Marjorie Burns
Marjorie Burns is a scholar of English literature, best known for her studies of J. R. R. Tolkien.
Biography
Marjorie Jean Burns was born in 1940. She gained her PhD at the University of California, Berkeley.[1]
She is an emeritus professor of English at Portland State University, having worked on the faculty there for over thirty years. She lectured on English literature and Tolkien, writing many papers on these topics.[1][2][3][4] She married the geologist Scott Burns, also at Portland State University, and Don S. Wilner. She has four children.[3][4]
Burns co-edited the J. R. R. Tolkien Encyclopedia, and contributed four articles to it on topics including Old Norse literature and the giant spider Shelob.[5][6]
Reception
Perilous Realms
C. W. Sullivan III, reviewing her 2005 book Perilous Realms for the Journal of Folklore Research, found it both praiseworthy and problematic. He liked Burns's discussion of the English prejudice against the Celts, and of Tolkien's dislike of frivolous post-Shakespeare fairies. He noted that many of the chapters were published as separate papers, so there was some repetition, and she had failed to note the Celtic origin of Sir Gawain. But she had written a "valuable window into Tolkien's sources"; he liked the way he blended "Celtic enchantment and Norse vitality", and the book was accessible to scholars and the public alike.[7]
Kathryn Stelmach, reviewing the book for Comitatus, found her exploration of Norse "more compelling" than her "overly simplified" approach to the "Celtic" identity and the use of unreliable sources.[8]
Books
- 2005 Perilous Realms: Celtic and Norse in Tolkien’s Middle-earth (ed.), University of Toronto Press.
- 2007 On Tolkien: Interviews, Reminiscences, and Other Essays (ed., with Douglas A. Anderson), Houghton Mifflin.
References
- ^ a b "Marjorie J. Burns". Tolkien Gateway. Retrieved 11 February 2021.
- ^ "Emeriti Faculty". Portland State University. Retrieved 11 February 2021.
- ^ a b "Marjorie and Scott Burns". Ooligan Press. Retrieved 11 February 2021.
Marjorie Burns is an author, traveler, and lover of adventure, as well as a professor of English at Portland State University. Currently on leave from teaching to write, she lives with her husband in Washington State, near the base of a dormant volcano. She is an avid kayaker, cyclist, and rock climber.
- ^ a b Burns, Marjorie J. "Marjorie J. Burns". Archived from the original on 16 November 2020. Retrieved 11 February 2021.
- ^ Burns, Marjorie in Michael D. C. Drout (ed.) The J. R. R. Tolkien Encyclopedia (2007)
- ^ Wickham-Crowley, Kelley M. (2007). "J.R R. Tolkien Encyclopedia: Scholarship and Critical Assessment (review)". Tolkien Studies. 4 (1): 266–278. doi:10.1353/tks.2007.0033. ISSN 1547-3163. S2CID 146657926.
- ^ Sullivan, C. W. III (5 September 2007). "[Review] Perilous Realms: Celtic and Norse in Tolkien's Middle-earth". Journal of Folklore Research. Retrieved 11 February 2021.
- ^ Stelmach, Kathryn (2006). "Perilous Realms: Celtic and Norse in Tolkien's Middle-earth by Marjorie Burns". Comitatus: A Journal of Medieval and Renaissance Studies. 37 (1). Project Muse: 223–225. doi:10.1353/cjm.2006.0013. ISSN 1557-0290. S2CID 161950688.
External links
- Official website
- v
- t
- e
and songs
- Songs for the Philologists (1936)
- The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm's Son (1953)
- "A Walking Song" (1954)
- The Adventures of Tom Bombadil (1962)
- "Errantry"
- "Fastitocalon"
- "The Sea-Bell"
- "The Man in the Moon Stayed Up Too Late"
- The Road Goes Ever On (1967)
- Bilbo's Last Song (1974)
- List of Tolkien's alliterative verse
- The Hobbit (1937)
- "Leaf by Niggle" (1947)
- The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun (1945)
- Farmer Giles of Ham (1949)
- The Lord of the Rings:
- The Fellowship of the Ring (1954)
- The Two Towers (1954)
- The Return of the King (1955)
- Tree and Leaf (1964)
- The Tolkien Reader (1966)
- Smith of Wootton Major (1967)
fiction
- The Father Christmas Letters (1976)
- The Silmarillion (1977)
- Unfinished Tales (1980)
- Mr. Bliss (1982)
- The History of Middle-earth (1983–1996)
- Roverandom (1998)
- The Children of Húrin (2007)
- The History of The Hobbit (2007)
- The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún (2009)
- The Fall of Arthur (2013)
- The Story of Kullervo (2015)
- Beren and Lúthien (2017)
- The Fall of Gondolin (2018)
- The Nature of Middle-earth (2021)
- The Fall of Númenor (2022)
works
- Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (Middle English text, 1925)
- "The Devil's Coach Horses" (1925)
- "Ancrene Wisse and Hali Meiðhad" (1929)
- "Sigelwara Land" (1932–34)
- "Chaucer as a Philologist: The Reeve's Tale" (1934)
- "Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics" (1936)
- "On Fairy-Stories" (1939)
- "On Translating Beowulf" (1940)
- Sir Orfeo (1944)
- Ancrene Wisse (1962)
- "English and Welsh" (1963)
- Jerusalem Bible (as translator and lexicographer, 1966)
academic
- Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Pearl, and Sir Orfeo (translations, 1975)
- Exodus (1981)
- Finn and Hengest (1982)
- The Monsters and the Critics, and Other Essays (1983)
- Beowulf and the Critics (2002)
- Beowulf: A Translation and Commentary with "Sellic Spell" (2014)
- A Secret Vice (2016)
Writers |
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Christian | |
Literary critics |
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Linguists | |
Medievalists |
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- A Tolkien Compass
- Family
- Influences
- Artwork
- J. R. R. Tolkien: Artist and Illustrator
- Languages constructed by Tolkien
- The Inklings
- The Keys of Middle-earth
- Mythlore
- Mythopoeic Society
- Picturing Tolkien
- Tolkien and the Classical World
- Tolkien's impact on fantasy
- Tolkien and the modernists
- Tolkien Estate
- Tolkien fandom
- The Tolkien Society
- Tolkien Studies
- Memorials
- Reception
- Tolkien research
- Works inspired by Tolkien
- J. R. R. Tolkien: A Biography (1977, authorized biography)
- The J. R. R. Tolkien Companion and Guide
- J. R. R. Tolkien Encyclopedia
- Master of Middle-Earth
- Perilous Realms
- Tolkien and the Great War
- The Worlds of J. R. R. Tolkien
- Tolkien: Maker of Middle-earth
- Tolkien: A Cultural Phenomenon
- Tolkien, Race and Cultural History
- Tolkien's Art: 'A Mythology for England'
- Tolkien (biographical film)
- Poems and Songs of Middle Earth (album)
- Language and Human Nature
- The Ring of Words: Tolkien and the Oxford English Dictionary
- Understanding The Lord of the Rings