Professor Dimitra Fimi
- Professor of Fantasy and Children's Literature (English Literature)
telephone:
01413305663
email:
Dimitra.Fimi@glasgow.ac.uk
4 University Gardens, School of Critical Studies, Glasgow, Glasgow, G12 8QQ
Research interests
Biography
Prof Dimitra Fimi joined the University of Glasgow in 2018 from her previous post at Cardiff Metropolitan University. Her first monograph, Tolkien, Race and Cultural History: From Fairies to Hobbits (Palgrave Macmillan, 2008) won the Mythopoeic Scholarship Award in Inklings Studies. She co-edited the first critical “extended” edition of J.R.R. Tolkien’s essay “A Secret Vice”, in which Tolkien theorizes his language invention (A Secret Vice: Tolkien on Invented Languages, HarperCollins, 2016). The book won the Tolkien Society Award for Best Book. Her latest monograph, Celtic Myth in Contemporary Children’s Fantasy: Idealization, Identity, Ideology (Palgrave Macmillan, 2017) won the Mythopoeic Scholarship Award in Myth and Fantasy Studies.
She has published widely in journals and edited collections. She contributes regularly to radio and TV programmes (BBC Radio 4, BBC Radio Wales, History Channel, BBC4). She co-edits the Perspectives on Fantasy book series (Bloomsbury). Many of her articles are available online via her website: http://dimitrafimi.com/
Interests
Fantasy Literature
Children's Literature
Children's Fantasy
J.R.R. Tolkien
Medievalism
Myth and Folklore
Invented Languages
Children's Literature and Science
Publications
2024
2023
Fimi, D. (2023) Fantasy worlds: crossing borders of otherness. In: Kirk, T. and Sangster, M. (eds.) Realms of Imagination: Essays from the Wide Worlds of Fantasy. British Library Publishing: London, pp. 206-224. ISBN 9780712354493
Fimi, D. and Sims, A. J.P. (Eds.) (2023) Imagining the Celtic Past in Modern Fantasy. Series: Perspectives on fantasy. Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 9781350349995
2021
Fimi, D. and Kolovos, D. (Eds.) (2021) Επιδράσεις της Αρχαίας Ελληνικής Γραμματείας στο Έργο του Τζ.Ρ.Ρ. Τόλκιν = Echoes of Ancient Greek Literature in the Work of J.R.R. Tolkien. Kedros: Athens. ISBN 9789600451818
2020
Fimi, D. (2020) Fantastic Languages - The Language of the Fantastic. Series: Fastitocalon: Studies in Fantasticism Ancient to Modern (IX, Issue 1&2). Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Trier. ISBN 9783868218749
2019
Fimi, D. (2019) Fantasies of space and time. In: Ming Kong, M., do Rosário Monteiro, M. and Pereira Neto, M. J. (eds.) Intelligence, Creativity and Fantasy. Series: PHI. CRC Press, pp. 13-20. ISBN 9780367277192 (doi: 10.1201/9780429297755)
Beggs, D. and Fimi, D. (2019) Tiny Treasures: Miniature Books from Scotland and Beyond. [Exhibitions]
Fimi, D. and Honegger, T. (Eds.) (2019) Sub-creating Arda: World-building in J.R.R. Tolkien's Works, its Precursors, and Legacies. Series: Cormarë series. Walking Tree Publishers: Zurich. ISBN 9783905703405
Beggs, D. and Fimi, D. (2019) Tiny Alice Project: The smallest ever reproduction of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland with letters measuring in nanometers. [Website]
2017
Fimi, D. (2017) ‘Tears are the very wine of blessedness’: joyful sorrow in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. In: Helen, D. (ed.) Death and Immortality in Middle-earth: Proceedings of The Tolkien Society Seminar 2016. Luna Press Publishing. ISBN 9781911143338
Fimi, D. (2017) Tolkien’s Arda. In: Wolf, M. J.P. (ed.) The Routledge Companion to Imaginary Worlds. Series: Routledge companions. Routledge: New York, NY, pp. 377-384. ISBN 9781138638914
Fimi, D. and Higgins, A. (2017) Invented languages. In: WOlf, M. J.P. (ed.) The Routledge Companion to Imaginary Worlds. Series: Routledge companions. Routledge: New York, NY, pp. 21-29. ISBN 9781138638914
Fimi, D. (2017) Celtic Myth in Contemporary Children’s Fantasy: Idealization, Identity, Ideology. Series: Critical approaches to children's literature. Palgrave Macmillan: London. ISBN 9781137552815 (doi: 10.1057/978-1-137-55282-2)
2016
Fimi, D. (2016) The past as an imaginary world: the case of medievalism. In: Wolf, M. J.P. (ed.) Revisiting Imaginary Worlds: A Subcreation Studies Anthology. Routledge: Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY, pp. 46-68. ISBN 9781138942059
Tolkien, J.R.R., Fimi, D. and Higgins, A.(Eds.) (2016) A Secret Vice: Tolkien on Invented Languages. [Scholarly Editions]
Crofts, T. H. and Fimi, D. (2016) Hippotes ho Presbutes: The Old Knight: An edition of the Greek Arthurian poem of Vat. gr. 1822. In: Archibald, E. and Johnson, D. F. (eds.) Arthurian Literature XXXIII. Boydell & Brewer, pp. 158-218.
2015
Fimi, D. (2015) Teaching race and cultures in Tolkien's works. In: Donovan, L. A. (ed.) Approaches to Teaching Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings and Other Works. Series: Approaches to teaching world literature (136). The Modern Language Association of America: New York. ISBN 9781603292054
2014
Fimi, D. (2014) Later fantasy fiction. In: Lee, S. D. (ed.) A Companion to J. R. R. Tolkien. Series: Blackwell companions to literature and culture. Wiley Blackwell: Malden, MA, pp. 335-349. ISBN 9780470659823
2013
Fimi, D. (2013) 'Wildman of the Woods': inscribing tragedy on the landscape of Middle-earth in The Children of Húrin. In: Conrad-O'Briain, H. and Hynes, G. (eds.) Tolkien: The Forest and the City. Four Courts Press: Dublin, pp. 43-56. ISBN 9781846824296
2012
Fimi, D. (2012) Between Greece and Northwestern Europe: the fairy tales of Penelope Delta. In: Chen, F. and Honegger, T. (eds.) The European Tradition of the Fantastic. Series: Fastitocalon (2). WVT Wissenschaftlicher Verlag: Trier, pp. 97-112. ISBN 9783868213607
Fimi, D. (2012) Tolkien and the fantasy tradition. In: Whitehead, C. (ed.) The Fantastic (Critical Insights). Salem Press: Ipswich, Mass.. ISBN 9781429837354
2011
Fimi, D. (2011) Filming folklore: adapting fantasy for the big screen through Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings. In: Bogstad, J. M. and Kaveny, P. E. (eds.) Picturing Tolkien: Essays on Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers: Jefferson, N.C., pp. 84-103. ISBN 9780786446360
2008
Fimi, D. (2008) Tolkien, Race and Cultural History: From Fairies to Hobbits. Palgrave Macmillan: New York. ISBN 9780230219519
2007
Fimi, D. (2007) Tolkien’s “‘Celtic’ type of legends”: merging traditions. Tolkien Studies, 4, pp. 51-71. (doi: 10.1353/tks.2007.0015)
Fimi, D. (2007) Tolkien and old Norse antiquity: real and romantic links in material culture. In: Clark, D. and Phelpstead, C. (eds.) Old Norse Made New: Essays on the Post-Medieval Reception of Old Norse Literature and Culture. Viking Society for Northern Research: London. ISBN 9780903521765
2006
Fimi, D. (2006) "Mad Elves" and "Elusive Beauty": some Celtic strands of Tolkien’s mythology. Folklore, 117(2), pp. 156-170. (doi: 10.1080/00155870600707847)
2005
Fimi, D. (2005) "Come sing ye light fairy things tripping so gay”: Victorian fairies and the early work of J. R. R. Tolkien. Working with English: Medieval and Modern Language, Literature and Drama, 2, pp. 10-26.
Articles
Cossio, A. and Fimi, D. (2024) “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight”, J. R. R. Tolkien’s 1953 W. P. Ker Memorial Lecture: an updated chronology and related findings. English Studies, 105(6), pp. 773-791. (doi: 10.1080/0013838X.2024.2344915)
Fimi, D. (2022) Gnomes, gnature, and the “gnifty gnomobile”: elemental spirits, deforestation and energy systems in transition in Upton Sinclair’s the Gnomobile. Children’s Literature in Education, (doi: 10.1007/s10583-022-09507-7) (Early Online Publication)
Fimi, D. (2018) Language as communication vs. language as art: J.R.R. Tolkien and early 20th-century radical linguistic experimentation. Journal of Tolkien Research, 5(1), 2.
Fimi, D. (2007) Tolkien’s “‘Celtic’ type of legends”: merging traditions. Tolkien Studies, 4, pp. 51-71. (doi: 10.1353/tks.2007.0015)
Fimi, D. (2006) "Mad Elves" and "Elusive Beauty": some Celtic strands of Tolkien’s mythology. Folklore, 117(2), pp. 156-170. (doi: 10.1080/00155870600707847)
Fimi, D. (2005) "Come sing ye light fairy things tripping so gay”: Victorian fairies and the early work of J. R. R. Tolkien. Working with English: Medieval and Modern Language, Literature and Drama, 2, pp. 10-26.
Books
Fimi, D. (2017) Celtic Myth in Contemporary Children’s Fantasy: Idealization, Identity, Ideology. Series: Critical approaches to children's literature. Palgrave Macmillan: London. ISBN 9781137552815 (doi: 10.1057/978-1-137-55282-2)
Fimi, D. (2008) Tolkien, Race and Cultural History: From Fairies to Hobbits. Palgrave Macmillan: New York. ISBN 9780230219519
Book Sections
Fimi, D. (2023) Fantasy worlds: crossing borders of otherness. In: Kirk, T. and Sangster, M. (eds.) Realms of Imagination: Essays from the Wide Worlds of Fantasy. British Library Publishing: London, pp. 206-224. ISBN 9780712354493
Fimi, D. (2019) Fantasies of space and time. In: Ming Kong, M., do Rosário Monteiro, M. and Pereira Neto, M. J. (eds.) Intelligence, Creativity and Fantasy. Series: PHI. CRC Press, pp. 13-20. ISBN 9780367277192 (doi: 10.1201/9780429297755)
Fimi, D. (2017) ‘Tears are the very wine of blessedness’: joyful sorrow in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. In: Helen, D. (ed.) Death and Immortality in Middle-earth: Proceedings of The Tolkien Society Seminar 2016. Luna Press Publishing. ISBN 9781911143338
Fimi, D. (2017) Tolkien’s Arda. In: Wolf, M. J.P. (ed.) The Routledge Companion to Imaginary Worlds. Series: Routledge companions. Routledge: New York, NY, pp. 377-384. ISBN 9781138638914
Fimi, D. and Higgins, A. (2017) Invented languages. In: WOlf, M. J.P. (ed.) The Routledge Companion to Imaginary Worlds. Series: Routledge companions. Routledge: New York, NY, pp. 21-29. ISBN 9781138638914
Fimi, D. (2016) The past as an imaginary world: the case of medievalism. In: Wolf, M. J.P. (ed.) Revisiting Imaginary Worlds: A Subcreation Studies Anthology. Routledge: Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY, pp. 46-68. ISBN 9781138942059
Crofts, T. H. and Fimi, D. (2016) Hippotes ho Presbutes: The Old Knight: An edition of the Greek Arthurian poem of Vat. gr. 1822. In: Archibald, E. and Johnson, D. F. (eds.) Arthurian Literature XXXIII. Boydell & Brewer, pp. 158-218.
Fimi, D. (2015) Teaching race and cultures in Tolkien's works. In: Donovan, L. A. (ed.) Approaches to Teaching Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings and Other Works. Series: Approaches to teaching world literature (136). The Modern Language Association of America: New York. ISBN 9781603292054
Fimi, D. (2014) Later fantasy fiction. In: Lee, S. D. (ed.) A Companion to J. R. R. Tolkien. Series: Blackwell companions to literature and culture. Wiley Blackwell: Malden, MA, pp. 335-349. ISBN 9780470659823
Fimi, D. (2013) 'Wildman of the Woods': inscribing tragedy on the landscape of Middle-earth in The Children of Húrin. In: Conrad-O'Briain, H. and Hynes, G. (eds.) Tolkien: The Forest and the City. Four Courts Press: Dublin, pp. 43-56. ISBN 9781846824296
Fimi, D. (2012) Between Greece and Northwestern Europe: the fairy tales of Penelope Delta. In: Chen, F. and Honegger, T. (eds.) The European Tradition of the Fantastic. Series: Fastitocalon (2). WVT Wissenschaftlicher Verlag: Trier, pp. 97-112. ISBN 9783868213607
Fimi, D. (2012) Tolkien and the fantasy tradition. In: Whitehead, C. (ed.) The Fantastic (Critical Insights). Salem Press: Ipswich, Mass.. ISBN 9781429837354
Fimi, D. (2011) Filming folklore: adapting fantasy for the big screen through Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings. In: Bogstad, J. M. and Kaveny, P. E. (eds.) Picturing Tolkien: Essays on Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers: Jefferson, N.C., pp. 84-103. ISBN 9780786446360
Fimi, D. (2007) Tolkien and old Norse antiquity: real and romantic links in material culture. In: Clark, D. and Phelpstead, C. (eds.) Old Norse Made New: Essays on the Post-Medieval Reception of Old Norse Literature and Culture. Viking Society for Northern Research: London. ISBN 9780903521765
Edited Books
Fimi, D. and Sims, A. J.P. (Eds.) (2023) Imagining the Celtic Past in Modern Fantasy. Series: Perspectives on fantasy. Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 9781350349995
Fimi, D. and Kolovos, D. (Eds.) (2021) Επιδράσεις της Αρχαίας Ελληνικής Γραμματείας στο Έργο του Τζ.Ρ.Ρ. Τόλκιν = Echoes of Ancient Greek Literature in the Work of J.R.R. Tolkien. Kedros: Athens. ISBN 9789600451818
Fimi, D. (2020) Fantastic Languages - The Language of the Fantastic. Series: Fastitocalon: Studies in Fantasticism Ancient to Modern (IX, Issue 1&2). Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Trier. ISBN 9783868218749
Fimi, D. and Honegger, T. (Eds.) (2019) Sub-creating Arda: World-building in J.R.R. Tolkien's Works, its Precursors, and Legacies. Series: Cormarë series. Walking Tree Publishers: Zurich. ISBN 9783905703405
Scholarly Editions
Tolkien, J.R.R., Fimi, D. and Higgins, A.(Eds.) (2016) A Secret Vice: Tolkien on Invented Languages. [Scholarly Editions]
Exhibitions
Beggs, D. and Fimi, D. (2019) Tiny Treasures: Miniature Books from Scotland and Beyond. [Exhibitions]
Website
Beggs, D. and Fimi, D. (2019) Tiny Alice Project: The smallest ever reproduction of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland with letters measuring in nanometers. [Website]
Grants
Grants
AHRC Network Grant (£27,609): "Future Voices of Scottish Science Fiction and Fantasy" (2022-2023)
Chancellor's Fund (£1,500): "Fantasy and Puppetry: Animating the Fantastic". Open research and public engagement event in 2021.
GCRF-funded project (£17,496): “Illustrated children’s book on gravitational wave astronomy - promoting partnerships and education with local Indian communities” (LIGO India). Co-Investigator. Working with Dr Mariela Masso Reid (PI), Institute for Gravitational Research, University of Glasgow (2019)
College of Arts Strategic Research Allocation Fund (£2,000.50): Creative-non-fiction picturebook for primary-school children - stories about basic research (pilot for Wellcome Trust funding bid). Principal Investigator. Working with Dr Chris Cunningham (Swansea University), Ms Elizabeth Dulemba (professional illustrator), and Pirie Park Primary School, Glasgow (2019)
Welsh Crucible 2017 Grant Scheme (£9,862) for interdisciplinary research project titled: “Year of the Sea: assessing changes in marine ecosystems through literature, arts and law”. Co-investigators: Dr Ruth Callaway (Swansea University), Dr Amanda Rogers (Swansea University), Kerry Lewis (Aberystwyth University), Dr Sarah Pogoda (Bangor University).
Welsh Crucible 2017 Grant Scheme (£9,239) for interdisciplinary research project titled: “The world’s smallest book: showcasing the wonder of miniaturisation to engage with the public imagination”. Co-investigator: Dr Daryl Beggs (Cardiff University).
Welsh Crucible 2017 Grant Scheme (£4919) for interdisciplinary research project titled: “The Myth of the Inventor: Philip Vaughan”. Co-ivestigators: Stefano Barazza (University of South Wales), and Dr Davide Crivelli (Cardiff University)
Supervision
- Arvaniti, Maria
Otherworlds on Stage: Interweaving Dramaturgies in Fairy Fantasies - Borland Sinclair, Grace
Feminist Fabulations - Emanuel, Thomas Karl
The Tale We've Fallen Into - Sherwood, Will
The Deeper Spirit of Romanticism in Tolkien’s Middle-earth - Swank, Kristine Ainsworth
Irish Mythology, Lit and Lang in works of JRR Tolkien - Worm, Grace Ann Thomas
Female Fantasy: Tamora Pierce’s Influence on Contemporary Fantasy
Supervision:
I have supervised PhDs on J.R.R. Tolkien and Fantasy Literature.
I am happy to consider proposals on any of the topics listed in my research interests.
Recently Completed PhDs Supervised:
Luke Shelton: ‘Small Hands Do Them Because They Must’: examining the reception of The Lord of the Rings among young readers (2020)
Penelope Holdaway: An Exploration of Tolkien’s Changing Vision of Faërie Through His Non-Middle-earth Poetry (2021)
Teaching
Teaching for 2020-2021
Children's Fantasy Literature (MLitt)
Additional information
Co-director of the University's Centre for Fantasy and the Fantastic (https://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/critical/research/researchclusters/fanstasyatglasgow/)
Co-director of the University's Games and Gaming Lab (https://www.gla.ac.uk/researchinstitutes/artslab/labsandthemes/ourlabs/gamesandgaming/)
Member of the University’s Textual Editing Lab (https://www.gla.ac.uk/researchinstitutes/artslab/labs/textualeditinglab/)
Welsh Crucible Alumna (http://www.welshcrucible.org.uk/dimitra-fimi/)