B 129 OULU 2015 B 129 UNIVERSITY OF OULU P.O. Box 8000 FI-90014 UNIVERSITY OF OULU FINLAND ACTA UNIVERSITATIS OULUENSIS ACTA UNIVERSITATIS OULUENSIS ACTA HUMANIORAB Jyrki Korpua Jyrki Korpua Professor Esa Hohtola CONSTRUCTIVE University Lecturer Santeri Palviainen MYTHOPOETICS IN Postdoctoral research fellow Sanna Taskila J. R. R. TOLKIEN'S LEGENDARIUM Professor Olli Vuolteenaho University Lecturer Veli-Matti Ulvinen Director Sinikka Eskelinen Professor Jari Juga University Lecturer Anu Soikkeli Professor Olli Vuolteenaho UNIVERSITY OF OULU GRADUATE SCHOOL; UNIVERSITY OF OULU, FACULTY OF HUMANITIES, LITERATURE Publications Editor Kirsti Nurkkala ISBN 978-952-62-0927-2 (Paperback) ISBN 978-952-62-0928-9 (PDF) ISSN 0355-3205 (Print) ISSN 1796-2218 (Online) ACTA UNIVERSITATIS OULUENSIS B Humaniora 129 JYRKI KORPUA CONSTRUCTIVE MYTHOPOETICS IN J. R. R. TOLKIEN'S LEGENDARIUM Academic dissertation to be presented with the assent of the Doctoral Training Committee of Human Sciences of the University of Oulu for public defence in Keckmaninsali (HU106), Linnanmaa, on 13 November 2015, at 12 noon UNIVERSITY OF OULU, OULU 2015 Copyright © 2015 Acta Univ. Oul. B 129, 2015 Supervised by Doctor Pekka Kuusisto Reviewed by Docent Klaus Brax Docent Jarkko Toikkanen Opponent Doctor Dimitra Fimi ISBN 978-952-62-0927-2 (Paperback) ISBN 978-952-62-0928-9 (PDF) ISSN 0355-3205 (Printed) ISSN 1796-2218 (Online) Cover Design Raimo Ahonen JUVENES PRINT TAMPERE 2015 Korpua, Jyrki, Constructive Mythopoetics in J. R. R. Tolkien's Legendarium. University of Oulu Graduate School; University of Oulu, Faculty of Humanities, Literature Acta Univ. Oul. B 129, 2015 University of Oulu, P.O. Box 8000, FI-90014 University of Oulu, Finland Abstract This doctoral dissertation discusses constructive mythopoetics in J. R. R. Tolkien’s legendarium, the mythopoetic logics and elements on which Tolkien’s texts and his fantasy world are constructed. My aim in this research is to create a reading of Tolkien’s fiction that shows that it is possible to discern a mythopoetic code in Tolkien’s legendarium. My hypothesis is that Tolkien’s mythopoetic fiction aims to be coherent on the levels of languages, myths, and inter- and intratextual background. This coherence can be found throughout the various texts and fragments of Tolkien’s fiction. From the cosmogonical creation myth of The Silmarillion, to the fairy-story lightness of The Hobbit and the quest fantasy of The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien’s fiction has its roots in the mythopoetic logics of his theory of creative writing (or myth-making). Tolkien is the sub-creator; he is creating myths and building his own world. For Tolkien, God is the primary creator, but the author is the (sub-)creator of his own creation. This is consistent throughout Tolkien’s legendarium, despite the fact that whilst creating his fiction, Tolkien is “pretending” to be a translator of mythical pseudo-historical documents. In the main chapters, my research logics trace the inner timeline of Tolkien’s legendarium. Starting from the creation of the world, I move onto the long fall and struggle and to the end of the world. When discussing the theme of creation, I focus on the concept of creation on the intratextual level of Tolkien’s legendarium as well as on Tolkien’s aesthetics of creative work. In the end of the dissertation, I turn my attention also to the creative work of the reader. My theoretical approach is influenced by both Northrop Frye’s constructive theory of literature and Benjamin Harshav’s theory of constructive poetics. I discuss the creative methods of speculative historical epic and the dichotomies of beginning and end, good and evil, mortality and immortality, spiritual and physical, and visibility and invisibility, as well as how these elements are manifested in Tolkien’s mythopoetic vision. The structure of Tolkien’s constructive mythopoetics is illuminated through the grand concepts of the Creation, the Existence, the Fall and the Struggle. Keywords: constructive mythopoetics, fantasy, legendarium, mythopoetics, speculative fiction, Tolkien Korpua, Jyrki, Konstruktiivinen mytopoetiikka J. R. R. Tolkienin legendaariossa. Oulun yliopiston tutkijakoulu; Oulun yliopisto, Humanistinen tiedekunta, Kirjallisuus Acta Univ. Oul. B 129, 2015 Oulun yliopisto, PL 8000, 90014 Oulun yliopisto Tiivistelmä Väitöskirjani käsittelee konstruktiivista mytopoetiikkaa J. R. R. Tolkienin legendaariossa. Työ keskittyy ennen kaikkea mytopoeettiseen logiikkaan ja elementteihin, joiden kautta Tolkienin tekstit ja hänen luomansa fantasiamaailma rakentuvat. Tutkimukseni muodostaa Tolkienin fiktion luennan, joka osoittaa, että Tolkienin legendaari- olle voidaan löytää mytopoeettinen koodi. Tämä koodi havainnollistaa, että Tolkienin mytopo- eettinen fiktio luo koherentin ja uskottavan kokonaisuuden kielen, myyttien sekä inter- ja intra- tekstuaalisten vaikutussuhteiden kautta. Tämä yhteenkuuluvuus ja koodi on nähtävissä, vaikka Tolkienin legendaarion osat ovat keskenään perin erilaisia, eri kirjallisuuslajeihin kuuluvia ja vaikka osa on julkaistu vain fragmentteina hänen kuolemansa jälkeen. Tolkienin mytopoeettinen logiikka ja luovan kirjoittamisen teoria näkyvät aina Silmarillion-teoksen kosmogonisesta luo- mismyytistä kevyen satumaiseen Hobittiin tai aina seikkailufantasiaan Taru Sormusten Herrasta. Tekijänä Tolkien näyttäytyy teoksissaan “alempana luojana” (sub-creator), joka kehittää myytte- jä ja rakentaa fantasiamaailmaansa. Tolkienille Jumala on “ylempi luoja”, johon kirjailija vertau- tuu fiktion tasolla. Väitöskirjani tutkimuslogiikka seuraa Tolkienin legendaarion aikajärjestystä. Aloitan työni maailmanluomisesta, siirryn tämän jälkeen ns. pitkään tappioon ja haipumiseen sekä aina maail- manloppuun saakka. Luomisen teemaa käsitellessäni päähuomioni on sekä Tolkienin legendaa- rion teosten sisäisessä kertomuksessa että hänen kirjallisen luomisensa estetiikassa. Väitöskirjan loppupuolella käännän huomiotani myös lukijan “luomistyöhön” teoksia lukiessa. Käyttämääni teoreettiseen näkökulmaan ovat vaikuttaneet erityisesti Northrop Fryen konstruktiivinen kirjallisuusteoria sekä Benjamin Harshavin konstruktiivinen poetiikka. Käsitte- lyssäni ovat myös spekulatiivisen historiallisen epiikan metodit sekä hyvän ja pahan, kuolevai- suuden ja kuolemattomuuden, henkisen ja fyysisen sekä näkyvän ja näkymättömän vastakkain- asetteluparit, ja ennen kaikkea se, kuinka nämä vastakkainasetteluparit ja elementit näyttäytyvät Tolkienin mytopoeettisessa visiossa. Tolkienin fiktion konstruktiivinen mytopoetiikka havain- nollistuu metafyysisten ja temaattisten käsitteiden Luominen (Creation), Olemassaolo (Existen- ce), Lankeamus (Fall) ja Ponnistelu (Struggle) kautta. Asiasanat: fantasia, konstruktiivinen mytopoetiikka, legendaario, mytopoetiikka, spekulatiivinen fiktio, Tolkien Acknowledgements It has been a long and winding road. This process has taken more than ten years and thousands of cups of coffee. At this final moment of eucatastrophical achievement, I would like to thank all of those who have helped and encouraged me during this decade of hard work. First of all, I would like to thank the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Oulu for making all this possible. Especially, I thank the Faculty of Humanities, Tyyni Tani -fund, University of Oulu Graduate School, (the late) Graduate School of Culture and Interaction, and Oulun Yliopiston Akateemiset ry for grants and travel grants that permitted me to work on my research and also gave me opportunities to widen my approach on the subject. Sincere gratitude goes to my Chief Advisor University Lecturer Pekka Kuusisto whose commitment to the completion of the work has been essential. Also, many thanks for the language consultation of the dissertation to University Teacher Andrew Pattison and Nikola Pantchev. Gratitude for reading and commenting my texts in all of these years goes to all of my colleagues from the University of Oulu’s Subject of Literature, especially my Kustos Professor Kuisma Korhonen, Emerita Professor Liisi Huhtala, and to the late Matti Savolainen, who have all read and commented on my text at some stage. I would like to thank University Lecturer Klaus Brax from the University of Helsinki, and University Lecturer Jarkko Toikkanen from the University of Tampere for their precise work on the pre-examination of the thesis manuscript and for their precious comments on the subject. My sincere thanks go to Dr Dimitra Fimi from the Cardiff Metropolitan University for agreeing to be my Opponent for the public defence of my doctoral thesis. Special thanks goes to my editorial colleague Ilmari Leppihalme, whom I have worked with many times in different collaborations, and to Hanna-Riikka Roine and Päivi Väätänen, my editorial colleagues in Fafnir - Nordic Journal of Science Fiction and Fantasy Research. I would also like to thank my friends and colleagues from The Finnish Society for Science Fiction and Fantasy Research, especially Irma Hirsjärvi, Merja Polvinen, Liisa Rantalaiho and Markku Soikkeli for years of professional criticism and also for emphatic support. In these years, I have also profited from the national and international seminars and conferences that I have participated during this working process. I 7 am particularly grateful for the support, and also for reading and commenting of my work to the late Jan Howard Finder. I would also like to thank my friends and family, who have believed in my work – even in times when my own faith has been fading. Tattis! My deepest gratitude goes to