All Program Dates

• May 4th, 2026 | 7:00pm - 9:00pm ET

• May 11th, 2026 | 7:00pm - 9:00pm ET

• May 18th, 2026 | 7:00pm - 9:00pm ET

• May 25th, 2026 | 7:00pm - 9:00pm ET

Registration

• This program is subscription-only.

• General subscription for this program series is $100. Rosenbach members receive a 10% discount for this program. Not a member? Learn more.

• Please check your spam folder for your email confirmation. If you have questions, please call (215) 732-1600 or email rsvp@rosenbach.org.

• Subscribers can watch live on Mondays, or view the recordings, available (for subscribers only) until 30 days after the show finishes its run. 

Description

Our Hobbit fun continues with this subscription-only show with two of the leading Tolkien scholars in the world, Michael D.C. Drout and Corey Olsen. In this four episode series we’ll explore the medieval works that influenced Tolkien, as well as his translations and famous essays. First up are two sessions on Beowulf and Tolkien with professor Drout, the author of the new book, The Tower and the Ruin: J.R.R. Tolkien’s Creation. Then The Tolkien Professor, Corey Olsen, joins us for two sessions on Tolkien’s 1947 essay, “On Fairy Stories,” and Tolkien’s translation of the medieval fairy poem, Sir Orfeo. And along the way, we’ll revisit The Hobbit’s connections with all of these works. Don’t miss this unique opportunity to explore the works that inspired Tolkien’s legendarium with these great scholars.   

This program will be the same format as our Biblioventures: The Hobbit program, with Drout and Olsen joining host Edward G. Pettit in conversation, but we will be fielding your questions from the chat.  Unlike the Hobbit show, this will not be broadcast on YouTube and will available only to those who subscribe. All episodes will be recorded and you can watch them up to thirty days after the entire series has ended.

Schedule

All episodes air live on Mondays in May 2026, 7:00 - 9:00pm ET on Zoom.

May 4, Beowulf with Professor Michael D.C. Drout

Hwaet! We’ll explore the Anglo-Saxon heroic adventures of Beowulf as he fights the monster Grendel, Grendel’s even more ferocious monster-mother, and finally the dragon. 

Prepare by reading any translation of Beowulf.   

May 11, Tolkien and Beowulf with Professor Michael D.C. Drout

Tolkien was greatly influenced by Beowulf and wrote perhaps the single most influential essay about the epic poem, “Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics,” which changed the way scholars and readers experienced the poem. Tolken created his own prose translation of the poem, which was not published until after his death, and his contributions to the study of Beowulf are still relevant today. 

Prepare by reading Tolkien’s essay, “Beowulf: The Monster and the Critics.” Also recommended: Tolkien’s translation of Beowulf.

May 18, Tolkien’s “On Fairy Stories” with Professor Corey Olsen

Originally given as a lecture in 1939, “On Fairy Stories” demonstrates how Tolkien approaches fantasy fiction and how “sub-creation” provides the reader with opportunities of Recovery, Escape, and Consolation. We’ll dive into this essay and see how The Hobbit fits into Tolkien’s mythopoeic philosophy.

Prepare by reading Tolkien’s “On Fairy Stories.” 

May 25, Tolkien’s Sir Orfeo with Professor Corey Olsen

Sir Orfeo is an anonymous Middle English poem from the 13th/14th Century about an English king (Sir Orfeo) whose wife is abducted by Faerie and he wanders for years trying to recover her. Inspired by the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, this medieval version recasts the story in a world of Celtic faery lore. Tolkien translated the poem and was greatly inspired by the poem’s vision. We’ll also look at Sir Orfeo’s resonance in The Hobbit.  

Prepare by reading Tolkien’s translation of Sir Orfeo. 

About Our Special Guests

Michael D.C. Drout is the Frances A. Shirley Professor of English and Director of the Center for the Study of the Medieval at Wheaton College, Norton, Massachusetts, where he teaches classes in Old and Middle English, Writing, Linguistics, Science Fiction and the works of J.R.R. Tolkien. One of the founders of the journal Tolkien Studies, Drout is the author of How Tradition Works, Tradition and Influence in Anglo-Saxon Literature, Drout’s Quick and Easy Old English, and How to Think: the Liberal Arts and their Enduring Value, and he is co-author of Beowulf Unlocked: New Evidence from Lexomic Analysis. He edited J.R.R. Tolkien’s Beowulf and the Critics and the J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia and co-edited Transitional States: Cultural Change, Tradition and Memory in Medieval England. A consultant for The Lord of the Rings On-line MMPORG, Drout has appeared in two History Channel mini-series: Clash of the Gods and True Monsters, and in National Geographic’s Beyond the Movie: The Return of the King. He has also recorded thirteen audio courses for Recorded Books. His latest book is The Tower and the Ruin: J.R.R. Tolkien’s Creation. 

Dr. Corey Olsen is the President of Signum University and Mythgard Institute. In addition to teaching classes on J.R.R. Tolkien, Chaucer, and modern fantasy literature for Signum, Dr. Olsen has extended the concept of the digital classroom to include non-traditional outlets. Through the Mythgard Academy, he offers free weekly lectures on works of speculative fiction chosen by Signum University supporters, and he has embraced the “new literature” of cinema and video game adaptations through interactive programs such as The Silmarillion Film Project and in-game discussions of Lord of the Rings Online. 

On his teaching website, The Tolkien Professor, Dr. Olsen brings his scholarship on Tolkien to the public, seeking to engage a wide and diverse audience in serious intellectual and literary conversation. His website features a series of detailed lectures on The Hobbit and recordings of the weekly meetings of the Silmarillion Seminar, which worked its way through the Silmarillion chapter by chapter, as well as more informal Q&A sessions with listeners. His book Exploring J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, was published by Houghton Mifflin in September 2012. 

Dr. Olsen obtained his B.A in English and Astrophysics from Williams College in 1996, going on to Columbia University where he obtained his M.A. in 1997, M.Phil in 2000, and his Ph.D in medieval literature in 2003. Upon graduation from Columbia University, Dr. Olsen obtained teaching positions at Temple University, Columbia University, and Washington College. In 2011, Dr. Olsen started Signum University and the Mythgard Institute. His undergraduate and graduate teaching subjects include J.R.R. Tolkien, Arthurian literature, Chaucer, and Sir Thomas Malory. 

About the Series Host

Edward G. Pettit is the Sunstein Senior Manager of Digital Initiatives at the Rosenbach and has been presenter for the weekly Biblioventures series on Dracula, Frankenstein, Jane Eyre, Pride and Prejudice, The Pickwick Papers, Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, A Christmas Carol, and The Picture of Dorian Gray. The Biblioventures series Sherlock Monthly is still running. When not drinking, smoking, and talking about books, Pettit also oversees the online reading seminars at the Rosenbach. In 2018, he helped found a Tolkien Society smial in Philadelphia, the Bagshot Row Irregulars, which still meets intermittently. A hobbit by nature, but a (biblio)wizard by profession, Edward G. Pettit wanders but is rarely lost.