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Robert Tally

@roberttally.bsky.social

590 followers 300 following 36 posts

Professor

Robert T. Tally Jr. is a professor of English at Texas State University. His research and teaching focuses on the relations among space, narrative, and representation, particularly in U.S. and comparative literature. He is active in the emerging scholarly fields of geocriticism, literary geography, and the spatial humanities. Tally is the editor of "Geocriticism and Spatial Literary Studies," a Palgrave Macmillan book series established in 2013, the translator of Bertrand Westphal's Geocriticism: Real and Fictional Spaces and the editor of Geocritical Explorations. In addition to his numerous essays on literature, criticism, and theory, Tally has written books on Herman Melville, Edgar Allan Poe, Kurt Vonnegut, and J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit, as well as a critical introduction to the work of literary critic and theorist Fredric Jameson. .. more

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Robert Tally @roberttally.bsky.social · 4d

Sure! Thank you so much!

Robert Tally @roberttally.bsky.social · 7d

A nice review of my "Mismeasure of Orcs" book in the Journal of Tolkien Research: scholar.valpo.edu/journaloftol...

The Mismeasure of Orcs: A Critical Reassessment of Tolkien’s Demonized Creatures (2025), by Robert T. Tally, Jr.

Book review, by Andrew Higgins, of The Mismeasure of Orcs: A Critical Reassessment of Tolkien’s Demonized Creatures (2025), by Robert T. Tally, Jr.

scholar.valpo.edu

Robert Tally @roberttally.bsky.social · 7d

Thank you! I'd love to see/hear the paper.

Robert Tally @roberttally.bsky.social · 11d

Nobody puts Dr. Kornbluh in a corner!

Robert Tally @roberttally.bsky.social · 18d

Remembering Fredric Jameson, who died one year ago today. spectrejournal.com/the-generosi...

The Generosity of Fredric Jameson – Spectre Journal

Robert T. Tally pays tribute to Fredric Jameson's tremendous generosity, that is, the late theorist's drive to both know the world and change it for the better.

spectrejournal.com

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Robert Tally @roberttally.bsky.social · 19d

J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Hobbit" was published on Sept. 21, 1937. Almost exactly 85 years later, my critical study of that novel appeared. Coincidence? Well, yes, but still, you should read it! www.amazon.com/J-Tolkiens-H...

J. R. R. Tolkien's "The Hobbit": Realizing History Through Fantasy: A Critical Companion (Palgrave Science Fiction and Fantasy: A New Canon)

J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit : Realizing History Through Fantasy: A Critical Companion (Palgrave Science Fiction and Fantasy: A New Canon) [Tally Jr., Robert T.] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit : Realizing History Through Fantasy: A Critical Companion (Palgrave Science Fiction and Fantasy: A New Canon)

www.amazon.com

Robert Tally @roberttally.bsky.social · 21d

When I was young, my dad played the "Cabaret" movie soundtrack a lot. I think it's partly because he was stationed in West Berlin, but also, of course, the catchy tunes.

Reposted by Robert T. Tally

Anna Kornbluh @annakornbluh.bsky.social · 21d

stimulating conversation with blake oetting from january just finally came out in november mag! www.novembermag.com/content/anna...

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Reposted by Robert T. Tally

International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts - IAFA @iafa.bsky.social · 23d

Thanks, @roberttally.bsky.social !

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Reposted by Robert T. Tally

International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts - IAFA @iafa.bsky.social · 23d

Many thanks to Robert T. Tally Jr. for joining us for a special session on A Mismeasure of Orcs: A Critical Reassessment of Tolkien's Demonized Creatures! It was great to hear some of this critical text and have a discussion with its author.
#VICFA4 #FantasticArts #IAFA #UnabashedOrcSympathizer

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Robert Tally @roberttally.bsky.social · 29d

@markbould.bsky.social There is a brief shout out to "Anthropocene Unconscious" in there!

Robert Tally @roberttally.bsky.social · 29d

I talk about Zombie Apocalypse in this podcast -- I get the first 17 minutes or so -- which also features Texas State professors with expertise in diseases and fungi, respectively. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/f...

Fungi, Disease, and the Zombie Apocalypse

Podcast Episode · Enlighten Me · 08/28/2025 · 53m

podcasts.apple.com

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Robert Tally @roberttally.bsky.social · 29d

Wow, thank you! I look forward to hearing more about the conference.

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Robert Tally @roberttally.bsky.social · 29d

Thanks! I just wrote an article on Orc women titled "Bolg's Mother." I like to imagine that she would pack Bolg's lunchbox before sending him off to his warg-riding or scimitar-wielding lessons.

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Reposted by Robert T. Tally

Jamie Merchant @jamiemerchant.bsky.social · Sep 3

My latest in Field Notes on the decay and demise of the modern state as we knew it

brooklynrail.org/2025/09/fiel...

The Suicide State | The Brooklyn Rail

In an illuminating account of a recent Department of Homeland Security job fair, Yanis Varoufuckice relates an encounter with a gaggle of fresh Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) recruits looki...

brooklynrail.org

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Robert Tally @roberttally.bsky.social · Aug 27

Thank you!

Reposted by Robert T. Tally

Matt Seybold @mattseybold.bsky.social · Aug 26

A fantastic review of Bruce Robbins's recent works by @roberttally.bsky.social, with, of course, some Jameson woven in.

The Politics of Criticism and the Criticism of Politics

Abstract. As practiced, literary and culture criticism is always in some sense metacritical—that is, finding itself inevitably drawn to discussing its own conditions of possibility. Bruce Robbins's Cr...

read.dukeupress.edu

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Robert Tally @roberttally.bsky.social · Aug 13

Feel free to email me!

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Reposted by Robert T. Tally

Matt Seybold @mattseybold.bsky.social · Aug 9

Final installment of The Jameson Tapes. Your guide to becoming an “ideological lexicologist”!

"Ideology: Marx & Lukacs" by Fredric Jameson

1977 Institute On Culture & Society

theamericanvandal.substack.com

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Robert Tally @roberttally.bsky.social · Aug 4

Honored to be among the folks talking about Jameson on the new American Vandal podcast episode! theamericanvandal.substack.com/p/the-jameso...

The Jameson Tapes, Side A

with Isabel Bartholomew, Anna Kornbluh, Caleb Smith, Robert Tally, & Fredric Jameson

theamericanvandal.substack.com

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Reposted by Robert T. Tally

Anna Kornbluh @annakornbluh.bsky.social · Aug 4

incredible pedagogy, kid!

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Reposted by Robert T. Tally

Anna Kornbluh @annakornbluh.bsky.social · Aug 4

NEW!
1st of 2 installments contextualizing Jameson's lectures at the 1977 Institute On Culture & Society, discusses "Marxism & Historicism," historicizing the lectures, recovering them, the commodity as its own ideology, long arc of Jameson's influence

theamericanvandal.substack.com/p/the-jameso...

The Jameson Tapes, Side A

with Isabel Bartholomew, Anna Kornbluh, Caleb Smith, Robert Tally, & Fredric Jameson

theamericanvandal.substack.com

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Reposted by Robert T. Tally, Felicity Callard

Matt Seybold @mattseybold.bsky.social · Aug 4

👇 🫵 👉 🎧 👍 🫶

The Jameson Tapes, Side A

with Isabel Bartholomew, Anna Kornbluh, Caleb Smith, Robert Tally, & Fredric Jameson

theamericanvandal.substack.com

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Robert Tally @roberttally.bsky.social · Jul 28

Hey Poe fans! My brief piece "On Poe's Late Style," examining his handful of tales published in 1849, is now out. muse.jhu.edu/pub/17/artic...

Project MUSE - On Poe’s Late Style

muse.jhu.edu

Robert Tally @roberttally.bsky.social · Jul 18

Speaking of Orcs, the new book is on sale: save six bucks! mcfarlandbooks.com/product/the-...

The Mismeasure of Orcs – McFarland

mcfarlandbooks.com

Robert Tally @roberttally.bsky.social · Jul 18

Such an honor to appear on the American Vandal podcast, where I talk Tolkien. (The whole episode is amazing, but I start around the 1:18:00 mark.)

Matt Seybold @mattseybold.bsky.social · Jul 18

In today's episode: @profdgd.bsky.social's exegesis of J.D. Vance's Thanksgiving meme, @dan-sinnamon.bsky.social & @jdconnor.bsky.social reassess their 2018 review of "Hillbilly Elegy," @roberttally.bsky.social shows us how to read for redemption not resentment, & more.