Carl Franklin Hostetter is aTolkien scholar andNASAcomputer scientist. He has edited and annotated many ofJ. R. R. Tolkien's linguistic writings, publishing them inVinyar Tengwar andParma Eldalamberon, and edited collections ofMiddle-earth writings by scholars and by Tolkien himself.
Carl Hostetter joined NASA as a computer scientist at itsGoddard Space Flight Center in 1985.[1] In the 1990s, he edited the proceedings of the Goddard Space Conference for some years.
Hostetter is aTolkien scholar and key figure in theElvish Linguistic Fellowship. He has written numerous articles on thelinguistics ofJ. R. R. Tolkien'sMiddle-earth.[2] He ran the scholarly mailing list Lambengolmor from 2002 to its closure in 2020.[3] He is the editor of the Tolkien linguistics journalsVinyar Tengwar andTengwestië.[4] By arrangement withChristopher Tolkien, he (with other Tolkien scholars) edited and publisheda large quantity of J. R. R. Tolkien's writings onhis constructed languages inVinyar Tengwar and inParma Eldalamberon.[5]
John S. Ryan, reviewing the 2000 collectionTolkien's Legendarium: Essays on The History of Middle-earth (edited by Hostetter andVerlyn Flieger) forVII, called it a "luminous companion" to the 12 volumes ofChristopher Tolkien'sThe History of Middle-earth, and "clearly indispensable".[6] The book won the 2002Mythopoeic Scholarship Award for Inklings Studies.[7]
The Tolkien scholar Douglas C. Kane, while welcoming the 2021 bookThe Nature of Middle-earth, writes that Hostetter "appears to overstep his role as editor" by presenting the materials according to his personal point of view. In particular, Kane states that Hostetter wrongly applies Tolkien's remark thatThe Lord of the Rings wasfundamentally religious and Catholic to thewhole of the legendarium. Kane calls this contrary toChristopher Tolkien's editorial practice, and "a blatant statement of intent". Kane quotesVerlyn Flieger's remark that Tolkien's work reflects the two sides of his nature; the work can be seen both "as Catholic [and] not Christian."[8]
