Jason Fisher

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Jason Fisher is a Tolkien scholar and winner of multiple Mythopoeic Scholarship Awards, including one in 2014 for his book Tolkien and the Study of His Sources: Critical Essays. [1] He served as the editor of the Mythopoeic Society's monthly Mythprint from 2010 to 2013. He is the author of many book chapters, academic articles, and encyclopedia entries on J. R. R. Tolkien. [2]

Contents

Biography

Jason Aldrich Fisher was born in 1970. He lives in Dallas, Texas. He is a software developer. [3] He has worked since 2002 as an independent scholar specialising in the work of J. R. R. Tolkien, his literary circle the Inklings, and fantasy more widely. [2] [4]

Fisher has contributed to the J. R. R. Tolkien Encyclopedia (including on 'Mythology for England', 'Family Trees', and 'Palantíri'), [2] [5] to the Tolkien Studies journal, [6] to the Literary Encyclopedia , [7] and to the Inklings journal Mythlore , [8] among other journals and websites, [3] as well as chapters of Tolkien criticism. [2] [9] He has been interviewed on PBS about Tolkien's 1937 book The Hobbit . [10]

Reception

Tolkien and the Study of His Sources

Reviewing Tolkien and the Study of His Sources for Mythlore , Mike Foster writes that Fisher, and Tom Shippey who wrote the book's introduction, are right in pursuing Tolkien's sources, despite the author's objections; the book usefully clarifies Tolkien's approach for readers not familiar with early 20th century adventure stories and medieval stories of the saints. In Foster's view, while scholars have long ago picked the "low-hanging fruit", the book "proves that ... plenty of fruit still remains for the picking". [11]

Emily Auger, reviewing the same work in Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts , writes that "Fisher ... not only explains what source studies are, he explains how good source studies should be done". [12]

Works

Books

Awards and distinctions

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mythopoeic Awards</span> Literary award

The Mythopoeic Awards for literature and literary studies are given annually for outstanding works in the fields of myth, fantasy, and the scholarly study of these areas. Established by the Mythopoeic Society in 1971, the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award is given for "fiction in the spirit of the Inklings", and the Scholarship Award for non-fiction work. The award is a statuette of a seated lion, with a plaque on the base. It has drawn resemblance to, and is often called, the "Aslan".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mythopoeic Society</span> Nonprofit organization

The Mythopoeic Society (MythSoc) is a non-profit organization devoted to the study of mythopoeic literature, particularly the works of J. R. R. Tolkien, Charles Williams, and C. S. Lewis. These men were all members of The Inklings, an informal group of writers who met weekly in Lewis' rooms at Magdalen College, Oxford, from the early 1930s until late 1949.

The works of J. R. R. Tolkien have generated a body of research covering many aspects of his fantasy writings. These encompass The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion, along with his legendarium that remained unpublished until after his death, and his constructed languages, especially the Elvish languages Quenya and Sindarin. Scholars from different disciplines have examined the linguistic and literary origins of Middle-earth, and have explored many aspects of his writings from Christianity to feminism and race.

<i>Mythlore</i> Academic journal

Mythlore is a biannual peer-reviewed academic journal founded by Glen GoodKnight and published by the Mythopoeic Society. Although it publishes articles that explore the genres of myth and fantasy in general, special attention is given to the three most prominent members of the Inklings: J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, and Charles Williams. The current editor-in-chief is the Tolkien scholar Janet Brennan Croft. The Tolkien Society describes Mythlore as a "refereed scholarly journal".

Douglas Allen Anderson is an American writer and editor on the subjects of fantasy and medieval literature, specializing in textual analysis of the works of J. R. R. Tolkien. He is a winner of the Mythopoeic Award for scholarship.

Verlyn Flieger is an author, editor, and Professor Emerita in the Department of English at the University of Maryland at College Park, where she taught courses in comparative mythology, medieval literature, and the works of J. R. R. Tolkien. She is well known as a Tolkien scholar, especially for her books Splintered Light, A Question of Time, and Interrupted Music. She has won the Mythopoeic Scholarship Award four times for her work on Tolkien's Middle-earth writings.

Michael D. C. Drout is an American Professor of English and Director of the Center for the Study of the Medieval at Wheaton College. He is an author and editor specializing in Anglo-Saxon and medieval literature, science fiction and fantasy, especially the works of J. R. R. Tolkien and Ursula K. Le Guin.

<i>Tolkien Studies</i> Academic journal

Tolkien Studies: An Annual Scholarly Review is an academic journal founded in 2004 publishing papers on the works of J. R. R. Tolkien. The journal's founding editors are Douglas A. Anderson, Michael D. C. Drout, and Verlyn Flieger, and the current editors are Michael D. C. Drout, Verlyn Flieger, and David Bratman. It states that it is the first scholarly journal published by an academic press in the area of Tolkien research.

<i>The History of The Hobbit</i> 2007 nonfiction book about The Hobbit

The History of The Hobbit is a two-volume study of J. R. R. Tolkien's 1937 children's fantasy novel The Hobbit. It was first published by HarperCollins in 2007. It contains Tolkien's unpublished drafts of the novel, with commentary by John D. Rateliff. It details Tolkien's various revisions to The Hobbit, including abandoned revisions for the unpublished third edition of the work, intended for 1960, as well as previously unpublished original maps and illustrations drawn by Tolkien.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Diana Pavlac Glyer</span> American author, speaker, and teacher (born 1956)

Diana Pavlac Glyer is an American author, speaker and teacher whose work centers on C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien and the Inklings. She teaches in the Honors College at Azusa Pacific University in California.

<i>The Road to Middle-Earth</i> Book of literary criticism of Tolkien

The Road to Middle-Earth: How J. R. R. Tolkien Created a New Mythology is a scholarly study of the Middle-earth works of J. R. R. Tolkien written by Tom Shippey and first published in 1982. The book discusses Tolkien's philology, and then examines in turn the origins of The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion, and his minor works. An appendix discusses Tolkien's many sources. Two further editions extended and updated the work, including a discussion of Peter Jackson's film version of The Lord of the Rings.

Janet Brennan Croft is an American librarian and Tolkien scholar, known for her authored and edited books and journals on J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth fantasy.

<i>The Annotated Hobbit</i> Douglas A. Andersons annotated version from the novel by J. R. R. Tolkien

The Annotated Hobbit: The Hobbit, or There and Back Again is an edition of J. R. R. Tolkien's novel The Hobbit with a commentary by Douglas A. Anderson. It was first published in 1988 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Boston, in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the first American publication of The Hobbit, and by Unwin Hyman of London.

<i>A Companion to J. R. R. Tolkien</i> 2014 scholarly book edited by Stuart D. Lee

A Companion to J. R. R. Tolkien is a 2014 book edited by Stuart D. Lee and published by Wiley-Blackwell. It is a part of the Blackwell Companions to Literature series, which have been described as prestigious reference works, and features authors well-known in the field of Tolkien studies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Glen GoodKnight</span>

Glen GoodKnight (1941–2010) was the founder of the Mythopoeic Society and the editor of its journal, Mythlore between 1970 and 1998; in that time the publication grew from being a fan magazine to a peer-reviewed academic journal. He was an expert on and collector of the works of J. R. R. Tolkien and his fellow Inklings, C. S. Lewis and Charles Williams.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jared Lobdell</span> American historian

Jared Charles Lobdell was an American author and one of the first Tolkien scholars. He is best known for some thirty academic books on American history and the Inklings including J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, and Charles Williams.

John Garth is a British journalist and author, known especially for writings about J. R. R. Tolkien including his biography Tolkien and the Great War and a book on the places that inspired Middle-earth, The Worlds of J. R. R. Tolkien. He won a 2004 Mythopoeic Award for Scholarship for his work on Tolkien. The biography influenced much Tolkien scholarship in the subsequent decades.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard C. West</span> American librarian and Tolkien scholar (1944–2020)

Richard Carroll West was an American librarian and one of the first Tolkien scholars. He is best known for his 1975 essay on the interlace structure of The Lord of the Rings, for which he won the 1976 Mythopoeic Scholarship Award for Inkling Studies.

Bradford Lee Eden is a librarian and musicologist, best known as a Tolkien scholar.

Michael Foster, known as Mike Foster, was an emeritus professor of English and a Tolkien scholar. In 1978 he pioneered the teaching of Tolkien studies at university level.

References

  1. 1 2 "The Mythopoeic Society: Mythopoeic Scholarship Awards". www.mythsoc.org. Retrieved 4 February 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Fisher, Jason. "Curriculum Vitae". Independent Academia. Retrieved 4 February 2021.
  3. 1 2 "Jason Fisher". Journey to the Sea. Retrieved 4 February 2021.
  4. ↑ Collier, Pieter (1 August 2011). "Interview with Jason Fisher about Tolkien and the Study of His Sources". The Tolkien Library. Retrieved 4 February 2021.
  5. ↑ Fisher, Jason (2013) [2007]. "Family Trees". In Drout, Michael D. C. (ed.). J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia: Scholarship and Critical Assessment . Routledge. pp. 188–189 and others. ISBN   978-0-415-86511-1.
  6. ↑ Fisher, Jason (2008). "Three Rings for—Whom Exactly? And Why?: Justifying the Disposition of the Three Elven Rings". Tolkien Studies . 5: 99–108. doi:10.1353/tks.0.0015. S2CID   171012566.
  7. ↑ Fisher, Jason (2008). "The Inklings (1933–1954)". The Literary Encyclopedia.
  8. ↑ Fisher, Jason (2008). "Review (The History of The Hobbit. Part One: Mr. Baggins; Part Two: Return to Bag-End by John D. Rateliff)". Mythlore . 26 (3/4 (101/102)): 206–212. JSTOR   26814596.
  9. ↑ Fisher, Jason (2010). "Horns of Dawn: The Tradition of Alliterative Verse in Rohan". In Bradford Lee Eden (ed.). Middle-earth Minstrel: Essays on Music in Tolkien. McFarland. p. 18. ISBN   978-0-7864-5660-4.
  10. ↑ "The World of Tolkien's Hobbit". PBS. 14 December 2012. Retrieved 4 February 2021.
  11. ↑ Foster, Mike (2011). "[Review] Tolkien and the Study of His Sources: Critical Essays by Jason Fisher". Mythlore . 30 (1/2): 189–192. JSTOR   26814823.
  12. ↑ Auger, Emily E. (2012). "[Review] Tolkien and the Study of His Sources: Critical Essays by Jason Fisher". Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts . 23 (1): 108–110. JSTOR   24353152.
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