By-The-Bywater: A Podcast about All Things J.R.R. Tolkien 82. Think of the Drunk Children!
Jared, Oriana and Ned discuss Ned’s choice of topic: The Bovadium Fragments and Tolkien as environmentalist. Published in November 2025, The Bovadium Fragments are a short, academically-minded collection of comedic observations on a then-current civic-planning debate in Oxford revolving around car routes through and around the city. Tolkien, never one for cars in general, used it as the basis for something along the lines of the linguistic history jokes in Farmer Giles of Ham but in a much different context – and honestly with much less interesting results, however one might agree with his larger points. But besides being the final posthumous project that Christopher Tolkien edited before his own passing, The Bovadium Fragments also raises the larger question of Tolkien as an environmentalist as such – or at least one seen to be an environmentalist given his well known love for trees in particular. But in terms of his own general work and writing, calling him an environmentalist writer and thinker in both a past and current sense might not be the best framing for what he does. What elements of Tolkien’s personal and academic history fed into the creation of The Bovadium Fragments? How ‘on the ground’ is Tolkien’s own perceived environmentalism in general, or is it something more seen at a remove? What elements of industrial culture overall shaped Tolkien’s experiences – even those seemingly closest to his own most profound encounters with nature? And how much Latin do you have to know to deal with the fragments anyway?
Show Notes.
Jared’s doodle. Charon’s got a sweet ride for himself there.
The Lord of the Rings is back in theaters! If you want to go! You don’t have to!
Netflix, Warner Bros., etc etc.
Tolkien’s desk selling for crazy money is…strange.
The Bovadium Fragments, if you’d like.
Our Farmer Giles of Ham episode. (And our Mr. Bliss one.)
The Tolkien trees quote and its proper origins.
Clyde Kilby’s entry in Tolkien Gateway.
David Macaulay and his Motel of the Mysteries. All his work is well worth your time.
Northwestern! It’s a school, you see.
Inspector Morse and Lewis (not C.S.) – and remember, “It’s a rave, Lewis!”
Robert Moses is, how to put it, well known in history. (And it was indeed Wadham.)
“Town and gown” has probably always been around in history. (As has “NIMBY.”)
Our episode on The Fall of Númenor.
The extinct British megafauna via the University of London.
Indigenous North American agriculture, as discussed by the National Farmer’s Union.
Our episode on Ghân-buri-Ghân.
A short piece discussing Romantic/19th century ‘back to nature’ impulses.
A good Reddit thread (really) on 19th century nature tourism.
Recent Seattle flooding – not good, on many different levels.
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