On the occasion of Tolkien Reading Day - the day when Tolkien fans all around the world commemorate the destruction of the One Ring, the fall of Barad-dûr and the liberation of the peoples of Middle-earth from the threat of Sauron's evil by reading from Tolkien's works - which is traditionally held on March 25, the Department of English and American Studies at Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, Slovakia organized two events.
The first event was an international online academic colloquium "Values Tolkien Teaches", which took place on March 23. The event was hosted by Mgr.Martina Juričková, PhD. (one of your admins) , who also gave the first presentation entitled The Destructive Effects of Greed in The Hobbit, in which she addressed the various forms of the sin of greed takes in Tolkien's first fantasy work. In the presentation Official and Nonconformist Understanding of the Values Tolkien Teaches in the USSR, an independent Russian researcher Constantin Pirozhkov talked about how Tolkien's works were promoted or used for propaganda by the media in the former Soviet Union. Another independent researcher, this time from Italy, in his presentation Troth and Guest-kindlines in Tolkien's Works highlighted how important troth, especially regarding love matters, and guest-kindliness were in Tolkien's work.
In the second half of the event, Lukasz Neubauer from the Polish University Politechnika Koszalińska described the models of heroism that can be identified in The Lord of the Rings (Two Models of Heroism in The Lord of the Rings). Subsequently, William Fliss from Marquette University in Wisconsin, USA, in his presentation What Values do Tolkien Fans Learn? informed us what his job of the so called Tolkien archivist entails. As a matter of fact, Marquette University owns the second largest collection of Tolkien manuscripts in the world (after the Bodleian Library in Oxford), and Fliss is the person who makes it accessible to scholars from all over the world. In addition, he runs a project aimed at collecting and archiving the testimonies of Tolkien fans about how they became interested in his work and what it means to them. In his presentation, Fliss further discussed what values do tolkien fans appreciate the most in his books, based on his observations and analysis of the fan testimonies. The event was concluded by a presentation presentation from a philosophy professor and Tolkienist Craig Boyd from Saint Luis University in Missouri, USA, entitled Avarice and the Genuine Good in The Hobbit, in with which he complemented Martina Juričková’s presentation with his rich theoretical knowledge of philosophy and theology.
The recording of the event can be viewed here: https://youtu.be/KHpV-i_HBUo
The second event was a traditional reading from Tolkien's books, intended for the general public and organized in cooperation with the bookshop Martinus, where it was held on March 24.
The theme of the day was Thorin's statement: "If more of us valued food, mirth and song above golden treasures, the world would be a happier place." So we focused our reading passages from Tolkien's work (primarily The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings) that point to the danger that comes with greed – whether for treasure, power, or magical jewels – but also passages that highlight the ability to enjoy life and all it brings, be grateful for the things we already have, and cherish the little everyday things. The reading itself was carried out in a very interactive manner, so not only our assisting students but also the rest of the audience were involved in it and everyone read a bit. The reading was followed by a quiz, the winners of which received shopping vouchers donated to the competition by the Martinus bookstore.
Considering that the event lasted for almost two hours and its participants not only had fun with selected demonstrations and their own recitations, but also learned some interesting information about Tolkien's life, we hope that we have established a new tradition in Nitra and we will gather there again in the following years.
Both events were organized as part of the projects KEGA 009UKF-4/2022 - "Poetry as lingua franca - effective approaches to teaching poetry as a vehicle for personal growth within the context of international cross-cultural communication" and UGA "Portrait of virtues and vices in fantasy literature".
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