“Tolkien’s Animals” a special issue of Journal of Tolkien Research (special issue of Journal of Tolkien Research)

CFP: Special Issue of  Journal of Tolkien Research on “Tolkien’s Animals”

Kris Swank, guest editor 

ARTICLE DRAFT DEADLINE:January 23, 2023

J.R.R. Tolkien’s writings frequently engage with animals. He portrays interspecies relationshipsbetween humans and non-human animals such those of Farmer Giles and his dog, Garm,or Gandalf and Shadowfax. Then, there are the bestiary animals from medieval tradition,Fastitocalon, the Oliphaunt, and dragons. There is Beorn the werebear, the mysterious fox in The Lord of the Rings, dogs, cats, bats, birds, deer, horses, wolves, and many more animals whichenrich Tolkien’s story-worlds.

Journal of Tolkien Research seeks to publish a special issue building on and expanding beyond the successful 2022 ICMS at Kalamazoo paper session, “Tolkien & the Medieval Animal.” This special issue, “Tolkien’s Animals,” seeks articles from a variety of theoretical perspectives, addressing a wide range of animals, and not necessarily connected with medieval conceptions.