Tolkien as a Student

[Marky Lazer]

This topic doesn't belong in "The books" I think, but I don't know where to put it otherwise.

I am writing my dissertation on constructed languages and obviously Tolkien is the focus of it. Now I want to find out what courses Tolkien took when he was at Exeter. Does anyone know how I can obtain the syllabus of Exeter College while Tolkien studied English in 1913-15?

[Anguirel]

He read Greats (Classics) (didn't he? like Lewis) so in those noble bygone days that means doing it properly - pretty much every literary, historical and philosophical classical text going

In theory you do literature (perceived as the 'soft' stuff) for Mods, ie the first two of four years, and the rest for Greats afterwards (though it's a lot more flexible/diluted/compartmentalised now)

It would be interesting to know what classical texts he especially liked reading. There's a good book on CS Lewis' lifelong engagement with/translation of the Aeneid, inc. Oxford etc (edited by the creepy Walter Hooper I think), which you might find useful for comparison perhaps?

EDIT: I also hear, more importantly, that he had an awesome fistfight with FR Leavis in Balliol Quad. Squatter will tell you all about it if you ask him

ANOTHER EDIT: Wiki informs me he did Mods but then got bored and switched to the nascent English school, presumably to get at all those juicy Norse vowel changes...

[Mister Underhill]

Good luck finding a 1913-15 syllabus; you'll need some academic archeology skills to accomplish that feat, I think. But in the meantime you might want to check out Tolkien and the Great War by John Garth. It's got some good information about Tolkien's activities -- and if I recall correctly, in particular his interest in and study of languages -- at King Edward's School, and later at Oxford.

[Mithalwen]

I am writing my dissertation on constructed languages and obviously Tolkien is the focus of it. Now I want to find out what courses Tolkien took when he was at Exeter. Does anyone know how I can obtain the syllabus of Exeter College while Tolkien studied English in 1913-15?

http://www.tolkiensociety.org/ed/scholars.html

The link to the mini-biography by David Doughan http://www.tolkiensociety.org/tolkien/biography.html
gives an outline of Tolkien's studies and if that does not suffice a courteous e-mail to:

education@tolkiensociety.org

might be your best bet but read through the guidance on the Resources for Students first and bear in mind that these are people who are providing help from the goodness of their hearts, not because they are paid to, and don't expect an instant response.

[Marky Lazer]

Thanks everyone, so far.

To be a bit more specific, I need to know whether Tolkien ever got taught about the Weltanschuungstheorie (world-view theory) of Wilhelm von Humboldt.

[Morthoron]

To be a bit more specific, I need to know whether Tolkien ever got taught about the Weltanschuungstheorie (world-view theory) of Wilhelm von Humboldt.

Hmmm...I'm thinking that they weren't too keen on Weltanschauung in Edwardian England. I don't believe Von Humboldt's ideas on linguistic relativity really caught on outside Germany until the work of Sapir and Whorf in America, and later Noam Chomsky.

[Marky Lazer]

Don't forget Franz Boas...

I have found out Tolkien knew about works of Boas, von Humboldt and Sapir in different areas though. Von Humboldt and sound symbolism; Boas and his view on race; and Sapir's phonetic symbolism.

[Marky Lazer]

...and if that does not suffice a courteous e-mail to:

education@tolkiensociety.org


I just got a reply; they're looking into it. Thanks again.

[Mithalwen]

I just got a reply; they're looking into it. Thanks again.

No problem - hope they are able to help.