The Two Rings

J.R.R.Tolkien’s

The Lord of the Rings

and

Richard Wagner’s

The Ring of the Nibelung

In celebration of the completion of Peter Jackson’s

monumental cycle of motion pictures The Lord of the Rings and in

anticipation of this year’s performances of

Der Ring des Nibelungen at the

Metropolitan Opera

J.R.R.Tolkien vigorously denied any connection between his ring and “the Nibelung’s Ring.” In actuality there is a great deal that is in common between the two great “Ring Cycles” and this talk sets itself the goal of exploring these and showing the many ways that the two great works illuminate each other. Tolkienians will learn something about Wagner and vice versa.

Edward R. Haymes is Professor of German and Comparative Literature at Cleveland State University. He published a book on the Middle High German Nibelungenlied in 1999 and co-authored a survey of Heroic Legends of the North in 1996. He regularly teaches as a guest at the Humboldt University in Berlin and has lectured on medieval literature and Richard Wagner at many universities and conferences in the US and Germany.