A Thousand and One Faces of Grief in Tolkien’s Legendarium

Gartner, Marija (author), Krevel, Mojca (mentor)

This Master’s thesis deals with different expressions and forms of grief in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Legendarium. The essence of the thesis is the analysis of the parallels between the relevant theoretical research, the writer's life and the characters/events related to grief in his literary work. The specific books I have looked at are The Silmarillion, Beren and Lúthien, The Children of Húrin and The Lord of the Rings trilogy. The thesis, then, engages with research on the history of grief and connects it to current findings. To get a general idea of why there is so much grief and loss in the Legendarium, the next chapter looks at Tolkien's life and trauma. Finally, the thesis takes a practical approach and connects the grieving characters to the conceptual design. The aim is to see how many instances of positive and negative reactions to grief are described by Tolkien and portrayed by the various characters. The final chapter summarizes the findings and concludes that many different grief responses outlined by various researchers in the field of grief can be found in the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, such as complicated grief, resilient survivors, depression and suicide.

• Language: English
• Keywords: grief, mourning, loss, Tolkien, grief reactions, resilient survivors, depression, suicide
• Work type: Master's thesis/paper
• Organization: FF - Faculty of Arts
• Year: 2021
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-130541
• COBISS.SI-ID: 77419523
• Publication date in RUL: 16.09.2021

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Title: Tisoč in en obraz žalosti v Tolkienovih delih

Abstract

Magistrsko delo obravnava različne izraze žalovanja v delih pisatelja J.R.R. Tolkiena. Delo črta vzporednice med teorijo s področja žalosti, določenimi deli življenja pisatelja samega in z liki/dogodki iz del, ki vsebujejo primere žalovanja. Specifična literarna dela, ki sem jih izbrala za analizo, so sledeča: Silmarillion, Beren in Luthien, Hurinova otroka ter trilogija Gospodar prstanov. Prvi del tako preučuje zgodovino raziskovanja žalosti in jo povezuje s trenutnimi ugotovitvami. Naslednje poglavje obravnava Tolkienovo življenje in travme, ki se zrcalijo v njegovih delih. Zadnje poglavje ubere praktičen pristop in poveže različne situacije/like, ki odražajo žalovanje s teorijo. Namen moje študije je ugotoviti, koliko primerov pozitivnega in negativnega žalovanja opisuje in prikazuje Tolkien. Zadnje poglavje povzema ugotovitve in zaključuje, da je v delih J.R.R. kar nekaj različnih procesov žalovanja, kot so zapleteno žalovanje, psihično odporni preživeli (resilient survivors), depresija in samomor.

• Keywords: žalost, žalovanje, izguba, Tolkien, psihično odporni preživeli, depresija, samomor