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Dr Grace Khuri @gracekhuri.bsky.social · 6h

Little news update: the Oxford Tolkien Network (of which I am a member) just launched a brand new website. We are also delighted to welcome some new members, including James Tauber (Digital Tolkien Project)! #Tolkien tolkien-network.ox.ac.uk/home

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Dr Grace Khuri @gracekhuri.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

That's all very well and good -- but #Tolkien has authoritatively called it "tennis-net" armour. 🙃 #BayeuxTapestry #medievalsky

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Reposted by Dr Grace Khuri

William Dalrymple @willdalrymple.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

From Viking raiders to the most feared knights in Europe, in just five generations. Episode 1 of The Norman Conquests, with Eleanor Barraclough, is out now. Listen wherever you get your podcasts. [link] #EmpirePodcast #BayeuxTapestry linktr.ee/empirepoduk

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Dr Grace Khuri @gracekhuri.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Article I wrote a few years ago on #Tolkien, war, and imagination (and other soldier-poets drawn to myth during #WorldWarI. #GreatWar #WWI #medievalsky ‘Saving Imagination: Myth and Legend in WWI Poetry,’ The Poor Print, 35 (‘Fantasy,’ October 27, 2018): thepoorprint.com/2018/10/27/s...

thepoorprint.com

Saving Imagination: Myth and Legend in World War I Poetry

by Grace Khuri This year marks the centenary of the Armistice that ended World War I on 11 November, 1918. Throughout the nation, memorial events—both intellectual and artistic—have been and still …

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Dr Grace Khuri @gracekhuri.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Nice to chat again with my fellow Oxford Tolkien Network members Mina Gunner and Ryan Syler today 🙂

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Dr Grace Khuri @gracekhuri.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

For all who heard the #TolkienGuide 20th Anniversary livestream (and those who couldn't make it) -- you can learn more about my wider #Tolkien, #WorldWarI, and #medieval research and teaching via by my Oxford English Faculty webpage: www.english.ox.ac.uk/people/grace... #GreatWar #medievalsky

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Dr Grace Khuri @gracekhuri.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

I will be taking part in the TolkienGuide 20th Anniversary livestream (along with fellow members of the Oxford Tolkien Network). Many wonderful Tolkien scholars will be taking part, so do have a listen tomorrow (Saturday) if you have some free time. 🙂 www.tolkienguide.com/TG20 #Tolkien

tolkienguide.com

TolkienGuide 20th Anniversary

J. R. R. Tolkien Collecting guides, forums, articles, and news. A database of Tolkien related collectibles, rare items, ephemera. A community of like-minded collectors who share ideas, trade, and st...

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Dr Grace Khuri @gracekhuri.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

This kind of historical #WorldWarI research with a mythic spin was an outgrowth of my doctoral thesis project findings (relating to #Tolkien and his mythology -- the earliest version of the #Silmarillion). Tolkien worked in a mythically-minded culture, even during #WorldWarI.

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Dr Grace Khuri @gracekhuri.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Many congratulations Will! Having finished last year myself, I can appreciate the relief you must feel now. All best wishes.

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Dr Grace Khuri @gracekhuri.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

For those unable to attend Michael Tolkien's talk in person, it will be recorded and likely go online in December. #Tolkien #Silmarillion

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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

Yes, horses are in their own world -- we just live in it! 😆

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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

Also funny because I have fallen off of horses, and they look down at you as if to say -- "why art thou below mere mortal?" 😆

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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 · 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 · 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 · 21/09/2026

I believe there is a lot more history woven into it (from WWI) than most are aware of, and it grounds and enriches the tragedy beautifully.

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Dr Grace Khuri @gracekhuri.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

It is one representation of Tolkien's magnum opus (and the one most people first come to when reading his mythology). Some may prefer to give this title to his 'Silmarillion' corpus. Some may think LOTR is the real magnum opus.

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Dr Grace Khuri @gracekhuri.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

There is The Silmarillion (1977) and what scholars call the 'Silmarillion' the umbrella term for his First Age mythology. I understand there is discontent over the 1977 publication being 'authentic'. Tolkien himself referred to his mythology as 'Silmarillion' and the 1977 work is a part of that.

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Dr Grace Khuri @gracekhuri.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Yes, of course, which is why he published the History of Middle-earth series.

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Dr Grace Khuri @gracekhuri.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

That's true, yet Tolkien called his work 'Silmarillion' and did give his son Christopher the role of literary executor.

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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 · 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

Its relation to real #Oxford history is one of its most intriguing features, as is its archaeological and archival treatment, imagining the physical ruins of a disaster and the discovery and preservation of accounts of Bovadium's fate in documents edited by imaginary scholars. #Tolkien

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Dr Grace Khuri @gracekhuri.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Bovadium Fragments is a quite different work, written much later (c. 1957-60). It's a tragicomedy, at once satire and apocalypse, about the fate of Bovadium (alternate history Oxford) as motor cars multiply and planning works add a new road through a bucolic meadow with devastating consequences.

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Dr Grace Khuri @gracekhuri.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

The first is about the misadventures of the ironically named Mr. Bliss caused by just one automobile, reported with Dickensian flair and a cast of characters reminiscent of the denizens of Hobbiton. Richly illustrated by #Tolkien himself, it was composed at the time of #TheHobbit.

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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 creams

Close-up of the stitching of part of embroidered copy of a Bayeux Tapestry ship, in faded reds, purples, and creams

Embroidered copy of marginal dragon from Bayeux Tapestry in reds and creams

Back 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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