Nine Tolkien Scholars Respond to Charles W. Mills’s “The Wretched of Middle-Earth: An Orkish Manifesto”

Robin Anne Reid, Bianca L Beronio, Robert T Tally Jr, Cait Coker, Cami Agan, Robert Stuart, Charlotte Krausz, Tom Ue, Helen Young

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

In spite of being written over three decades ago, Mills’s posthumously published “Manifesto” not only anticipates but transcends the majority, if not the totality, of the scholarship on Tolkien, race, and racisms which has been published since 2003. Scholars in philosophy and related fields familiar with Mills’s work will recognize that the essay was a “critical exploration of [how] a fictional racial hierarchy strikingly illuminates the ongoing influence of certain old racist ideas on our present day [sic] social realities.” Reid has invited a wide-ranging Tolkienists who have read the essay to respond, briefly, on the significance of the essay to their work
Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number13
JournalMythlore
Volume42
Issue number1
StatePublished - Oct 2023

Keywords

  • racism
  • Tolkien, J.R.R—Characters—Orcs
  • Tolkien, J.R.R.—Race and racism
  • Race and racism in fantasy literature
  • orcs
  • Mills, Charles W. “The Wretched of Middle-Earth: An Orcish Manifesto”

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