Q: How many translations have there been of your work?
A: I honestly have no idea. People have been very good about asking me for permission to use or translate my articles, but there have been so many requests through the years -- and I have lost a lot of email through computer crashes -- that I have lost track of all the authorized reprints and translations. A few people have asked for permission to translate some essays into Japanese, Korean, and Chinese, but I cannot find their Web sites and must assume they abandoned the projects.
I know for sure of Greek, Italian, Polish, Spanish, Portuguese, Finnish, and Hebrew translations. I have been in contact with all the translators I know about. And a Hungarian publisher acquired rights to translate Visualizing Middle-earth. A Greek publisher inquired about similar rights, but my computer crashed and I lost their email. I've been unable to figure out who it was. Another group approached me about a Portuguese translation for VME.
Q: So anyone can use your work?
A: No, not exactly. I've published probably close to 200 essays on the Web (not all of them about Tolkien and Middle-earth). I was originally paid for distribution rights for most of them. However, fan sites cannot afford to pay for content. If they want to use just a few, I'll allow them (generally) to reprint or translate some of my essays. Parma Endorion is a special case. The eBook has been translated into several languages (if you include the Polish translation of the original Web sites). Since Parma Endorion is free, the translators don't have to pay for rights (but they cannot sell their translations, either).
Q: What do you do when you find someone using your content?
A: I try to contact them. If I think I may have given permission in the past, I'll ask for a confirmation. If I am sure they have not asked permission, I will ask them to limit their use and to provide me with appropriate credit and a link back. If someone is selling Parma Endorion, I insist they stop immediately.
Q: You've now posted an extensive collection of links to Web sites that cite you or your work in some way. Why?
A: Oh, I've always been curious about how many actual citations there are. And I had some free time while recovering from a virus. So, I put together a list of citations.
Q: Does that validate your scholarship in any way?
A: Michael Drout, regarded as one of the foremost authorities on Tolkien scholarship, notes that "...a great many of the very best contemporary Tolkien scholars are not professors: Wayne Hammond and Christina Scull, Doug Anderson, David Bratman, Richard West, Carl Hostetter... many of these scholars have academic affiliations (at libraries, etc.), but they aren't professors of English or history or cultural studies. Yet they are among the best."
Q: Drout didn't mention you.
A: I suppose that does mean I'm not foremost in his mind when he thinks about non-academic scholars. His point, however, is that Tolkien scholarship flourishes among what he calls "independent scholars". I don't need Michael Drout's endorsement to validate my work. I only need to know that there is an audience for that work. That makes it worthwhile. I think he agrees with that point of view.
