When you first read the Lord of the Rings, which character did you most relate to? Has that changed as you’ve gotten older? This month, we are joined by Dr. Luke Shelton, who leads us down his lesser-trod path, exploring reader response theory and the ways that personal experience and interpretation interact with criticism. Thanks for joining us, Luke, for this fascinating and emotional discussion!

Citations: 

Thank you to our guest host, Dr. Luke Shelton! 

How to find Luke:

Instagram: @lukebshelton

Bsky: @lukebshelton.bsky.social

Luke’s website: https://luke-shelton.com/ (Accessed June 27, 2025)

Show Notes from Luke:

Luke’s work:

Luke’s dissertation is free online here: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/81312/

The title is “‘Small Hands Do Them Because They Must’: Examining the Reception of The Lord of the Rings among Young Readers”

Luke’s most recent publication: “Towards an Ethos of Discussing In-Corporeal Gender in Fantasy Literature: Part I—A 'Feminine' Eldil and a 'Masculine' Vala”: https://dc.swosu.edu/mythpro/vol2024/iss1/7/?utm_source=dc.swosu.edu%2Fmythpro%2Fvol2024%2Fiss1%2F7&utm_medium=PDF&utm_campaign=PDFCoverPages

In prior scholarship, Luke talked about:

Dawn Walls-Thumma’s “Attainable Vistas: Historical Bias in Tolkien's Legendarium as a Motive for Transformative Fanworks”: https://scholar.valpo.edu/journaloftolkienresearch/vol3/iss3/3/

Robin Reid’s “J.R.R. Tolkien, Culture Warrior: The Alt-Right's Crusade against the Tolkien Society's 2021 Summer Seminar on ‘Tolkien and Diversity’”: https://scholar.valpo.edu/journaloftolkienresearch/vol16/iss2/4/

Maria Alberto’s “‘The effort to translate’: Fan Film Culture and the Works of J.R.R. Tolkien”: https://scholar.valpo.edu/journaloftolkienresearch/vol3/iss3/2/

Megan Abrahamson’s “J.R.R. Tolkien, Fanfiction, and ‘The Freedom of the Reader’”: https://dc.swosu.edu/mythlore/vol32/iss1/5/

Ernest Mathjis, editor of Watching The Lord of the Rings: Tolkien’s World Audiences

For gaming, Luke mentioned:

Alicia Fox-Lenz and a forthcoming volume she edited which will be about Tolkien and Gaming, title unknown at this time.

Tim Bolton: Luke mentioned that he occasionally writes pieces about gaming for Amon Hen (not something that is easy to link to, unfortunately), it looks like he also has a blog which is more consistent: https://greenbookofthewhitedowns.blogspot.com/search?q=gaming+in+middle-earth