Want to know a little more about what philology is, what Tolkien’s job was, and how languages work (both natural and constructed)? Then join these two professors for a long conversation asking things like: Which words are pretty? Why are they pretty? Does God think they’re pretty? Is English better than German? Is Welsh better than English? They get into the concept of “true names,” important discussions of war and peace, and lament the great decline. The conclusion is that Tolkien condemns coercion and petty tyrants—a topic applicable to our own times as to his.

Carl Edlund Anderson’s faculty page

Carl Edlund Anderson on Google scholar

Carl Edlund Anderson on Academia.edu

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