Thursday, November 6, 2008

Tolkien in Vermont (April 2009)

It’s a little way off yet, but Chris Vaccaro asked me if I could help spread the word on the Tolkien conference at the University of Vermont next April. As regular readers of Lingwë will know, I’ve attended this conference for the past three years (read about Tolkien 2008 here, Tolkien 2007 here). Unfortunately, I won’t be able to be there next year, but I can highly recommend it — whether you give one of the papers or just enjoy them.

Here’s the CFP for anyone who’d like to submit a proposal:

Tolkien at the University of Vermont 2009, an academic conference devoted to the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, will be held at the UVM in Burlington , Vermont on Saturday, April 11th and Sunday, April 12th. The keynote address will be delivered by Professor Jane Chance of Rice University.

The conference organizers seek 20-minute papers on any topic related to Tolkien or his texts, but the following topic will be given priority consideration: sex and/or gender in Middle-earth or related to Tolkien’s life or works.

Please send a one-page abstract electronically to Christopher Vaccaro at cvaccaro@uvm.edu or by mail to James Williamson at 400 Old Mill, University of Vermont , Burlington , VT 0540 as early as possible. Please include Tolkien 2009 in the subject line. Deadline is January 30th, 2009. For further information, contact the conference organizers.

Ladies and gentlemen, sharpen your pencils. :)

2 comments:

  1. Does this mean I have to go to the Ovarium by myself? :)

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  2. LOL. :)

    For those of you scratching your heads, Gary is referring to the fact that the conference provides breakfast for attendees, consisting of an enormous serving dish of scambled eggs — and absolutely nothing else. I like eggs, don’t get me wrong, but how about a little bacon, or sausage, or some fried potatoes ...? (I think they might have had bagels once, though, right?) Gary started calling it the Ovarium after observing this peculiar tradition three years in a row.

    Maybe it’s an homage to The Hobbit — “But suddenly Gollum remembered thieving from nests long ago, and sitting under the river bank teaching his grandmother, teaching his grandmother to suck – ‘Eggses!’ he hissed. ‘Eggses it is!’”

    Or maybe they just like eggs in Vermont.

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