This session welcomes contributions on the topic of literary, philosophical, or intellectual influences between any of the members of the Inklings, especially between J.R.R. Tolkien and Owen Barfield, and the robustness of those claims. Verlyn Flieger’s assertion in Splintered Light: Logos and Language in Tolkien's World, that the languages of Middle-earth developed just as Barfield says human languages do in real life, is perhaps the model of influence, and is well known, respected, and analyzed. But Flieger's argument remains almost entirely circumstantial. The connection between Barfield’s work and thought, and Tolkien’s imaginative creations, remains tentative rather than real and robust if we only look for influences between the two. Is there a more direct connection between the writings of the two? What about influences between other members of the Inklings? And what exactly constitutes "influence"? Any and all original scholarship on this topic is welcome.
Inkling scholarship insists that Owen Barfield profoundly influenced J.R.R. Tolkien’s "whole outlook" by way of the concept of "ancient semantic unity," or as Barfield himself called it, "concrete language." The claims of influence, though, depend only on only two or three documented pieces of evidence; the dominant weight of these claims instead rests on comparisons between Barfield’s concept of ancient semantic unity and his template of evolution of consciousness through three stages, and the literary works of Tolkien. Is this connection too thin? What about other connections between the individual Inklings - are there significant literary or philosophical influences? Shared methods, perhaps, or something else? Have Tolkien's recently published works, or recent analyses and developments of Barfield's "ancient semantic unity," changed this judgment? Finally, where is Inkling scholarship headed, especially in light of recent developments in AI, archeology, anthropology, and linguistics?