Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Attercops, coming soon!

I am happy to keep a promise by announcing the good news: “Dwarves, Spiders, and Murky Woods: J.R.R. Tolkien’s Wonderful Web of Words”, the paper I gave at the C.S. Lewis & Inklings Society conference in Oklahoma City this past April, has been accepted for publication. The paper, with one or two small revisions, will appear in the next issue of Mythlore, coming this October. I have written book reviews for Mythlore for a couple of years now, but this will be the first piece of original scholarship I’ve had published there.

And what’s even better than being asked to submit the essay by the editor in person? Getting an equally enthusiastic response from the journal’s anonymous reader. The most important point in the reader’s comments was that I had managed to make a linguistic paper readable. That has always been my goal: to take something that I’m truly passionate about, but which (in the wrong hands) quickly becomes overwhelming or dry as dust, and often both. So I’m really pleased to hear an opinion that mine are the right hands for the subject matter. :)

7 comments:

  1. Congratulations! The reviewer is correct. One of things I enjoy about your papers (and your blog) is the clarity. As a non-linguist I always learn a lot from you!

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  2. <snark>The closest living Germanic language to Modern English is of course Modern Scots.</snark>

    So which Robert Graves poem is it?

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  3. Thanks, Cat! I really appreciate that! And John, it’s “Attercop: The All-Wise Spider”, published in 1924 in Mock Beggar Hall.

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  4. Great, Jason, congrats! I look forward to reading it.

    Namarie, God bless, Anne Marie :)

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  5. The FishWife7/14/2010 5:08 PM

    I can never say enough just how proud I am of you! You are the most amazing man. Love, The Fish Wife

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  6. Thank you so much, FishWife! And thank you all the more for your many sacrifices (of time, especially) that have made this possible. Love you! :)

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