"It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to!" -Bilbo Baggins, The Lord of the Rings
C'mon, folks, wake up the Tookish inside of you! See the great mountains! Hear the pine trees and waterfalls! Explore the caves! Wear a sword not a walking stick! Home is behind, the world is ahead! And adventure awaits!
APPLICATION DEADLINE MARCH 1! CLICK HERE TO APPLY TODAY!
SHORT: Visit the real-world inspirations for Saruman’s Tower, the Barrow Downs, Weathertop, the Prancing Pony, the Doors of Durin, Amon Hen, the temple of Morgoth, and the jeweled caverns of Algaron. Plus King Arthur’s grave, the Narnia lamppost, the House of Frankenstein, the well of the Holy Grail, sunrise at Stonehenge, and the “mama of Yoda!”
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| The Glittering Caves of Cheddar Gorge, said to have inspired the jeweled caverns in the White Mountains behind Helm's Deep, which Gimli called one of the marvels of the Northern World. |
LONGER: We'll start with a four night stay in Oxford, where Tolkien served as a Professor of Anglo-Saxon from 1925-1945 (during which time he wrote The Hobbit and LOTR). We’ll visit the Bodleian Library (where many of Tolkien's manuscripts/original drawings are kept; also a prominent shooting location for Harry Potter), Faringdon Folly (which inspired Orthanc, Saruman's dark tower), Wayland Smithy's (an ancient chamber of the dead said to be the basis for the Barrow Downs), The Bell Inn (the real-world Prancing Pony), Stow-on-Wold (the Doors of Durin), Dragon Hill (Weathertop), and Wolvercote Cemetery (where Tolkien is buried). And more!
Then it's over to Bath for ten days, where we'll write and workshop and wander the honey-stone streets, as Mary Shelley did while composing “the first true science fiction story.” We’ll also take day trips to Glastonbury Tor (said to be where King Arthur freed Queen Guinevere; home to the scared Chalice Well, which runs red, and is said to be the resting place of the Holy Grail); Cheddar Gorge (and the jeweled caves of Algernon, which Gimli called one of the marvels of the Northern World and which left Legolas speechless); the small ceremonial county of Devonshire, where we'll tour the moors with fable guide, have lunch with World Fantasy Award Winner Terri Windling, artist/fabricator/puppeteer Brian & Wendy Froud (The Dark Crystal, Labyrinth, and Yoda in ESB), acclaimed British horror novelist Catriona Ward (Last House on Needless Street), and artist Alan Lee, the lead concept designer for the Peter Jackson films; the charming Cotswold village of Lacock (which features numerous shooting locations from Harry Potter: The Babberton Arms, Lily & James Potter’s House, Snape’s Classroom, Quirrel’s classroom, Hogwart’s hallways, Horace Slughorn’s Hideaway); and, of course, sunrise at Stonehenge ('nuff said).
ACADEMICS: While in Bath, you'll create, workshop, and declaim written work inspired by your experience(s) in England: the places you visit, the legends you hear, the people you meet - culminating in public reading attended by locals and live streamed for friends and family back home. Your classrooms will be the eclectic cafes and pubs of Oxford and Bath. While your work may ostensibly take the form of poetry, non-fiction or fiction, we encourage you to follow in the footsteps of Tolkien and others, taking inspiration from the landscape and local lore (as well as the assigned reading). Consider writing heroic adventure, epic fantasy, portal fantasy, gothic horror, alternate universe/history. The best of your writing will be combined in a final portfolio, due a few weeks after you return, on June 29th.
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| The iconic Pulteney Bridge over the River Avon in Bath. |
REQUIREMENTS & GRADE DISTRIBUTION:
Participation and attendance: 75%.
You will be expected to appear in a timely manner for all excursions, group activities, and meetings. In between planned events you will dedicate a substantial amount of time to your writing.
Final Portfolio: 25%.
Your final portfolio will consist of assorted prose pieces (fiction and/or non-fiction) and/or poems. Proposed page count soon. To be e-mailed to Alex Dawson at agd2@english.rutgers.edu by midnight of Thurs. June 29. Conferences (Zoom or in-person) will be scheduled to discuss your portfolio in the days/weeks after its submission.
QUESTIONS? Write Aimee Labrie at al1048@english.rutgers.edu or Alex Dawson at raconteurbooks@gmail.com.
