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The Implied Reader and the Recovery of Childhood: A Study of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit
This thesis argues that J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit uses a storyteller-narrator and a child/adult implied reader to guide child readers towards maturity and allow adult readers to reengage with the world of childhood. The storyteller replicates traditional fairytale and epic storytelling, a traditio...
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| Format: | Thesis |
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AUC Knowledge Fountain
2019
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| _version_ | 1867613411889643520 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Rizk, Georgette Talaat |
| author_browse | Rizk, Georgette Talaat |
| author_facet | Rizk, Georgette Talaat |
| author_sort | Rizk, Georgette Talaat |
| collection | Thesis |
| dc_rights_str_mv | The author retains all rights with regard to copyright. The author certifies that written permission from the owner(s) of third-party copyrighted matter included in the thesis, dissertation, paper, or record of study has been obtained. The author further certifies that IRB approval has been obtained for this thesis, or that IRB approval is not necessary for this thesis. Insofar as this thesis, dissertation, paper, or record of study is an educational record as defined in the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) (20 USC 1232g), the author has granted consent to disclosure of it to anyone who requests a copy. |
| description | This thesis argues that J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit uses a storyteller-narrator and a child/adult implied reader to guide child readers towards maturity and allow adult readers to reengage with the world of childhood. The storyteller replicates traditional fairytale and epic storytelling, a tradition which simultaneously engages adults and children. The novel's language, intertexts, themes, humor and the reader's encouraged identification with the hobbit, Bilbo, suggest that the implied reader is both an adult and a child. The novel invites the reader to adopt Bilbo's development of a childlike perspective valuing the immaterial over the material. The life-like nature of time in the novel facilitates the reader's engagement with moral questions posed by the text which leads to Recovery: the adult's return to the pure view of childhood. The Christian concept of one's rebecoming a child as essential to a person's spiritual and moral development is shown to have inspired the construction of the novel's child/adult implied reader. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:fount.aucegypt.edu:etds-1733 |
| institution | American University in Cairo (Egypt) |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:35:43.583Z |
| license_str | Other — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from AUC Knowledge Fountain — bepress |
| publishDate | 2019 |
| publishDateRange | 2019 |
| publishDateSort | 2019 |
| publisher | AUC Knowledge Fountain |
| publisherStr | AUC Knowledge Fountain |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | AUC Knowledge Fountain — bepress |
| spelling | oai:fount.aucegypt.edu:etds-1733 The Implied Reader and the Recovery of Childhood: A Study of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit Rizk, Georgette Talaat This thesis argues that J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit uses a storyteller-narrator and a child/adult implied reader to guide child readers towards maturity and allow adult readers to reengage with the world of childhood. The storyteller replicates traditional fairytale and epic storytelling, a tradition which simultaneously engages adults and children. The novel's language, intertexts, themes, humor and the reader's encouraged identification with the hobbit, Bilbo, suggest that the implied reader is both an adult and a child. The novel invites the reader to adopt Bilbo's development of a childlike perspective valuing the immaterial over the material. The life-like nature of time in the novel facilitates the reader's engagement with moral questions posed by the text which leads to Recovery: the adult's return to the pure view of childhood. The Christian concept of one's rebecoming a child as essential to a person's spiritual and moral development is shown to have inspired the construction of the novel's child/adult implied reader. 2019-02-01T08:00:00Z thesis application/pdf https://fount.aucegypt.edu/etds/734 https://fount.aucegypt.edu/context/etds/article/1733/viewcontent/auto_convert.pdf The author retains all rights with regard to copyright. The author certifies that written permission from the owner(s) of third-party copyrighted matter included in the thesis, dissertation, paper, or record of study has been obtained. The author further certifies that IRB approval has been obtained for this thesis, or that IRB approval is not necessary for this thesis. Insofar as this thesis, dissertation, paper, or record of study is an educational record as defined in the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) (20 USC 1232g), the author has granted consent to disclosure of it to anyone who requests a copy. Theses and Dissertations AUC Knowledge Fountain Children's Literature Storyteller narrator |
| spellingShingle | Children's Literature Storyteller narrator Rizk, Georgette Talaat The Implied Reader and the Recovery of Childhood: A Study of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit |
| title | The Implied Reader and the Recovery of Childhood:
A Study of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit |
| title_full | The Implied Reader and the Recovery of Childhood:
A Study of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit |
| title_fullStr | The Implied Reader and the Recovery of Childhood:
A Study of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Implied Reader and the Recovery of Childhood:
A Study of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit |
| title_short | The Implied Reader and the Recovery of Childhood:
A Study of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit |
| title_sort | implied reader and the recovery of childhood a study of j r r tolkiena€™s the hobbit |
| topic | Children's Literature Storyteller narrator |
| url | https://fount.aucegypt.edu/etds/734 https://fount.aucegypt.edu/context/etds/article/1733/viewcontent/auto_convert.pdf |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT rizkgeorgettetalaat theimpliedreaderandtherecoveryofchildhoodastudyofjrrtolkienasthehobbit AT rizkgeorgettetalaat impliedreaderandtherecoveryofchildhoodastudyofjrrtolkienasthehobbit |