06/18/2024
Hey, everyone! Spread the word about this upcoming special issue of the ChLA Quarterly focusing on Tolkien and Children's Literature!
CFP: J.R.R. Tolkien & Children’s Lit
A Special Issue of Children’s Literature Association Quarterly
Joseph T. Thomas, Jr., Guest Editor
San Diego State University
The deadline for submissions to this special issue is September 13, 2024.
J.R.R. Tolkien is best known for his seminal fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings. Even his renowned children’s book, The Hobbit, is primarily considered an “Enchanting Prelude to The Lord of the Rings” (a sentiment often rehearsed on the covers of most paperback editions of the work). This special issue of the Children’s Literature Association Quarterly, however, asks us to put aside The Lord of the Rings and focus instead on those works that might be called “minor”—and specifically those works made for minors: Tolkien’s unfortunately neglected children’s books (including The Hobbit, Letters from Father Christmas, Mr. Bliss, and Roverandom) as well as his playful visual art and many children’s poems (a good number of the latter eventually published in The Adventures of Tom Bombadil). Of course, we’re especially interested in scholarship and criticism exploring the first edition of The Hobbit, a novel that, while borrowing some names from Tolkien’s inchoate Silmarillion and Lost Tales, was originally conceived and published as a children’s story set outside of the mythos that he would eventually fold into the revised second edition and its influential sequel. Additionally, we’re hoping for scholarship and criticism treating Tolkien’s folk and fairy tales (such as “Leaf by Niggle” and Smith of Wootton Major, Farmer Giles of Ham and “The Sellic Spell”), those marginal texts resting on the borders between children’s literature and faerie.
Finally, we are curious to see scholarship examining Tolkien’s conception(s) of childhood and the influence children’s literature and “the rhetoric of childhood” have had on Tolkien’s writings (see Lois Kuznets’ “Tolkien and the Rhetoric of Childhood”). What a wonder to receive a piece placing Edward Wyke-Smith’s The Marvellous Land of Snergs in conversation with Roverandom and/or Mr. Bliss. That is, we encourage submissions investigating the question of influence—especially on Tolkien’s conception of children’s literature (including his thoughts on illustration and book design, both practical and theoretical). One can imagine critical reappraisals of the first edition of The Hobbit in relation to the work of Lewis Carroll, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, Andrew Lang, George MacDonald, William Morris, Edith Nesbit, or even Snorri Sturluson (among many others).
Which is to say, we are not looking for work that engages The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion (as published), or the wider Legendarium informing both (including, for the most part, Christopher Tolkien’s magisterial twelve-volume The History of Middle-earth).
All theoretical approaches are welcomed, as are works that challenge the conventions of the scholarly essay: collaborative pieces; works that blur the line between the personal essay and academic paper; performance works; interviews; comics; short plays; essays in verse; short papers (notes and queries) or micro essays; really, the sky’s the limit. However, we do suggest that formally innovative and unconventional submissions make clear—perhaps in a short preface—how their form informs or illuminates the arguments being made.
That said, traditional academic articles submitted for publication should shoot for approximately 20-30 pages and conform to MLA style. We follow the bibliographical format specified in the eighth edition of the MLA Handbook, omitting the designations “Print” and “Web,” but including URLs when appropriate. Please send completed essays by e-mail attachment in Microsoft Word or Rich Text Format to [email protected] & [email protected]. In your subject line, flag your message with Tolkien Special Issue. Submissions should follow the ChLAQ submission guidelines found at https://www.childlitassn.org/chla-quarterly . (Note: please anonymize the essay itself—that is, remove words and phrases that clearly identify the author[s]—so we can immediately send the work to peer reviewers.)
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The editors of the ChLA Quarterly will consider scholarly articles on all aspects of children's literature from any time period. Articles submitted for publication should be 20-30 pages in length and should conform to MLA style. We follow the bibliographical format specified in the eighth edition of...
