Oxonmoot 2024

Writing humor can be a complicated genre, because the question of what is funny varies from person to person. There are a multitude of sub-genres for comedy writing.  Fifteen of these will be briefly explored with examples. There will be an opportunity for participants to partake in writing exercises and share what they create during the session.

Link to writing exercises is here!

An opportunity for those new to an Online Oxonmoot to meet new friends, and find out a bit more about the Oxonmoot community and experience from the organisers and other "old hands".

In person First Timers who weren't able to make the gathering on Thursday evening are also most welcome to join us in the Edoras room.

Participants will be shown a section of a painting, and they will have to guess which publication that illustration has been taken from. Also, which part of the story it’s from (ie beginning, middle or end), and which characters (if any) are in it. Which place does it depict? Answers should be noted in the message box for the Steward to count them. There will be two winners. One for speed of responses. One for the maximum number of correct responses. There will be 2 Honourable Mentions in both categories. Places are limited. Registration’s recommended.

Morgoth’s injection of his essence into Arda made it “Morgoth’s Ring”; the only way to remove him is to “disintegrat[e] the matter of Arda”. We reread Arda Marred as a parable for climate change, offering a new critique of how Tolkien’s legendarium responds to climate change as a c19-20 anxiety. It uses environmental bioethics and Timothy Morton’s ecological work to read Morgoth as a symbol for humanity’s mistreatment of the environment. Much like the invisible yet destructive effects of plutonium, Morgoth’s ‘corruption’ is a metaphysical, ontological, and philosophical hyperobject responsible for Arda’s fall; its effects, like humanity’s creations, outlives sentience in Arda. Building on Heidegger’s tool-being, it is only once environs have been marred that their true value is noticed. However, Tolkien noted that Morgoth cannot “annihilate” the world itself; the environs will recover, healing from Morgoth’s scarring of Arda’s body. The end is a beginning: an ecological feedback loop.

Participants will be shown a section of a painting from Tolkien artists, (only the ones whose works have been published in the mainstream press), and they will have to guess the name of the artist, and which publication that illustration has been taken from. Also, which part of the story it’s from (ie beginning, middle or end), and which characters (if any) are in it. Which place does it depict? Answers should be noted in the message box for the Steward to count them. There will be two winners. One for speed of responses. One for the maximum number of correct responses. There will be 2 Honourable Mentions in both categories. Places are limited. Registration’s recommended. ***

Literary Tarot decks are not a new phenomena, and in fact, there are several Tolkien inspired Tarot decks. The Major Arcana of Tarot already represent specific themes and meanings, and it is up the artists writing and illustrating the deck to translate the text inspiring the Tarot deck from story to card. A 2022 Tolkien inspired deck, written by Casey Gilly and illustrated by Tomas Hijo, was reviewed in Mythlore by noted Tarot scholar Emily Auger, who wrote that "their deck does not indicate any particular familiarity with their source texts" (Summer/Spring 2023, 247). In comparison, her review of the 1997 'The Lord of the Rings Tarot Deck and Card Game' from U.S. Game Systems admits that the deck "shows some effective dramatizations and elucidations of the qualities and characters of both the Tarot figures and symbols and of the stories aligned with them" (Spring/Summer 2013, 138). This presentation dives into the Major Arcana of both decks in terms of Tarot figures and Tolkien story.