By-The-Bywater: A Podcast about All Things J.R.R. Tolkien

31. There Was So Much Math!


Listen Later

Jared, Oriana and Ned talk about Ned’s choice of topic: The Nature of

Middle-earth. The newest official Tolkien book is anything but a cohesive
volume, instead being a collection of remaining unpublished writings from the
overall Tolkien archive about Middle-earth, written mostly in the late 1950s
and late 1960s, with a heavy focus on more philosophical and generally
foundational concepts and aspects of Tolkien’s creation. Edited by Carl
Hostetter with the full approval of Christopher Tolkien before the latter’s
passing, it’s at once detailed scholarship and the source of a variety of new
wrinkles and outright surprises concerning Middle-earth. What can be made of
the deep discussions of Elvish culture and life, and the literal differences
as a species from Men? How did Tolkien address the concept of Elvish
reincarnation in particular, and what exactly did that imply in terms of what
the Valar could do? What does it mean that Tolkien constantly chose to frame
everything from the point of view of referring to ‘scholars’ and authorities
rather than simply leaning into his own creative process? And how delightful
is it to learn that Númenor was the home of a legendary annual bear dance?

Show Notes.

Jared’s

doodle.
Besides bears, we learn that Númenor has a lot of cliffs.

The California redwood parks are

among the best.

TheOneRing.net’s

summary of the Howard Shore semi-news/demi-rumor/whatever it might be.

Star Wars: Visions is a treat.

Red X by David Demchuk is the book Jared’s illustrated. Check it out!

The Nature of Middle-earth -- order away!

Vinyar Tengwar and the

E.L.F. info is there for you.

Kristine Larsen’s extensive

bibliography on her work on
Tolkien and astronomy is very well worth the investigation.

The Isaac Newton story Ned mentioned is a little more involved than

that—here’s a 2014 interview with an author who wrote about Newton’s papers in more detail.

Now if you’ve not seen Spirited

Away, we do highly recommend it.

The Notion Club

Papers is too
underdiscussed, really. It’s a very interesting, strange effort.

Flat-earth Catholics, well...we’ll just link

this.
(It’s not ‘pro-flat earth,’ rest assured.)

Neoplatonism! We understand if you’re already

asleep.

If you want a little more about the phenomenal

world…

The Magisterium is VERY

much a thing.

So let’s talk the Gnostics!

Enjoy some more about bear

dances in our world. As for Finnish bear
cults...

You can support By-The-Bywater and all of Megaphonic on

Patreon, and thank you if you do!

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

By-The-Bywater: A Podcast about All Things J.R.R. TolkienBy Jared Pechaček, Oriana Scwindt, and Ned Raggett

  • 4.8
  • 4.8
  • 4.8
  • 4.8
  • 4.8

4.8

29 ratings


More shows like By-The-Bywater: A Podcast about All Things J.R.R. Tolkien

View all
Jay & Miles X-Plain the X-Men by Jay Edidin & Miles Stokes

Jay & Miles X-Plain the X-Men

1,699 Listeners

Imaginary Worlds by Eric Molinsky | QCODE

Imaginary Worlds

1,992 Listeners

The Tolkien Road by The Tolkien Road

The Tolkien Road

382 Listeners

Lore by Aaron Mahnke

Lore

44,919 Listeners

Hidden Brain by Hidden Brain, Shankar Vedantam

Hidden Brain

43,483 Listeners

The Prancing Pony Podcast by The Prancing Pony Podcast

The Prancing Pony Podcast

2,005 Listeners

It’s Just A Show by Chris Piuma and Charlotte Wells (and Adam Clarke and Beth Martin)

It’s Just A Show

48 Listeners

Dark Histories by Ben Cutmore

Dark Histories

1,804 Listeners

This Is Your Mixtape by Michael Collins

This Is Your Mixtape

10 Listeners

You’re Not Funny by Adam Clarke and Chris Piuma

You’re Not Funny

1 Listeners

And Thereby Hangs A Tale by Adam Clarke

And Thereby Hangs A Tale

1 Listeners

The Opposite Of Lonely by Nadia Halim

The Opposite Of Lonely

0 Listeners

The Scene of the Scene by Megaphonic

The Scene of the Scene

0 Listeners

You're Wrong About by Sarah Marshall

You're Wrong About

21,684 Listeners

The Tolkien Professor by The Tolkien Professor (Corey Olsen)

The Tolkien Professor

229 Listeners

A Part Of Our Scare-itage by Adam Clarke and Sarah Chamberlain

A Part Of Our Scare-itage

7 Listeners

American Hysteria by chelsey weber-smith

American Hysteria

3,216 Listeners

Dear Reader by Michael Collins and Emily Gushue Whalen

Dear Reader

1 Listeners

The Spouter-Inn by Suzanne Conklin Akbari and Chris Piuma

The Spouter-Inn

31 Listeners

HubrisWeen! by S Frost and Tim Lehnerer

HubrisWeen!

0 Listeners

Maintenance Phase by Aubrey Gordon & Michael Hobbes

Maintenance Phase

16,393 Listeners

A More Civilized Age: A Star Wars Podcast by A More Civilized Age

A More Civilized Age: A Star Wars Podcast

1,657 Listeners

Gone Medieval by History Hit

Gone Medieval

1,758 Listeners

Game Show 1939! by Chris Piuma and Michael Collins

Game Show 1939!

2 Listeners

If Books Could Kill by Michael Hobbes & Peter Shamshiri

If Books Could Kill

8,868 Listeners

After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal by History Hit

After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal

908 Listeners