Tolkien's Sir Gawain Lecture

So, this month marks the 70th anniversary of J. R. R. Tolkien's delivering a talk on SIR GAWAIN & THE GREEN KNIGHT at the University of Glasgow. Unlike his famous essay BEOWULF: THE MONSTERS & THE CRITICS (which revolutionized Beowulf studies by arguing that work shd be studied for its literary merit, not mined as a historical artifact), and ON FAIRY-STORIES (the seminal statement establishing modern fantasy as we know it).* Meanwhile, his Gawain piece has largely been neglected. But that seems likely to change, thanks to the Gawain event held today in Glasgow --indeed the same city, same university, and same building as the original site where Tolkien appeared.**

As is become usual these days, the event was in mixed in-person/on-line form. I was one of the virtual attendees --I gather several hundred people in all. I understand the panel of speakers will be put up on You-Tube for non-attendees to enjoy: if so I'll put up a link.

About This Event

On 15 April 1953, Tolkien delivered the W.P. Ker Memorial Lecture, on Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, to an audience of 300 at the University of Glasgow. The essay was published posthumously, in 1983, in The Monsters and the Critics and Other Essays, edited by Christopher Tolkien. 

Join us at Glasgow on Thursday 27 April 2023, 5-6:30pm, on-campus (Joseph Black Building) or online, to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the lecture and its significance, Tolkien's links to Glasgow, and the importance of the Sir Gawain text in Tolkien's creativity. 

Our panel of speakers will feature:

• Professor Jeremy Smith, Honorary Senior Research Fellow, University of Glasgow
• Dr Lydia Zeldenrust, Lecturer in Middle English Literature, University of Glasgow
• Dr Andoni Cossio, Postdoctoral Fellow, Centre for Fantasy and the Fantastic, University of Glasgow
• Chair: Dr Dimitra Fimi, Senior Lecturer in Fantasy and Children’s Literature, and Co-Director of the Centre for Fantasy and the Fantastic 

For those attending on-campus, there will be an opportunity to see a pop-up exhibition with documentation related to Tolkien’s appointment as the 1953 W.P. Ker Memorial Lecturer (including a hand-written letter by Tolkien), in collaboration with Archives & Special Collections, University of Glasgow.

--John R.

*Recently A SECRET VICE has gained prominence and influence in the world of language creation.

**They worked out which was the original room but it was no longer available, having been converted from lecture hall to smaller labs.

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