Tim Brinkhof
Learning from Werewolves
Before he became known as the author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, J R R Tolkien taught English language and literature at Oxford University. Back then, his area of expertise wasn’t yet Middle Earth but the medieval poem Beowulf, about a legendary hero who fights terrible monsters. Already interested in the fantastical, Tolkien had a Balrog-sized bone to pick with his fellow academics, who laboriously studied the historical and religious context of Beowulf’s epic quest without paying proper attention to the otherworldly creatures he encountered along the way. As Tolkien saw it, monsters like the giant Grendel didn’t distract from the text’s deeper meaning. They were its deeper meaning.
His argument, the academic Charity Urbanski explains in a new book, Medieval Monstrosity: Imagining the Monstrous in Medieval Europe, has become the foundation of contemporary monster theory, a theory that presents monsters not as figments of our own imagination but as reflections of collective anxieties.
Just as Tolkien’s nameless, hyper-militarised orcs have been interpreted as symbols of modernity and fascism, so do many medieval creatures reflect the troubles of the time periods in which they originated. Often, their original significance turns out to be completely different to their later one. Modern-day werewolves, as seen in
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
Twitter Feed
Knowledge of Sufism increased markedly with the publication in 1964 of The Sufis, by Idries Shah. Nowadays his writings, much like his father’s, are dismissed for their Orientalism and inaccuracy.
@fitzmorrissey investigates who the Shahs really were.
Fitzroy Morrissey - Sufism Goes West
Fitzroy Morrissey: Sufism Goes West - Empire’s Son, Empire’s Orphan: The Fantastical Lives of Ikbal and Idries Shah by Nile Green
literaryreview.co.uk
Rats have plagued cities for centuries. But in Baltimore, researchers alighted on one surprising solution to the problem of rat infestation: more rats.
@WillWiles looks at what lessons can be learned from rat ecosystems – for both rats and humans.
Will Wiles - Puss Gets the Boot
Will Wiles: Puss Gets the Boot - Rat City: Overcrowding and Urban Derangement in the Rodent Universes of John B ...
literaryreview.co.uk
Twisters features destructive tempests and blockbuster action sequences.
@JonathanRomney asks what the real danger is in Lee Isaac Chung's disaster movie.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/eyes-of-the-storm