Table Of ContentThe Broken Scythe
Death and Immortality
in the Works of J.R.R. Tolkien
edited by
Roberto Arduini & Claudio A. Testi
with a preface by Verlyn Flieger
The Broken Scythe
Death and Immortality
in the Works of J.R.R. Tolkien
Roberto Arduini & Claudio A. Testi (eds.)
The Broken Scythe
Death and Immortality
in the Works of J.R.R. Tolkien
2012
Cormare Series No. 26
Series Editors: Peter Buchs • Thomas Honegger • Andrew Moglestue • Johanna Schon
Editor responsible for this volume: Thomas Honegger
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Roberto Arduini & Claudio A. Testi (eds.):
The Broken Scythe
Death and Immortality in the Works of J.R.R. Tolkien
ISBN 978-3-905703-26-9
Subject headings:
Tolkien, J.R.R. (John Ronald Reuel), 1892-1973
Death and Immortality
The Lord of the Rings
The Hobbit
The Silmarillion
Cormare Series No. 26
First published 2012
© Walking Tree Publishers, Zurich and Jena, 2012
All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, by any process or
technique, without the express written consent of the publisher
Cover illustration The Departure ofBoromir by Anke Eissmann. Reproduced by permission
of the artist. Copyright Anke Eissmann (2003).
Set in Adobe Garamond Pro and Shannon by Walking Tree Publishers
Printed by Lightning Source in the United Kingdom and United States
BOARD OF ADVISORS
ACADEMIC ADVISORS
Douglas A. Anderson (independent scholar)
Dieter Bachmann (Universitat Zurich)
Patrick Curry (independent scholar)
Michael D.C. Drout (Wheaton College)
Vincent Ferre (Universite de Paris 13)
Thomas Fornet-Ponse (Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universitat Bonn)
Verlyn Flieger (University of Maryland)
Christopher Garbowski (University of Lublin, Poland)
Mark T. Hooker (Indiana University)
Andrew James Johnston (Freie Universitat Berlin)
Rainer Nagel (Johannes Gutenberg-Universitat Mainz)
Helmut W. Pesch (independent scholar)
Tom Shippey (University of Winchester)
Allan Turner (Friedrich-Schiller-Universitat Jena)
Frank Weinreich (independent scholar)
GENERAL READERS
Johan Boots
Jean Chausse
Friedhelm Schneidewind
Patrick Van den hole
Johan Vanhecke (Letterenhuis, Antwerp)
About the editors and contributors
Roberto ARDUINI (*1970), president of the Roman Society of Tolkien Studies, is
a journalist and independent scholar. He is also a member of Tolkien e dintorni,
the Scientific Review Committee for Marietti publisher, and contributed to
TheJ.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia: Scholarship and Critical Assessment, ed. Michael
Drout, (Routledge University Press, 2006). He edited 77 Kalevala. Poema
nazionale finnico (II Cerchio, 2007); together with Claudio Antonio Testi, he
edited for Marietti La trasmissione delpensiero e la numerazione degli Elfi (2008),
La Falce spezzata. Morte e immortalita inJ.R.R. Tolkien (2009) and Tolkien e la
Filosofia (2011). He is one of the authors of La biblioteca di Bilbo (Effata, 2011).
Simone BONECHI (*1966), graduated in History at the University of Florence
and obtained a PhD in History at the Sacro Cuore University of Milan. He is a
passionate reader of Tolkien since the 1980s, a member of the Tolkien Society,
and collaborates with the Italian magazine Endore and works for Marietti 1820
as a translator of Tolkien-related studies such as Brian Rosebury s Tolkien: a
Cultural Phenomenon.
Giampaolo CANZONIERI (*1959) obtained a degree in Computer Science and
earns his living in this field. He discovered The Lord of the Rings at the age of
fifteen and Tolkien has been part of his life ever since. He is a member of the
committee that stands behind the Italian Tolkien e dintorni book series, to which
he contributed first by participating in the translation of Tom Shippey's The
Road to Middle-earth and then by supervising the translation of Joseph Pearce's
Tolkien: Man and Myth and of La Trasmissione delpensiero e la numerazione
degli elfi, a collection including J.R.R. Tolkien's "Osanwe-kenta", "Notes on
Ore" and "Eldarin Hands, Fingers and Numerals".
Lorenzo GAMMARELLI (*1972) contributed in 2003 to the revision of the Italian
translations of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit In 2005 he was the edi
tor of the new Italian editions of Farmer Giles of Ham and Smith ofWootton
Major, and in 2007 he translated and edited John Garth's Tolkien and the Great
War. He is a member of the scholarly committee for the books series Tolkien e
dintorni and collects Tolkien-related books and magazines.
Alberto LADAVAS (*1978) graduated in Electronic Engineering in Milan in 2004.
He is a Tolkien Society member and member of the scholarly committee for
the books series Tolkien e dintornu He is a Tolkien fan since he was 10 years
old and growing up he widened his interests from epic and fantastic literature
to Northern history and mythology.
Franco MANNI (*1960) obtained two degrees in Philosophy and Theology
respectively. Since 1999 he has been editing a Tolkienian journal, Endore,
and several Tolkien-related books: Introduzione a Tolkien, Tolkien e la Terra
di Mezzo, Mitopoiesi, Lettera a un amico della Terra di Mezzo, and the Italian
translation of Shippey's Tolkien Author of the Century. He also published two
papers in English, one in the Proceedings of the 2005 Birmingham Tolkien
Conference, and one in Mallorn.
Andrea MONDA (*1966) obtained a degree in Religious Science at Pontifical
Gregorian University. His thesis on theological meanings of The Lord of the Rings
has been published by Rubbettino Editore under the title LAnello e la Croce in
2008. He works as a teacher of the Catholic religion in the high schools of Rome,
the Pontifical Gregorian University, and the Pontifical Lateran University. He
has furthermore published, together with Saverio SimoneUi, Tolkien, ilSignore
della Fantasia (Frassinelli, 2002) and GliAnelli della Fantasia (Frassinelli, 2004),
with Paolo Gulisano IlMondo diNarnia (SanPaolo 2005) and with Giovanni
Cucci UArazzo rovesciato. VEnigma del Male (Cittadella Editrice, 2010).
Claudio Antonio TESTI (*1967) obtained his PhD in Philosophy at the
University of Bologna, is member and cofounder of the Philosophical Institute
of Thomistical Studies where he teaches logic and cosmology. His publications
(more than thirty articles or books) range from exegetical studies of Thomas
Aquinass metaphysics to csssys in formal logic and epistemology: recently the
work of J.R.R. Tolkien has become the focus of his studies. He is co-director
of the series of Le Quaestiones (concerning Philosophy and Literature) and of
the series Tolkien e dintorni, a collection of critical studies and translations
concerning Tolkien and the Inklings.
