Jason Fisher kindly gave me permission to reprint his blog post on the upcoming Congress. Enjoy! (And read his blog regularly!)

The schedule for the Forty-fifth International Congress on Medieval Studies, also known simply as Kalamazoo, has been published. The conference runs May 13-16, 2010 at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo. One of the event's innumerable sponsors is Tolkien at Kalamazoo, which is running seven sessions this year. I won't be attending Kalamazoo myself, but as a public service, here's what those who do can look forward to (for dates and times, you can refer to the full published schedule):

Four paper sessions:
    MEDIEVAL FANTASY, ALCHEMY, AND MODERN SCIENCE IN TOLKIEN'S LEGENDARIUM
  • Elvencentrism: "Elven Nature Preserves" in the Works of J.R.R. Tolkien, Ann Martinez, U. of Kansas
  • "Worlds on Worlds": Tolkien, Lewis, and the Medieval and Modern Theological Implications of Extraterrestrial Life, Kristine Larsen, Central Connecticut State U.
  • Inside Literature: Tolkien's Explorations of Medieval Genres, John D. Rateliff, Independent Scholar
  • J.R.R. Tolkien and The Battle of Maldon: An Example of "Freer" Verse?, Stuart D. Lee, U. of Oxford
    • TOLKIEN AND THE BIBLE
  • Neues Testament und Märchen: Tolkien, Fairy Stories, and the Gospels, John William Houghton, Hill School
  • "Justice is not healing": J.R.R. Tolkien's Pauline Constructs in "Finwë and Míriel", Amelia A. Rutledge, George Mason U.
  • Tolkien on the Old English Pater Noster: Digging Niggling Calligraphy, John R. Holmes, Franciscan U. of Steubenville
  • The Lord of the Fish: Tolkien and the Book of Jonah, Michael Foster, Independent Scholar
    • TOLKIEN AS SCHOLAR, TRANSLATOR, ACADEMIC
  • Tolkien as Pearl Maiden: Exhortation as Parable, David Thomson, Baylor U.
  • Casting Away Treasures: Tolkien's Use of The Pearl in The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, Leigh Smith, East Stroudsburg U.
  • The Pearl and The Jewels: Beren and Luthien [sic] and The Pearl, Janice M. Bogstad, U. of Wisconsin - Eau Claire
    • TOLKIEN UN-BODIED
  • To Be or Not to Be? The Enigma of the Balrog in Tolkien's Mythology, Bradford Lee Eden, U. of California - Santa Barbara
  • Tolkien's Ramblin' Men, Peter Grybauskas, U. of Maryland
  • "It is enough to make the dead rise out of their graves!": Tolkien, Oliphant, and Gendered Conventions of the Supernatural, Sharin Schroeder, U. of Minnesota - Twin Cities
Two roundtables:

THE HOBBIT
A roundtable discussion with Jennifer Culver, U. of Texas - Dallas; Deborah Sabo, U. of Arkansas - Fayetteville; John D. Rateliff, Independent Scholar; Corey Olsen, Washington College; Janice M. Bogstad, U. of Wisconsin–Eau Claire; and Merlin DeTardo, Independent Scholar. Presider: Douglas A. Anderson, Independent Scholar.

TEACHING TOLKIEN
A roundtable discussion with Victoria Wodzak, Viterbo U.; Michael Foster, Independent Scholar; Jon Porter, Butler University; Kristine Larsen, Central Connecticut State U.; Corey Olsen, Washington College; and Benjamin S. W. Barootes, McGill U. Presider: Judy Ann Ford, Texas A&M U. - Commerce.

And another session (as usual at Kalamazoo) just for fun:
    TOLKIEN UNBOUND: READERS' THEATER PERFORMANCE
  • Readings from Sigurd and Gudrun [sic], Yvette Kisor, Jennifer Culver, and Bradford Lee Eden
  • "The Road Goes Ever On" by Donald Swann, Eileen Marie Moore
  • The Lord of the Ringos, Michael Foster and Amy Amendt-Raduege
    • In addition to papers to be delivered under the impresa of Tolkien at Kalamazoo, a quick search of the full schedule turned up a few more papers and sessions of interest, to wit:
  • Jeff Smith's "Bone": Revising Tolkien and Lewis's Antimodernist Fantasies, Andrew Taylor, Western Michigan U.
  • Landscapes of Lord of the Rings Online, Ryan T. Harper, U. of Rochester
  • Middle-Earth [sic] and the Waste Land: Greenwood, Apocalypse, and Post-War Resolution, Edward L. Risden, St. Norbert College
Plus an entire session of papers presented by students from the NEH Summer Institute on Tolkien conducted at Texas A&M - Commerce last summer. The session is being run by Judy Ann Ford, one of the Institute's two co-directors (and the other co-director, Robin Anne Reid, is in charge of Tolkien at Kalamazoo). I was particularly pleased to see this session, as I was one of the guest instructors at the Institute. I wrote a little bit about the Institute here (see the penultimate paragraph). It's very nice to see the Institute bearing fruit.

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