I’ll finally be back in person at next week’s Mythmoot IX and I’m excited to be talking about Remaking Text: Text Reuse in Tolkien. Also presenting (virtually) will be my good friend and collaborator Chiara Palladino.

Here’s the abstract for my talk:

Not only are mythologies remade but texts are often reused. How can we detect this reuse and how can we visualize the bigger picture of how one text relates to another? This talk will explore three examples of text reuse and remaking within the development and adaptation of Tolkien’s writings.

Firstly, in the various versions of the “Great Tales”: the Children of Húrin, Beren and Lúthien, and the Fall of Gondolin from the earliest Lost Tales to the published Silmarillion. Secondly, in the text of the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings from their earliest drafts to multiple published editions. Finally, in direct speech in the Lord of the Rings book as it appears as dialogue in the Peter Jackson films.

The presentation will show how text reuse is detected using computers and how it can be visualized to give us a picture of how texts are remade from other texts.

Not sure yet if I’ll be talking on Friday or Saturday but I’ll update this post when I find out.