Talking Tolkien
St Edward’s was delighted to host Professor Giuseppe Pezzini Associate Professor of Latin Language and Literature at Oxford University on Wednesday 23rd February, for a fascinating insight into Tolkien and the Classical World. The lecture was part of the twice-termly speaker events run by the Lyne Society on a range of classical topics.
Sixth Form pupil, Chandos Neville, reviews the event below.
On Wednesday evening, the Lyne Society hosted a talk by Professor Giuseppe Pezzini from Corpus Christi College, Oxford, on ‘The Gods in Classical and Tolkien’s Epic’, in a packed-out recital room. His talk on Tolkien, and more precisely on classical influences in Tolkien’s epic, shed new light on the ubiquitous presence of the classics in the works that everyone in the room had either read or seen in the film adaptations. The post-talk questions went on for about half an hour and delved deeper into Tolkien’s works and his classical references. The main aim of the talk from Professor Pezzini was to encourage us to read, or re-read, The Silmarillion especially, the work with more references to myths and epic tropes in Tolkien’s oeuvre. Professor Pezzini highlighted the tropes of arrow-shooting and divine interventions as prime examples of this, which link back to classical literature. The conversation continued even after the Q&A itself, bearing witness to the interest that it had sparked in all of us. St Edward’s Classics Teacher, Dr Torri, gave final remarks on the power of literature to fittingly conclude the event.
The Lyne Society will reconvene on 14th March when Dr Andrew Sillett will discuss the Legal and Political works of Cicero.
