A series of free seminars to commemorate the death of J. R. R. Tolkien, to be held in 2023/2024 in the University of Oxford. The talks present an introduction and further background to Tolkien’s life, work, and legacy. They have an academic approach, but they are also aimed at those who have read Tolkien’s work but are interested in gaining a bit more insight into his life, career, and writings.

Venues at Corpus Christi and the Classics Faculty have step-free access; to access the T.S. Eliot Lecture Theatre at Merton College one needs to go up and down some steps (please email julia.walworth@merton.ox.ac.uk if you need step-free access).

Week 1 – 19 January (MERTON COLLEGE T.S. ELIOT LECTURE THEATRE)
Mark Atherton (University of Oxford)
The Arkenstone and the Ring: wilful objects in Tolkien’s The Hobbit’