Mythgard Academy: Recent Episodes
Mythgard Institute
Mythgard Academy aims to make engaging discussions of fantasy and science fiction literature free and open to everyone. The Mythgard Academy program features live discussions with Dr. Corey Olsen, The Tolkien Professor, and other experts on speculative fiction. Books are nominated and voted on by our supporters, and recordings are available for free via podcast and the Signum University YouTube channel.
Tonight we look carefully at the (scattered) thoughts Tolkien left on the end of the Elder Days in the Tale of Years.
Tonight, we see Christopher Tolkien working through the difficult tail end of the Elder Days.
Tonight we will see Christopher struggling, in retrospect, with the challenges of editing the Silmarillion.
Tonight we continue Hurin's long and depressing journey that Tolkien has chosen to spend a lot of time making longer and more depressing.
Tonight we return to Looking-Glass House and immediately attempt to leave it, spending time being considered by flowers.
Tonight we return to Looking-Glass House and immediately attempt to leave it, spending time being considered by flowers.
Tonight, we will join Alice in Looking-Glass House, but we may not be able to escape it.
Tonight, we will join Alice in Looking-Glass House, but we may not be able to escape it.
Tonight, we will join Alice in Looking-Glass House, but we may not be able to escape it.
Tonight, we will join Alice in Looking-Glass House, but we may not be able to escape it.
Tonight, we will join Alice in Looking-Glass House, but we may not be able to escape it.
Tonight we get towards, if not to, the end of Alice in Wonderland -- ending with intense courtroom drama!
Tonight we meet the bloodthirsty Queen of Hearts, and perhaps also the musical Mock Turtle with his excellent curricular plans.
Tonight, Alice begins to reflect on her own identity and changing sizes. And she also recites more wonderful poetry.
Tonight we will look at Alice's interactions with her body and mind, neither of which seem very predictable.
Join me tonight for our discussion of the last chapter of the book, looking at the rivers and beacon-hills of Gondor. We're finished!
Session 1: An Origin Poem and Foreshadowing. In a lilting and bouncy Introductory Poem, Lewis Carrol gives an origin story for the first book. Is it iambic heptameter or double quatrains of ballad stanza with which Carroll turns a pastoral poem into a demand by the Fates 3? He doesn't miss a trick, a twist, or a comical turn of poetic imagery, and in the end, he leaves an offering that should be taken seriously. And we meet the Alice who loves to show off her learning. Her maths and her wonders and her manners meet with a degree of difficulty insurmountable, and she makes a mistake. It will not be the last. Indeed, the first two chapters deal with Alice's relative size and desire to get through a small passage to the garden. But the whole thing starts with Alice easily popping down a rabbit hole foreshadowing many future improbably juxtaposed scenes. Another foreshadowing has Alice thinking about just her head and not her body getting through. We know where that will end up, don't we? But Carroll is not, here, imitating Cautionary Tales. Alice already knows them very well, such causes and effects won't stop her from considered action, especially where cordial and cake are concerned. And the effect? Surprise! For more information about the Mythgard Academy series on Alice's Adventures, visit https://mythgard.org/academy/alice-in...
This evening we contemplate both the mytho-astronomical view of the cosmos and also badgers.
Tonight we finish Part II of the book, with some final thoughts about death, and begin Part III!
Tonight, I will try to communicate more perfectly without language. If that doesn't work, I'll talk.
It's time for Part 2 of the Nature of Middle-earth, wherein we get to learn some fascinating lore!
Does Prince Imrahil have a beard? What color is Gollum's skin, anyway? How tall was Boromir? We need to know!
Tonight we look at the final version of Tolkien's thought on Elvish life spans, along with some other miscellaneous items.
Tonight we move towards the end of Tolkien's thoughts on aging, as we see his conception of Elves and their immortality continue to develop.
Tonight we continue to proceed with Tolkien as he brings myth, math, and worldbuilding together -- including some wild new early cameos!
Note: Stream ends abruptly at 1:55:08 Title: The Awakening: The Whole Story Week 5: Fixing the chronology of the Tale of Years leads to just enough room to fit in all the worldbuilding necessary for the Children to arrive, be discovered, and start the Great Migration. Note that Melkor was great at planning ahead, while the rest of the Valar were clueless about the Children and their place in the world.
The Beginnings, For Real Week 4: Good news, upcoming events, and a winner! Then we check The Professor's math and redefine an elven year. The march of time catches the Valar looking in the wrong direction. Melkor finds the Children first. Sauron becomes the Serpent of lore.
Growth and Change Week 3: We start with a dice roll for the fundraiser appreciation drawing, and then jump right in to the math. How long was elven gestation? And how long did it take for an elven family to recover and want a second child? Or a third? The math for this is meaningful. It sets the foundation for all that will come after. Like how elves experience time, why only male elves made it into the spotlight (really?), how intensely elves invest themselves in their work, among other delights.
Love and Time among the Eldar Week 2: Fall Fundraising update: weekly appreciation drawings at every class until the webinar! Tonight we wonder if invisible elves are still out there. And how old is Cirdan? And has Galadriel gone through Elfopause yet? And what does Glorfindel remember of his first time around? And we find that Elves are burdened with memory but completely in control of their will and actions. Even in expressing their 4 loves.
Week 1: Lofty Goals, and worthy news, and an auspicious date (mark it well, Saturday, October 16, 2021, Signum Webathon!) precede our inaugural dive into this new book. In the late 1950s, JRRT reworked the structure of Arda. He removed his flat earth and introduced Valian Years. What was the point? Not just math, surely. At last, we have the introductory 'Concerning Elves' material that will shape the Silmarillion. And we have a new word for the incarnate beings in Arda: hröambari.
Welcome to Luna, here is your narrator, Mannie, a free born, old cobber with one arm who’s not on Authority’s payroll. Look him up and down. He comes from complicated Loonie heritage, belongs to a line marriage, has a clear attitude against Authority and Warden, and a subtle attitude against Terra and Earthworms. He switches arms and jobs with resilience, faces extreme hardships on Luna or Terra, and machines really like him. That is dinkum. ‘Cause Luna is a hostile place. Life is not default. Survival is gift. Bad actors don’t live long in Luna. And everything about what enables survival here is the approval and active protection of the community. That and being a not-stupid. For more information about the Mythgard Academy series on The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, visit https://mythgard.org/academy/the-moon-is-a-harsh-mistress/
Week 24: And so we finish our tour of Hell and arrive at the crux of the world where we find Dante has been affected deeply by his travels at all three levels of his allegorical structure, and where Dante again faints, and where we also strengthen our understanding of the Medieval knowledge of World Geography. In Virgil’s capable hands the inversion principle moves us through Satan’s nether parts to the next realm, and we are free from the Inferno and the stars come out. For more information about the Mythgard Academy series on Dante's Inferno, visit https://mythgard.org/academy/inferno/
Week 23: Where Dante succumbs to the lure of base arguments and wishes he was merely in a dream. And where a bugle blast messes with Dante’s vision, and towers become giants, and not nice ones either. And Dante’s absolute terror returns and his wish to be anywhere else but the road to Hell. But Virgil trades Dante’s fame card for a ride in Antaeus fist into the dark, frozen well. There Dante’s hubris returns in time to help him harass and abuse the sinners; so much for pity and so much for brotherhood. Dante should take care not to betray his guide; we will return with ours next week as Dr. Olsen promises an end to this tour of Hell. For more information about the Mythgard Academy series on Dante's Inferno, visit https://mythgard.org/academy/inferno/
Week 20: Where we call bologna on Dante’s talent curbing and clearly see the simple summer simile. Where with Ulysses we pass the columns, and the poles, and founder on the shores of Mount Purgatory having found the earth round. Where we hear that one cannot logically be absolved before, or during, the commission of an evil deed or counsel. Sorry, not sorry, or something like that, Minos judges. And Dante litters his own path with cautionary examples; there but for the ‘rock’ goes he. For more information about the Mythgard Academy series on Dante's Inferno, visit https://mythgard.org/academy/inferno/
\Week 19: A Place Among the Classics In the seventh pocket of the eighth circle, the fraudulent thieves are beset with snakes. Dante calls them all serpents, but some have six legs, and some none; some are caliente, peppercorn serpents, and some are winged, fiery dragons; some are smoking, and some are boring. Later, while describing the transformations from snake to thief and thief to snake, Dante disses Ovid and Lucan, two poets he wished to be named with back in Limbo. For more information about the Mythgard Academy series on Dante's Inferno, visit https://mythgard.org/academy/inferno/
Week 17: Now into the second half of the Malebolge, we look back at the closing line of Canto 21 and The Comedy's lack of humor. Then on to Canto 23, where Aesop’s frog and mouse story is called upon to warn Dante against trusting too closely the partnership of Demons. And Virgil luges Dante down the rocky slope, making a quick escape from pocket 5 to 6, where they try to hide among the lead-lined, golden-robed hypocrites. For more information about the Mythgard Academy series on Dante's Inferno, visit https://mythgard.org/academy/inferno/
Tonight we encounter some really ... unexpected demons. What under the earth is going on here?
Week 15: We revisit the Baptistery of San Giovanni and notice the inversions in Dante’s destroying holy furniture to save a life while the popes destroy lives to save holy money for themselves. But what is with all the feet? And do you think Boniface saw the funny side of his little cameo, or would he be depressed in determinism like his predecessor having perverted the mechanism of forgiveness and having then no path to repentance? And here Virgil the ghost grabs Dante the flesh-man and poltergeists him back to the bridge, to the fifth ditch, the rampart of the Fortune Tellers. Where Dante cranes his own head to see the parade of backward-headed shades and sheds a tear for those who weep as their fate. And Virgil rebukes Dante, and Dante corrects Virgil, and one is ready to trust the poets again. For more information about the Mythgard Academy series on Dante's Inferno, visit https://mythgard.org/academy/inferno/
Dante Finds Himself Among Friends Week 12: There are no poor people in rings 8 and 9 of the 7th circle of Hell, but no one sees clearly either. Dante condescends to walk and talk with his old teacher Brunetto and stops to let three wealthy Florentine nobles ask for news from home. But everything about this tableau is inverted and full of oblique references. For more information about the Mythgard Academy series on Dante's Inferno, visit https://mythgard.org/academy/inferno/
Week 14: True to the nature of Fraud, the 8th circle is an artificial construct of inverted imagery split into 10 concentric pockets, with bridges that look down upon each trench. The first pocket is a gender discriminated container for pimps and seducers, a sex traffic kept moving by demons with whips. The second pocket is an egalitarian circle of very rude words (What? Would you like to sugar coat with flowery language the circle of flattery?). The third pocket is for spiritual pimps, the fraud of simony, punished in inversions of baptismal fonts with sprinklings of fire on feet. The core of these three - the pimps, the seducers, and the flatterers - is treating people as beasts for their own gain. O see what Dante did there. Then, with one mention of Dante’s guilt at breaking the Baptistry of Saint John, the session ends with an internet crash. For more information about the Mythgard Academy series on Dante's Inferno, visit https://mythgard.org/academy/inferno/
Week 13: At the waterfall edge of the 7th circle Dante gives up his belt to conjure a ride. What is the truth which seems a lie? Poetic allegory of course. For Dante breaks the 4th wall to give his poem a name, Comedy, and to swear that he saw a beast swim in the air up the waterfall. Geryon is the impossible thing, but that’s ok, he’s a fraud. No, he’s The Fraud and through his depiction we see the truth. Fraud or no, the brute animal is the only way down into the 8th circle. And even with the command to be strong and daring, Dante is afraid like Phaethon and Icarus as Geryon descends. For more information about the Mythgard Academy series on Dante's Inferno, visit https://mythgard.org/academy/inferno/
Violence Against God Session 11: Still in the Seventh Circle, in the first ring of the third ring of the Violent, where the violent objector is the landscape itself, fiery sands and flaming rain that banish all growth, we see Capaneus stuck in his railing rebellion against Jove. In the Old Man of Crete we see from the Golden Age to the crumbling of the Kingdom’s of Mankind a cracked statue weeping tears into four mythic rivers. Three of the rivers come into Hell. One confounds Dante's sense of direction, but protects his feet and quenches the fires above. And we shall forget about the fourth for the moment. For more information about the Mythgard Academy series on Dante's Inferno, visit https://mythgard.org/academy/inferno/
Concerning Violence Session 10: Where we arrive on time to find the tormentors of the violent are themselves the violent. The symbolic Nessus, whose own blood became the instrument of the death of his enemies, is the gracious guide and ride for Dante across the field of blood and flame and into the black wood of the suicides. Where we pause and check our own souls, lest we be careless, for the Medieval mind held that to take one’s own life was to be both murderer and victim. And Dante, in pity, becomes the voice of one tree, for when you are in the seventh circle if someone up above remembers your name it’ll be ok, cheers! For more information about the Mythgard Academy series on Dante's Inferno, visit https://mythgard.org/academy/inferno/
Week 9: Where we stop and notice that the Medieval mind is not modern. And just as the organization of Hell was Aristotlean so too is the nature of physics and philosophy. As Virgil and Dante discuss the purpose and place of everything in the world, Prof. Corey reminds us that in their model the sun is Happy to go around the earth, and the rock is Happy to fall to the ground with a thud, and the soul is Happy to go toward the God who made it. Thus choosing to chart a different path is the essence of sin. And in the Happiness of the motion of the spheres both the zodiac and astronomy, even as seen from the pit of Hell, could be used to tell the time of night. And we are reminded that the Harrowing of Hell has had the metaphysical effect of changing the entire landscape, making a highway out of a sheer fall.
The Mythgard Academy resumes our discussion of Dante's Inferno. Having gotten, with some difficulty, through the Gates of Dis, it is time to enter a new sector of Hell!
Class 7: Where we are reminded that Dante’s frame is a vision and an allegory and not a GPS-enabled map, and even more disturbing there are no bodies in the pageant he sees except his own. Yet, when they get to Dis, the locks may be disabled but so is their confidence; and now all Dis’ demons block their way and Virgil is dismayed. And the angel is full of disdain. And we distance ourselves from Virgil. And we leave Hell in disarray. For more information about the Mythgard Academy series on Dante's Inferno, visit https://mythgard.org/academy/inferno/
Class Six: Where Boethius and Dante do not understand Fortune, but Virgil does. And three of the 7 deadly sins make their appearance in a swampy, messy, mud wrestling fracas, where souls struggle against Fortune on multiple levels. And someone admits to being on the game show and to seeing someone fall! Apropos! And then there was a tall tower, with eyes. And here Dante refuses to faint but waxes eloquently unallegorical on the fate of his RL political enemy. For more information about the Mythgard Academy series on Dante's Inferno, visit https://mythgard.org/academy/inferno/
Class Five: Where we ask: Does Virgil recognize the shade of Aeneas’ Cerberus, and is his beast being punished here for its own appetite? And does Ciacco really want to be remembered for eternity as the man with mud on his face...? And though there is an order to the levels and punishments of Hell, the intended audience may not be obvious. And so we move from lust, through gluttony, but cannot be bothered to pause for sloth and end tonight with avarice. For more information about the Mythgard Academy series on Dante's Inferno, visit https://mythgard.org/academy/inferno/
Class Four: Where we digress, and agree with Aristotle. And then we think about Francesca da Rimini and Paolo and the very tragedy of their romance is the irony of their situation in the Second Circle of Hell. Is it really about turning Courtly Love on its head? Yup! And can Dante understand this intimately? Um, Dante? Oh, he has fainted again. And will we really enter the Third Circle of Hell on the day before American Thanksgiving? Where Cerberus, the three thoated doglike worm barks at, claws, rakes and rends the shades of the gluttons? Ah, we will save some of this for next week. For more information about the Mythgard Academy series on Dante's Inferno, visit https://mythgard.org/academy/inferno/
Class three: Dante was a poet of courtly love, and he perfected the art in pursuit of Beatrice; but here in the Inferno, he places her as his patroness in heaven sending him aid. He starts at the gates of Hell that say: Abandon all Hope; and The Divine Architect has the authority, wisdom, and love to accomplish justice here. Yet Dante must put cowardice aside and move forward through sweat and blood and tears. Past a river with a boat for the dead only, and past a Limbo where he writes himself into the list of great Latin poets, and on to where mythological pagan characters are the portal keepers of the first two circles of Hell. For more information about the Mythgard Academy series on Dante's Inferno, visit https://mythgard.org/academy/inferno/
Class Two: Where we set the frame, and meet the sun, and identify the scary beasts. And we see that the political, moral, spiritual, and poetical allegories blend and twist and illustrate each other. Can we dig deeper and find more treasures in Dante’s words? Oh, yes. Look how he places one moment in time! He never just says, ‘It was morning.’ No! He must take four lines to place his story in a celestial context with heavenly descriptions. And is that Virgil? And the Virgin Mary? And a host of feminine saints? What help is there for a visionary with second thoughts? Perhaps there is respite in courtly love. For more information about the Mythgard Academy series on Dante's Inferno, visit https://mythgard.org/academy/inferno/ Follow Mythgard: - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mythgardinstitute - Twitter: https://twitter.com/mythgardian - Instagram: https://instagram.com/mythgardian Connect with Signum University: - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/signum-university - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/signumuniversity - Twitter: https://twitter.com/signumu - Instagram: https://instagram.com/signumuniversity - Twitch: https://twitch.tv/signumu
Mythgard Academy goes to Hell with Dr. Corey Olsen and Dante’s Inferno. Class One starts off the close look at Dante’s masterful poem with a great introduction to the 4-fold interpretation of poetry and scripture, and a warning to avoid looking at the notes instead of experiencing the poem for ourselves. It is a deep dive into a super gutsy fan fiction in everyday language that is full of allegory, politics, morality, intricate structure, and rich poetic patterns. For more information about the Mythgard Academy series on Dante's Inferno, visit https://mythgard.org/academy/inferno/
Note: Prof. Olsen’s hardware failed about half an hour before he intended to end the discussion, so the video stops abruptly.
The Mythgard Academy lecture series focuses on novel-length books, with a weekly lecture over eight to ten weeks. However, as part of the Signum University Annual Fund Campaign the Halloween Extravaganza in 2015, Dr. Corey Olsen conducted a lecture on one of Tolkien’s shorter works: The Father Christmas Letters, a selection of letters Tolkien wrote to his children over a number of years. If you’ve never read or considered this short but imaginative book, this is your chance to delve into it.
Mythgard Academy, the Simarillion Film Project, and other free events and series that we offer free to the public are funded by tax-deductible donations. Please consider donating by going to http://www.signumuniversity.org and clicking on the “Donate” link at the top of the fast links box.
As part of the Signum University Annual Fund Campaign in the fall of 2015, in this Mythgard Academy mini-class, Signum University President Dr. Corey Olsen discussed the story and themes of the episode "Blink" from Series 3 of Doctor Who. Later in the segment, he was joined by Signum students Katherine Sas and Curtis Weyant – of the Kat & Curt's TV Re-View podcast – to discuss how the episode fits more generally into the overall show.
Mythgard Academy, the Simarillion Film Project, and other free events and series that we offer free to the public are funded by tax-deductible donations. Please consider donating by going to http://www.signumuniversity.org and clicking on the “Donate” link at the top of the fast links box.
The Digestion of English Magic: In Class 5, Jonathan Strange meets the emphatically practical Lord Wellington and performs questionable magic on the Iberian peninsula. We also discuss how Mr. Norrell shows his most endearing qualities just as he sinks to his most petty and selfish depths.
The Growth of English Magic: In week 4, we discuss the role of Vinculus and his book, and take a detailed look at his interactions with Childermass in the Tarot card reading episode. In addition, we are finally introduced to the eponymous Jonathan Strange and explore the odd presentation of his backstory via the perplexing tale of his father Lawrence Strange's vendetta against the servant Jeremy Johns.
The Emancipation of English Magic: In Class 3, we explore the role of the abolition movement and the theme of emancipation in the novel's subtext and in adding depth to the character of Stephen Black. We also take a look at the character and motivations of the Gentleman with the Thistle-down Hair, the resurrection of Lady Pole, and the prophecy given by street magician Vinculus.
Perspectives of English Magic: In week 2, we discuss the dramatic discrepancy between how London society actually views magic and how Mr. Norrell wishes them to see it. In doing so, we explore Mr. Norrell's first meetings with characters such as Mr. Drawlight, Sir Walter Pole, Captain Harcourt-Bruce, and the Gentleman with the Thistle-down Hair and their varied reactions to both Norrell and his proposed revival (or redefinition) of English magic.
The Discovery of English Magic: In the first class, we discuss the intricacy of Susanna Clarke's subcreation, examining how she creates the "impression of depth" through her fidelity to the style and tone of 19th century British literature and through the detailed presentation of a convincing alternative history. Special attention is paid to the book's presentation of magic, the treatment of Færie, and the introduction of the staid and miserly Mr. Norrell.