Admin Post: August 2019 Challenge: Notion Club Revival

[dawn_felagund]

Tolkien loved to play with the idea that his Legendarium was not based purely on his imagination, but was in fact historical material that he merely compiled and translated. In many cases, he presented them as the work of in-universe historians, gone through many hands until they somehow ended up in his own. In other cases, he created intricate scenarios in which his characters - or even just his languages - travelled through time and space, interacting with history in strange ways.

Perhaps the most intriguing experiment with this mode of transmission is The Notion Club Papers, in which a member of an Oxford-based writing and discussion group unexpectedly dreams up fragments of Adûnaic and Quenya. Supposedly set in the imaginary 1980s and peopled with parodies and avatars of the real Inklings, full of dream-journeys and inherited memories, the meetings of the Notion Club unexpectedly uncover the final days of Númenor.

In the spirit of the Notion Club, this month's challenge presents you with several (more or less) mysterious "historical" documents. What's the story behind them? Well, that's up to you! You can select any (or several) of the documents and let them feature in your fanwork for this challenge somehow. Fanworks don't have to imitate The Notion Club Papers, nor do they have to be about time-travel, dreams, or Númenor (although we traditionally like to celebrate Akallabêth in August, and there might be a special stamp for contributions set in the Second Age of Arda). Let our collection of strange documents (discovered, perhaps, in the same sack of waste paper in the Examination Schools at Oxford that contained the records of the Notion Club...) inspire you in whichever way works for you!

Fanworks are due September 15 in order to receive a stamp. As always, late fanworks are welcome (they just don't receive stamps), and there is no deadline for stamps for comment challenges. (If you need a comment challenge stamp for a challenge before June's "Pride" challenge, please email us at moderator@silmarillionwritersguild.org to request it.) Complete challenge guidelines are available on our website.

( Click for Prompts )