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Dr Grace Khuri

@gracekhuri.bsky.social
87 followers 104 following 81 posts

B.A., M.Phil (Merton), D.Phil (Oriel), University of Oxford. Medieval Scholar. Tolkien Scholar. Author of Oxford University's first doctoral thesis on Tolkien. Research Assistant for: British Fantasy Literature and the First World War (Oxford University)

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Dr Grace Khuri @gracekhuri.bsky.social · 9h
For my new role as RA for the #OxfordUniversity project: 'British Fantasy and the #FirstWorldWar', I'll be drawing on my extensive research experience with the widespread mythic framing of #WorldWarI. Below is an illustrated article on the topic. academia.edu/113103338/Th... #Norsemyth #medievalsky
academia.edu
The Politics of Norse Medievalism in the British Press during the First World War
The Norse-Germanic branch of medievalism in Britain during the First World War has been strangely neglected in both literary-cultural and historical scholarship. 1 Several studies have addressed that ...
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Dr Grace Khuri @gracekhuri.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Michael G.R. #Tolkien (J.R.R. Tolkien's grandson) will give his second talk for the Oxford Tolkien Network (on Oct. 30). He will be speaking about (what he told me) was his favorite of his grandfather's works: the #Silmarillion which he called an 'elegy'. tolkien50.web.ox.ac.uk/event/michae...
tolkien50.web.ox.ac.uk
Michael G. Tolkien on Eden, Fall, Exile and Beyond
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Dr Grace Khuri @gracekhuri.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
The previous joke was a Heimskringla reference, btw. Below is a rather elegant late 19th century edition (translated by Samuel Laing, 1889). Rather fine golden dragon ship too. The book is full of (often outlandish) stories about legendary and medieval Norwegian kings. #medievalsky
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Dr Grace Khuri @gracekhuri.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Haraldr harðráði (Battle of Stamford Bridge, 1066): "Time to give England some hard-rule!" Haraldr's (likely English) Horse: "How about a hard fall?" Horses often get a say in things -- and apparently even Viking kings aren't exempt! 😆 #medievalsky
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Dr Grace Khuri @gracekhuri.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Absolutely! finally someone pointed this important fact out. Also, check out Heimskringla for more about this king. #medievalsky
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Dr Grace Khuri @gracekhuri.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Thank you all for the kind wishes. I will try to post some reflections and findings from the new project, while continuing the usual ones on #Tolkien, medieval literature, myth, and #WorldWarI #medievalsky #GreatWar
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Dr Grace Khuri @gracekhuri.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
For a young #Tolkien one word or one name was like a firework in his developing imagination. #Silmarillion www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_NH...
youtube.com
Lexical Palimpsests: Old English and Old Norse Loan Words in Tolkien's Gnomish Lexicon (1917)
YouTube video by Oxford Tolkien Network
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Dr Grace Khuri @gracekhuri.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
I'm happy to announce that I have just been appointed as a Research Assistant on the pilot project at #OxfordUniversity 'British Fantasy and the First World War'. The project lead is Professor Stuart D. Lee. #WorldWarI #GreatWar #Oxford
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Dr Grace Khuri @gracekhuri.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
I am delighted to be a part of this event -- which has been in the works for over a year now but been kept quiet until plans finalized. #Tolkien #WestminsterAbbey
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Dr Grace Khuri @gracekhuri.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Thought this would be a good day to announce this... www.westminster-abbey.org/abbey-news/a... #Tolkien #LOTR #Silmarillion #Oxford
westminster-abbey.org
Abbey to honour J.R.R. Tolkien  | Westminster Abbey
A major new memorial celebrating Tolkien’s creative vision and storytelling by artist Stephen Broadbent will be revealed at a dedication ceremony in Spring 2027.
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Dr Grace Khuri @gracekhuri.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
A historical reflection for the 89th anniversary of the publication of The Hobbit (September 21, 1937). #Tolkien #TheHobbit #WorldWarI #GreatWar
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Dr Grace Khuri @gracekhuri.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
On September 15, 1977, what is arguably J.R.R. Tolkien's magnum opus was published (or at least the work of his heart). It turns 49 today. The earliest version of this work was the subject of my doctoral thesis -- the first on Tolkien at Oxford University. #Tolkien #Silmarillion
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Dr Grace Khuri @gracekhuri.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
I love how the comet (Stella) accidentally looks like a deep sea creature #BayeuxTapesty #medievalsky
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Dr Grace Khuri @gracekhuri.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
In the shadow of the more news-grabbing #BayeuxTapestry exhibition is a thematically-related one at the British Library on the culture of Norman England. #medievalsky events.bl.uk/exhibitions/...
events.bl.uk
Conquest: The Making of Norman England | British Library
Beyond the battlefield lies a story of ambition, upheaval and reinvention. Spanning the generations before and after 1066, this exhibition traces the impac
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Dr Grace Khuri @gracekhuri.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Essential reading for the #BayeuxTapestry. If you have access to a library that carries this (or ask them to order it) you can avoid the necessity of needing the Staffordshire Hoard worth of funds to purchase this book. #medievalsky
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Dr Grace Khuri @gracekhuri.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
So if you go around and call it "tennis-net" armour and then someone corrects you, just say "Tolkien said it" 😉 #Tolkien #BayeuxTapestry #medievalsky #LordoftheRings
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Dr Grace Khuri @gracekhuri.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
#Tolkien: 'The Rohirrim were not "mediaeval", in our sense. The styles of the #BayeuxTapestry (made in England) fit them well enough, if one remembers that the kinds of tennis-nets the soldiers seem to have on are only a clumsy conventional sign for chain-mail of small rings" (Letter #211)
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Dr Grace Khuri @gracekhuri.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Currently reading up on that little newsmaker in the British Museum... #bayeuxtapestry #medievalsky
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Dr Grace Khuri @gracekhuri.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
#Tolkien passed away today (53 years ago). Here he is in his youth, just a few years before beginning The Book of Lost Tales (c. 1917-19), the earliest version of what would become the #Silmarillion.
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Dr Grace Khuri @gracekhuri.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
I have written about this wonderful work -- for now I will just say -- there is FAR more #WorldWarI history concealed in this 1917 tale than is currently known... #Tolkien #GreatWar #WWI #Silmarillion
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Dr Grace Khuri @gracekhuri.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Sometimes with #Tolkien, reading his works in pairs (or even clusters) proves rewarding. One such case comes in the odd duo of his children's story, Mr. Bliss, and his only very recently-published The Bovadium Fragments.
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Reposted by Dr Grace Khuri
Elaine Treharne @etreharne.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
Talking of the #BayeuxTapestry, here's a beautiful piece of (tourist?) art from 1914 that I picked up 25 years ago at an antique show in Peterborough. Made by Mlle Leclerc of Bayeux in 1914. It's faded, but accomplished and rather lovely.
An embroidered copy of a Bayeux Tapestry ship, in faded reds, purples, and creamsClose-up of the stitching of part of embroidered copy of a Bayeux Tapestry ship, in faded reds, purples, and creamsEmbroidered copy of marginal dragon from Bayeux Tapestry in reds and creamsBack of the framed embroidered copy of the Bayeux Tapestry made by Mlle Leclerc in 1914
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Dr Grace Khuri @gracekhuri.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
I had the honor of being one of the speakers at an event held in #Oxford: Christopher #Tolkien at 100: A Celebration. I discussed the profound understanding between father and son - the first a former officer in #WorldWarI and the other an RAF pilot in #WorldWarII. www.youtube.com/watch?v=9F2U...
youtube.com
Christopher Tolkien at 100: A celebration
YouTube video by Bodleian Libraries
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Dr Grace Khuri @gracekhuri.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
New book about J.R.R. Tolkien's son and literary executor, Christopher Tolkien, will come out in the autumn. #Tolkien
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Dr Grace Khuri @gracekhuri.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Great feature by John Garth (author of Tolkien and the Great War and The Worlds of J.R.R. Tolkien) about signed copy of Tolkien's essay Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics. #Tolkien @johngarthwriter.bsky.social www.univ.ox.ac.uk/wp-content/u...
univ.ox.ac.uk
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Reposted by Dr Grace Khuri
Dr Laura Varnam @drlauravarnam.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
Super article in Univ’s Martlet magazine about the ✨AMAZING✨ donation we received last yr from an Old Member- CS Lewis’s own copy of Tolkien’s Beowulf: The Monsters & Critics essay, SIGNED & DEDICATED by Tolkien himself! 🤩 Read online here www.univ.ox.ac.uk/wp-content/u...
The Martlet, the magazine of University College, OxfordLaura Varnam and her students with the copy of Tolkien’s essayTolkien’s inscription to CS Lewis
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Dr Grace Khuri @gracekhuri.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Another honorable mention goes to the Folio Society edition of The Hobbit. I love how Smaug's expression suggests: "something went bump in the night and I am not sure whether it was me or not." Or alternatively -- "why didn't I invest in a Ring camera" 😉 #Tolkien #TheHobbit #Middle-earth
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Dr Grace Khuri @gracekhuri.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
Love this marvelous Folio Society edition of the #Silmarillion. Also, note subtle detail of the burning swanship (associated with the infamous 'Kin-Slaying' of the Elves in Valinor), which also vaguely resembles a burning Viking ship. #Tolkien #Middle-earth
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Dr Grace Khuri @gracekhuri.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
If you'd like to hear my thoughts and research on #Tolkien on #OxfordUniversity Podcasts, see below. Building off of years of medieval study here at #Oxford, these discuss lesser known or unknown literary influences. #LordoftheRings #Silmarillion #medievalism podcasts.ox.ac.uk/people/grace...
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Dr Grace Khuri @gracekhuri.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
On December 22, 1914, a few months into #WWI, #Tolkien wrote his poem, ‘Ferrum et Sanguis’ (‘Iron and Blood’), borrowing the infamous (and then widely circulated) phrase by Otto von Bismarck (1815-98). It was written just a few months after the August 21, 1914 #Eclipse: #WorldWarI #GreatWar
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Dr Grace Khuri @gracekhuri.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
A little about me - I am a medievalist who did my first two degrees at Merton College, #Oxford (where Tolkien taught between 1945-59). My D.Phil (Ph.D) thesis was the first ever on #Tolkien at Oxford. I have been researching on Tolkien at Oxford since 2018, and teaching on his works here since 2023.
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Dr Grace Khuri @gracekhuri.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
Re-reading the #Hobbit for its 90th (next year). Having been in academia for years, I am struck by how all the works below (not counting the History of Middle-earth and numerous minor works) were all *side* projects while working as an Oxford Professor. #Tolkien #Hobbit #lotr #Silmarillion #Oxford
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Dr Grace Khuri @gracekhuri.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
My research explores mythic modernity during #WorldWarI and in Tolkien's Book of Lost Tales (c. 1917-19) and later iterations of the #Silmarillion. Like this 1915 French WWI poster (Thor) and Tolkien's Morgoth wielding the hammer Grond which marks the land like the crater-filled #Somme battlefields.
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Dr Grace Khuri @gracekhuri.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
'TOLKIEN AND THE SOMME' - for 110th anniversary of the #BattleoftheSomme the Commonwealth Graves Commission features blog post on #Tolkien and his experience on the Western Front. Mentions #BookofLostTales #FallofGondolin #WWI #WorldWarI #GreatWar #Somme #Silmarillion www.cwgc.org/our-work/blo...
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Dr Grace Khuri @gracekhuri.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
Star (now star cluster it seems) #Earendel. In Tolkien's 1917 'Fall of Gondolin', a child Eärendel, fleeing the fallen elven city, is described by his father, Tuor: 'behold, his face shineth as a star in the waste'. #Tolkien #Silmarillion #Astronomy #FallofGondolin
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Dr Grace Khuri @gracekhuri.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
On July 31st, 1917, one of Tolkien's old school friends from King Edward's, Lieut. T.K. 'Tea-Cake' Barnsley (Coldstream Guards), was killed at Ypres while consoling someone. Barnsley had been a member of the wider TCBS (Tea Club and Barrovian Society) #Tolkien #Ypres #WWI #WorldWarI #GreatWar
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Dr Grace Khuri @gracekhuri.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
Next year will be a banner year -- the 50th anniversary of the #Silmarillion and the 90th anniversary of the #Hobbit -- all by that master myth maker #Tolkien. Watch this space for special content related to both. 🙂
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Dr Grace Khuri @gracekhuri.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
Benjamin Harff's #Silmarillion title page next to folio from the 1200-year-old Irish Book of Kells. A majestic imitation! #Tolkien #Medieval #medievalmanuscripts
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Dr Grace Khuri @gracekhuri.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
#Silmarillion -- medieval manuscript style. #Tolkien #Medieval tolkienlibrary.com/press/images...
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Dr Grace Khuri @gracekhuri.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
Absolutely astonishing hand-drawn edition of the #Silmarillion in the style of (different) medieval manuscripts by Benjamin Harff. Some pages look like the Book of Kells. #Tolkien #Medieval tolkienlibrary.com/press/902-be...
tolkienlibrary.com
Interview with Benjamin Harff, upcoming Tolkien illustrator and creator of the Edel-Silmarillion
interview with Ben Harff the upcoming German Tolkien artist that combined calligraphy, art and passion for The Silmarillion
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Dr Grace Khuri @gracekhuri.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
"Hobbits" on the Somme: tunnelling battalions required soldiers who were less than 5'4 to work in tunnels that had ceilings that were only 4ft high. #Tolkien wrote: "In a hole in the ground there lived a Hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole [...] nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole..." #Hobbit #WWI
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Dr Grace Khuri @gracekhuri.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
What happens when some of a young Tolkien's early Elvish (Gnomish) words aren't really what they seem? Reflections on some of the linguistic seeds of Tolkien's poignant and masterful mythology... #Tolkien #Silmarillion #Philology www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_NH...
youtube.com
Lexical Palimpsests: Old English and Old Norse Loan Words in Tolkien's Gnomish Lexicon (1917)
YouTube video by Oxford Tolkien Network
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Dr Grace Khuri @gracekhuri.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
The Book of Lost Tales will have its day... #Tolkien #Silmarillion
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Dr Grace Khuri @gracekhuri.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
On the eve of the 50th anniversary of the publication of the #Silmarillion, J.R.R. Tolkien's grandson will deliver a lecture on his grandfather's mythology. #Tolkien tolkien50.web.ox.ac.uk/event/michae...
tolkien50.web.ox.ac.uk
Michael G. Tolkien on Eden, Fall, Exile and Beyond
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Dr Grace Khuri @gracekhuri.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
I was quoted in a recent article for The Observer about the correspondence and friendship between #Tolkien and Mrs. Eileen Elgar. Elgar was the recipient of a summary of Tolkien's unpublished mythology in 1964 that was auctioned in 2022. #LotR #Silmarillion observer.co.uk/news/nationa...
observer.co.uk
The unlikely pen pal who shaped Tolkien’s later years
When deaf fan Eileen Elgar wrote to the author with notes for improvement, they began a remarkable friendship based on a shared interest in language, revealed in a set of letters now up for auction
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Dr Grace Khuri @gracekhuri.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
G.B. Smith's wit, imagination, and growing maturity in the face of war are the subject of a recently-published edited collection. I wrote chapter 2, about Smith's participation in Oxford Union debates and his wartime consolations of myth and music. #Tolkien #BattleoftheSomme #WWI #WWIPoetry
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Dr Grace Khuri @gracekhuri.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
Also for the 110th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission commemorates Tolkien's poet friend (who also attended Oxford University), Geoffrey Bache Smith (d. 1916). #Tolkien #BattleoftheSomme #WWI www.cwgc.org/stories/stor...
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Dr Grace Khuri @gracekhuri.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
Commonwealth War Graves Commission honors Tolkien's friend, Lieut. Robert Quilter Gilson, who died leading a charge on the first day of the Battle of the Somme, 110 years ago this month (July 1, 1916). #Tolkien #BattleoftheSomme #RobertQuilterGilson www.cwgc.org/stories/stor...
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Dr Grace Khuri @gracekhuri.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
This year marks the 110th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme. Beaumont-Hamel, where a young signalling officer, J.R.R. Tolkien, was stationed, is now a site of profound peace. All quiet on the Western Front. #Tolkien #BattleoftheSomme #WWI
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