Arboreal Anthropomorphism and the Temporality of Trees in The Lord of the Rings : An Ecocritical Approach
(2023) In Hither Shore: Interdisciplinary Journal on Modern Fantasy Literature 19((2022)).- Abstract
- The intersection of Tolkien’s writing and his environmental agenda have long been studied and the Ents are easily identified as one of the envoys of environmental messages in The Lord of the Rings. The Ents are anthropomorphic Hybrids in their function within the narrative, which can lead to a paradox when considering that ecocritical theories rather disapprove of humanising tools to convey ecological topics. With the example of the Ents, this paper provides evidence to reconsider this notion toward anthropomorphism and illustrate how effectively it can be executed. In a first step, a framework for anthropomorphic markers and modes is established to help categorise different cases of humanised matter in literature. The markers Physicality,... (More)
- The intersection of Tolkien’s writing and his environmental agenda have long been studied and the Ents are easily identified as one of the envoys of environmental messages in The Lord of the Rings. The Ents are anthropomorphic Hybrids in their function within the narrative, which can lead to a paradox when considering that ecocritical theories rather disapprove of humanising tools to convey ecological topics. With the example of the Ents, this paper provides evidence to reconsider this notion toward anthropomorphism and illustrate how effectively it can be executed. In a first step, a framework for anthropomorphic markers and modes is established to help categorise different cases of humanised matter in literature. The markers Physicality, Sentience, and Language can be executed by one or more anthropomorphic modes: Projection, Manifestation, and Hybridity. The Hybridity mode is prevalent when analysing the role of Ents, which allows for their exceptional role in introducing nonhuman concepts of time to the human audience. Treebeard as a representative of entire forest ecosystems and their temporalities broadens the scope from individual trees to regarding woods as sentient entities. Constant growth is a feature that is essential to arboreal concepts of time and is reflected in their way of thinking, speaking, and the very construction of Old Entish. On the scale of the narrative, having the Ents as eternally growing beings, they exceed their function as mere translators and mediators between the arboreal and human realms, and further serve as living collectors of wisdom and environmental history. The anthropomorphic depiction of the Ents as Hybrid beings gives us humans a chance to imagine and empathise with temporalities of arboreal beings who operate on vastly different timelines than our own. (Less)
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- author
- Kautz, Alissa LU
- publishing date
- 2023
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- in
- Hither Shore: Interdisciplinary Journal on Modern Fantasy Literature
- volume
- 19
- issue
- (2022)
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- no
- additional info
- Title of this bilingual yearbook, volume 19: Raum und Zeit in Tolkiens Werk / Space and Time in Tolkien's Work. ISBN: 9783910869028
- id
- e19ca3d9-61b8-4af6-86f1-37d45856af8e
- date added to LUP
- 2025-03-06 12:27:34
- date last changed
- 2025-04-04 14:58:37
@article{e19ca3d9-61b8-4af6-86f1-37d45856af8e,
abstract = {{The intersection of Tolkien’s writing and his environmental agenda have long been studied and the Ents are easily identified as one of the envoys of environmental messages in The Lord of the Rings. The Ents are anthropomorphic Hybrids in their function within the narrative, which can lead to a paradox when considering that ecocritical theories rather disapprove of humanising tools to convey ecological topics. With the example of the Ents, this paper provides evidence to reconsider this notion toward anthropomorphism and illustrate how effectively it can be executed. In a first step, a framework for anthropomorphic markers and modes is established to help categorise different cases of humanised matter in literature. The markers Physicality, Sentience, and Language can be executed by one or more anthropomorphic modes: Projection, Manifestation, and Hybridity. The Hybridity mode is prevalent when analysing the role of Ents, which allows for their exceptional role in introducing nonhuman concepts of time to the human audience. Treebeard as a representative of entire forest ecosystems and their temporalities broadens the scope from individual trees to regarding woods as sentient entities. Constant growth is a feature that is essential to arboreal concepts of time and is reflected in their way of thinking, speaking, and the very construction of Old Entish. On the scale of the narrative, having the Ents as eternally growing beings, they exceed their function as mere translators and mediators between the arboreal and human realms, and further serve as living collectors of wisdom and environmental history. The anthropomorphic depiction of the Ents as Hybrid beings gives us humans a chance to imagine and empathise with temporalities of arboreal beings who operate on vastly different timelines than our own.}},
author = {{Kautz, Alissa}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{(2022)}},
series = {{Hither Shore: Interdisciplinary Journal on Modern Fantasy Literature}},
title = {{Arboreal Anthropomorphism and the Temporality of Trees in <i>The Lord of the Rings</i> : An Ecocritical Approach}},
volume = {{19}},
year = {{2023}},
}