Star Wars: The Force Awakens with The Tolkien Professor

Tonight, I’ll be hosting an interview with Ph.D. Corey Olsen on the new Star Wars film this Thursday at 8:00pm ET. The conversation is posted below and now archived on Youtube in a slightly edited version. I’ve heard that the video format below hasn’t worked for some viewers. Here you go.

UPDATE: The video is now archived here. Enjoy!

Corey Olsen graduated with a Ph.D. in English from Columbia University. He specializes in medieval literature, especially the poetry of Geoffrey Chaucer, the Morte d’Arthur of Sir Thomas Malory, and, of course, the works of J.R.R. Tolkien.

Corey Olsen previously worked as an English professor at Washington College, Corey Olsen holds a Ph.D. in medieval literature and has been a student of J.R.R. Tolkien’s works all his life. As a professor, Olsen became increasingly frustrated with the separation between academics and general readers — namely, the inability for general readers and lovers of literature to enjoy the thought-provoking discoveries made in the cloistered world of academics.

In July of 2009, The Tolkien Professor launched The Tolkien Professor in order to share his scholarly work with the public, to connect with other people who are eager to be included in thoughtful, literary conversation about the works of J.R.R. Tolkien. Since the launch of the site, listeners have downloaded more than 1,200,000 of his lectures and podcasts.

We’ll discuss his thoughts on the new film and also broaden out into his interests in myths, faery stories and their relevance today.