FRS 002 — Sec. 005 — (2 units) — CRN 92616 — F 10:00-11:50am — 111 Wellman
Old Norse Traditions in Tolkien’s The Hobbit

Instructor: Janice Hawes, Department of Comparative Literature, College of Letters and Science

Description: At the end of The Hobbit: or There and Back Again, the unlikely hobbit hero Bilbo, who is in the middle of writing his memoirs, is impressed that the oral stories he had heard during his adventures proved to be true. J. R. R. Tolkien’s prelude to The Lord of the Rings is a work of fantasy that is conscious not only of the power of oral traditions but also of the written word. Most readers know Tolkien best as an author of fantasy, but he was also a linguist and literary scholar whose knowledge of ancient languages and literature heavily influenced his popular writings. In this seminar, we will be doing a close reading of The Hobbit, particularly in relation to the influence of Old Norse myth and literature on the text. We will be exploring not only which Old Norse traditions influenced the novel, but also how Tolkien refashions them. In addition to this idea of “intertextuality,” we will be considering as a class how the image of the hero has changed over time and to what extent our ideas about heroism are still influenced by the past.

Format: The seminar will meet for two hours each week. Our primary text will be The Hobbit, and students will be asked to read very carefully the chapters assigned for each week. In additions, students will be asked to look over short passages from Old Norse tradition (translated into English) within a course reader available at Navin’s. Class discussion will focus on the assigned chapters from Tolkien’s text assigned for that week in relation to Old Norse analogues. To expand class assignments and discussion, each student will pair up with a partner and pick a week to make an oral presentation which can include discussion of other analogues of a scene in our text and themes that each “version” of a story develops. In addition to the readings and oral presentation, students will write one short paper (2-3 pages) that analyzes the connection between a scene in our text and one of the Old Norse analogues and a longer paper (4-5 pages) due at the end of the term that analyzes a larger issue within Tolkien’s work (such as the heroic ideal, the role of destiny, or images of evil) and that discusses the topic in a way that shows awareness of Tolkien’s transformation of Old Norse traditions. Grading: Participation: 25%; short paper (2-3 pp.): 25%; longer paper (4-5 pp.): 25%; Oral Presentations: 25%.

About the Instructor: Janice Hawes is a lecturer who has taught in the Department of English and the Department of Comparative Literature. Her research interests concern how heroic identity is depicted in a text and the role of monstrosity in challenging or creating that identity. She received her Ph.D. in English from U.C. Davis, specializing in literature in Old English, Middle English, and Old Norse. She is currently working on a book comparing the Old English heroic tradition to the Old Norse heroic tradition.