ‘Key-spring’ of The Lord of the Rings?’.
Date: 14 November 2024, 13:00 (Thursday, 5th week, Michaelmas 2024)
Venue: Exeter College, Turl Street OX1 3DP
Venue Details: Fitzhugh Auditorium, Cohen Quad
Speaker: Professor Mark Williams (University of Oxford)
Organising department: Faculty of English Language and Literature
Organiser: Professor Stuart Lee (University of Oxford)
Part of: Tolkien seminars
Booking required?: Required
Booking url: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/a-harmless-vice-tolkiens-invented-languages-mark-williams-tickets-939406619487?aff=oddtdtcreator
Audience: Members of the University only
Editors: Katy Terry, Hope Lukonyomoi-Otunnu