The Lord of the Network
An Exercise in Digital Humanities
The Lord of the Rings is an epic fantasy novel written by J.R.R. Tolkien in 1937–1949…
Wait, do I even have to tell you about that?! Even the suspicion that my reader may be unfamiliar with one of the groundbreaking books of the early XXIst century is insulting. We all remember the team of courageous Frodo, loyal Sam, wise Gandalf, and even slimy Gollum, who went to Mordor to destroy the ill-fated ring and returned to the Shire. Well, at least some of them.
The Lord of the Rings (also known by its code name, LoTR) is an example of travel literature, namely, travel memoirs, the genre that dates back to the Greek Pausanias of the second century CE and Marco Polo of the XIIIth century. In travel memoirs, the narrative is strongly correlated with geography. One can put the story on a geographical map; no wonder LoTR traditionally comes with a map of Middle-earth on the flyleaf.
Let’s make our own map of LoTR by arranging the chapters based on the characters and toponyms mentioned in them.
