Ethics of Lit: Leaf By Niggle

For the first proper lecture in Ethics of Literature, Professor Kozlowski discusses Tolkien's often-overlooked short story, "Leaf By Niggle."  This serves two purposes: by closely examining and interpreting the story, we can determine much of Tolkien's morality and values, just as many of the writers we discuss in future weeks will examine and interpret other works of literature; Tolkien also uses this story to present many of his own thoughts on the value of art and the ethics of creating art, which we will examine and critique. Suggested supplementary readings include: "On Fairy Stories" (also in the Tales From the Perilous Realm collection) The Lord of the Rings The Silmarillion The Bible (Tolkien's an ardent Catholic; his worldview and ethics are distinctly Christian.  Nor is this the last time Christian teaching will be relevant to our discussion) To see what else Professor Kozlowski is up to, visit his webpage: https://professorkozlowski.wordpress.com/ And please consider contributing to Professor Kozlowski's Patreon at:  https://www.patreon.com/ProfessorKozlowski - where you'll also be able  to vote for and suggest new topics for future lectures.