Oxonmoot 2007

Reports - Part One

Part Two

As promised, here are some reports on Oxonmoot 2007. More are welcome, so if you would like to send us one, or if you have nice pictures you would like to share with us, contact our DTE at osc DOT dte AT tolkiensociety DOT org.

 

These were the talks presented at Oxonmoot this year:

Nissi and Neri: On Elven Gender-roles, Jenni Bergman

The Roots of Middle-earth, part 2 - Bob Blackham

The Significance and Place of Laughter in the Writings of J. R. R. Tolkien, Charles Bressler, Ian Galloway and Matthew Keppler

The Battle of the Eastern Field, Maggie Burns

Winston and Frodo: Demons, Choice and Grace in "The Lord of the Rings", Chad Chisholm

 

Devilry and images of evil in Tolkien, Colin Duriez

Women Revealed: Finding the Feminine Community in selected works of J. R. R. Tolkien, S.P. (the author wishes their name not on the web. The paper was read by David Doughan)

Roman law in the Shire? Bilbo Baggins’s will with ‘seven signatures in red ink’, Murray Smith

A Star Above the Mast: Tolkien, Faërie and the Great Escape, Anna Slack

In Media Res, Ars Poetica and “The Lord of the Rings”, Ian Spittlehouse

The Goths and Huns revisited, Jessica Yates

Oxonmoot 2007: A CTS-Eye View

This year’s Oxonmoot, as I am sure many others shall write, took place at Lady Margaret Hall, a small college on the outskirts of the most central part of Oxford.

I was one of the small band of wayfarers making their way to the moot this year, and we all had the same sinister purpose festering in our suitably sinister minds. Our mission: to delight, entertain and astound as many people at Oxonmoot as we could get away with (and possibly ourselves, too).

But who were you, I hear you cry? Dear reader, your question is as good as answered. We were (and are still) the CTS, more commonly known as the Cambridge Tolkien Society.

A few of us had been in touch with the TS subcommittee earlier in the year to offer our services. The weekend of entertainment was to be the fruit of long months of arduous planning and a very long rehearsal for the CTS the weekend before. We came bearing The Lord of the Goons, parts 1 (The Ownership of the Ring) and 2 (The Two Jokes), two hours of extracts from the BBC Radio Adaptation of The Lord of the Rings, and a few songs from The Sound of Mumaks. I even had a real academic paper to deliver on the Saturday afternoon. It was looking like being a very busy weekend indeed – but we were all looking forward to acquitting ourselves with honour and dignity.

As the sun touched the (not gilded) roofs of Lady Margaret we began arriving. We blended in easily enough at first (we had all saved our ominous matching black t-shirts, bearing the slogan ‘Uton Herian Holbytlas’ for the following day). Soon after registering we made our way over to the dining hall to do the ‘tech’ stuff for Goons 1. The hall was beautiful, and in the process of being decked out for the formal supper in the evening. I daresay we distracted the sterling (silver) efforts of the men and women working there, what with our frequent fits of hysterics and sheer excitement.

The long-expected supper finally came; and it was very much worth the wait. The hall chimed to the sound of eating and drinking, to the reunion of those who hadn’t seen each other since the last Oxonmoot, and the meetings of those for whom, like myself, this was the first occasion. As the coffee and after-dinner chocolate rolled around, we were introduced for the stage with high praise.

Goons 1 was the first of many highs that weekend and went swimmingly, without the aid of a safety net - as did Goons 2; the hall rang with laughter and applause (which we took to be a good sign). It was also encouraging to be told that some scenes in the Radio Adaptation that we did on Saturday morning and afternoon were met with tears – and wonderful to see the audience joining in whole-heartedly with cries of ‘Eómer, King’ and ‘Death, Death!’ as we reached the Pelennor Fields. The icing on the cake for us was undoubtedly the standing ovation that followed The Sound of Mumaks. Although the CTS team at the Saturday morning quiz suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of the (far superior!) Death to Orlando Bloom Society, we were reconciled by the fact that our opponents had a worthy cause to fight for.

I spent much of Oxonmoot on the stage, as speaker and performer. But in many ways mine was the most privileged position of all; from my little patch of earth and lights, I found myself watching the upturned faces of the Tolkien lovers who make the conference what it is, and in some cases possible at all. It was a humbling and, dare I say, precious moment, because it is the people drawn together by Tolkien’s works that are really the most important part of weekends like these.

Gushing over; it’s a hobbit thing.

So here’s to the organisers of Oxonmoot, for their mountains of organising. To all those who came to witness the madness of the CTS. And to my illustrious partners in crime: Thea Wilson (Pippin El Magnifico!), Tim Kelby (Undisputed Lord of Goons), Paul Smith (Master of Mumaks), Esther Miller, Giulia Slack, Jonathan Woollgar, Clare Judkins, Peter Smith, The Baker Family – Caroline, Emily, Ben and Simon (Barry White), Matthew Woodcraft, Matthew Vernon and Matthew Davidson (Of Fish Slice Productions)

Anna Slack

 

A Backstage View

This was my third Oxonmoot. They have all been very different from each other and each has marked me in a different way. This year I got to see it from a different perspective having had an active part in the organisation. I was organising the day time events for Saturday.

The work began months before, of course, but that won't be very interesting for you. It was work, work, work, to try and make sure everything was going to be in place for everybody, so that people could enjoy it as much as possible.

Friday evening was, as usual, registration. But instead of gathering with the crowd to register, I was helping registering the crowd. It's a lot more work than it seems from the other side. After that there was the welcome dinner. Many of my friends decided not to come this time, so I was a bit fearful that we would miss them. It turned out to be all right, of course. Another of the organisers was close to us, and I got to know a first timer and someone I knew only from hear-say. It was quite nice and the food was perfect.

After the dinner, the CTS offered us the first part of Lord of the Goons. It was great fun.

The next day started early, as my husband and I had decided not to stay at LMH. He had to check the tech for everybody was OK and then we visited the sales room. It was hard to decide when to do it this year, because there was always a talk we wanted to see. We also visited the art show then. Hour after hour we had to rush around to make sure all the speakers had what they needed. Unfortunately we could not be in three places at the same time, so when problems came up during the lectures and we weren't there, we couldn't do anything about it. There was a very interesting collection of lectures. We particularly enjoyed listening to Murray Smith explaining how Shire law was similar to certain Roman laws. We also particularly enjoyed Charles Bressler and his students talking about laughter in Tolkien's works.

This year the CTS also presented excerpts of the BBC radio adaptation. I am sure they had a great time doing it! After lunch they performed the second part of Lord of the Goons and then we had to rush again to check the tech for the speakers. First we heard Colin Duriez making interesting comparisons between Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter. We listened then to Ian Spittlehouse explaining the media res concept and how Tolkien seems to have used it in his writings. Then it was time for another set of BBC reading by the CTS and, as we hadn't heard the first part, we decided to listen to the last one.

We were both getting very tired by this point, but we went to the dance workshop, which is always refreshing.

After all these events, we took the chance of the two free hours to go out to a very nice Italian restaurant (La Luna Caprese) with some of our friends. The food was excellent and the talk even better. The day was almost over but there was still the party. As usual there were very nice costumes presented at the masquerade (among which the wonderful costumes of the presenter and the judges). CTS had some more entertainment for us and there was readings, songs and plenty of talking.

The following morning we visited Tolkien's grave. Our lovely chairman is standing down this year, so it was her last time, at least for some time, to do the reading and to say some words to the company. She was very moving, as she always has been. She has contributed for a very long time to make the Enyalïye every year a very moving moment and this time was special for her. Oxonmoot was now over and we wait eagerly for next year's one, which is an extra day longer.

I must say that an organiser had a lot more to worry about, a lot less time to enjoy the actual event and particularly to talk to the many friends we meet every year. I enjoyed the experience, though, and I'm looking forward to doing it again, this time better as I have learned a lot from this year's experience.

Meggy McMurry

 

Part Two