Patrick Curry
Patrick Curry | |
---|---|
Born | 1951 Winnipeg, Canada |
Alma mater | University of California, Santa Cruz, London School of Economics, University College London |
Occupation(s) | Scholar, author |
Notable work | Defending Middle-earth |
Patrick Curry (born 1951) is an independent Canadian-born British scholar who has worked and taught on a variety of subjects from
Biography
Patrick Curry was born in Winnipeg, Canada. He took his B.A. in psychology at the University of California, Santa Cruz in 1978. He gained his M.Sc. in logic and scientific method at the London School of Economics in 1980, and his Ph.D. in history and philosophy of science at University College London in 1987.[1]
He lectured on cultural astronomy and on astronomy at Bath Spa University from 2002, and on cosmology and divination at the University of Kent at Canterbury from 2006. He is the editor-in-chief of The Ecological Citizen. He writes book reviews for British national newspapers, essays, and non-fiction books. He appeared in interviews on two of the extended DVDs on Peter Jackson's film trilogy of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. He is a contributor to Blackwell's 2014 A Companion to J. R. R. Tolkien.[1] He has written two books of poetry, Lockdown and Desire Lines.[2]
Curry is divorced and has two children. He states that he has had "a long relationship with Buddhism (Sōtō Zen)", taught by Kōbun Chino Otogawa.[1]
Writing
Defending Middle-Earth
Juliette Wood, reviewing the 1997 work Defending Middle-Earth: Tolkien: Myth and Modernity for
Enchantment
Bernice Martin, reviewing Curry's 2019 book Enchantment for The Times Literary Supplement, states that Curry came to Buddhism via the New Age movement from seemingly a Christian background, and that in the book he indicts the reductive "modern secular and technocratic culture". Martin admires the way that Curry handles the subject, using his personal experience, collective examples like Princess Diana's funeral, and Tolkien's writings to build a picture of what is wrong with modern society.[6]
Deep Roots in a Time of Frost
The Tolkien scholar
Books
Written
- 1989 Astrology, Science and Society. Boydell & Brewer.
- 1989 Prophecy and Power: Astrology in Early Modern England. Polity Press, Princeton University Press.
- 1992 A Confusion of Prophets: Victorian and Edwardian Astrology. Collins & Brown.
- 1995 Introducing Machiavelli. Icon.
- 2004 Astrology, Science and Culture: Pulling Down the Moon (with Roy Willis). Berg Publishers.
- 2004 Defending Middle-earth: Tolkien: myth and modernity (reissued with new Afterword). Houghton Mifflin. First published by Floris, 1997.
- 2010 Divination. Ashgate Publishing.
- 2014 Deep Roots in a Time of Frost: Essays on Tolkien. Walking Tree Books.
- 2017 Defending the Humanities: Metaphor, Science and Nature. Rounded Globe.
- 2017 Ecological Ethics: An Introduction (2nd ed.). Polity Press.
- 2019 Enchantment: Wonder in Modern Life. Floris Books.
Edited
- 2006 Sky and Psyche: The Relationship between Cosmos and Consciousness (with Nicholas Campion). Floris Books.
- 2008 Seeing with Different Eyes: Essays on Astrology and Divination (with Angela Voss). Cambridge Scholars Press.
References
- ^ a b c Curry, Patrick. "Background". Patrick Curry. Retrieved 7 November 2021.
- ^ "The Books". Brook Green Books. Retrieved 7 November 2021.
- ^ Wood, Juliette (1998). "[Review:] Defending Middle-Earth. Tolkien: Myth and Modernity". Gale Academic Onefile. Retrieved 7 November 2021.
- ISSN 0317-0500.
- JSTOR 45296757.
- ^ Martin, Bernice (29 May 2020). "Awesome". The Times Literary Supplement. Retrieved 7 November 2021.
- Journal of Tolkien Research. 1 (1). Article 7.