论魔戒和北欧神话史诗之间的关系_开题报告

Distance Education College of Zhejiang University

Thesis proposal of Bachelor Degree  

Title   On the Relationship between Norse Mythology and Epics and The Lord of the Rings

Major   Economic and Trade English                                                              

Learning Center   Huajiachi                                                                  

Name   Wang Xuehong            Learning No.  714128052154                  

Supervised by   Professor Fang Fumin                                                    

30th Sept., 2016 

Ⅰ Document overview

Perhaps no author of the past century has inspired such a contentious debate as the one surrounding J. R. R. Tolkien. J.R.R.Tolkien studied the Old Norse literature and mythology thoroughly. While knowing Northern literature does not provide a key to unlock the meanings of his major works, his characters, creatures, implements, customs, incidents, and themes do have antecedents in the Eddas and sagas. Countless readers consider The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, and The Silmarillion—not to mention the creation of the attendant languages, histories, maps, artwork, and apocrypha—the greatest creative accomplishment of a modern author. His many critics dismiss his work as childish, irrelevant, and worse. If his defenders and detractors have common ground, it is in their shared tendency to consider Tolkien's works escapist and romantic, the work of a man removed from his own time. In doing so, however, they make an appalling oversight. Tolkien's project was as grand and avant-garde as those of Wagner or the Futurists, and his works are as suffused with the spirit of the age as any by Eliot, Joyce, or Hemingway. Thus, it is vital that Tolkien's work be placed in conversation with his contemporaries—that it be regarded not as isolated or anachronistic, but as part of the literary current. By turns a soldier, linguist, and mythographer, Tolkien was a writer fully in touch with his era, and his work reveals modernist attributes—and even ambitions of modernist scope—that deserve to be explored.

Defining modernism is a fraught endeavor, as it was not only a movement in and of itself but also a collection of movements, such as Symbolism, Futurism, Dada, Surrealism, and Expressionism. Most strict definitions of modernism fall apart upon close examination, and even pinning the movement down chronologically is difficult—when we speak of modernism in theatre we cast as far back as Ibsen, while in painting we might point as late as the Cubists.

Ⅱ Abstract

1. Introduction

2. Root and Inspiration

2.1. About Author 

2.2. Introduction to the Norse Mythology and ancient epics

2.2.1 Norse mythology

2.2.2 Ancient epics

2.3 Introduction to Inspiration of The Lord of the Rings

3. Various creatures

3.1. Elves 

3.2. Dwarves 

3.3. Dragons 

4. Themes and Symbols

4.1 Symbols

4.1.1 A magic ring 

4.1.2 Dark Lord Sauron

4.2 Heroes: Aragorn and Frodo

5. Conclusion

Ⅲ Bibliography

Christina Scull，Wayne G. Hammond. The J.R.R.Tolkien Companion and Guide [M],  London, UK: HarperCollins UK, 2006.

Humphrey Carpenter. ed. The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien [Z], Boston, USA: Houghton Mifflin,1981.

Joseph Campbell. The hero with a thousand faces[M], London, UK: Fontana Press, 1993.

J. R. R. Tolkien. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring[M], London, UK: HarperCollins UK,2007.

J. R. R. Tolkien. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers[M], London, UK: HarperCollins UK,2007.

J. R. R. Tolkien. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King[M], London, UK: HarperCollins UK,2007.

Shippey, T.A. The Road to Middle-earth[M], New York, USA: HarperCollins Publishers,1982.

Wagner Vit. Tolkien proves he's still the king[N], The Toronto Star, 16 April. 2007:A1

刘耘. 论《魔戒》的英雄人物形象弗拉多[J]. 《引进与咨询》 2006（8）：45-47

吴陈亮，姜德成. 再现神话英雄——析《魔戒》中阿拉贡的英雄特征[J]. 《电     影文学》 2008（24）：102-103.

于轶. 北欧神话体系的再造—《魔戒》的神话原型解析 [J]. 《内蒙古大学》 2011.