|
Think UT - original texts interespersed with editorial commentary - but about 5000 pages of it covering nearly every single thing *Tolkien wrote on M-e. Parts of it are wonderful, parts of it drag, parts of it are almost incomprehensible, parts of it are in Anglo-Saxon.
It is quite possibly one of the greatest works of literature every produced. It will quite possibly bore you rigid - its impossible to say, because its not for everyone. Many fans will not go near vols 6-9 (which deal with the writing of LotR), because they find that all those early drafts & alternate versions of the story take away from the 'inner consistency of reality' Tolkien struggled to achieve.
Don't feel you 'ought' to read it & force yourself through it - reading Tolkien's work should not be a 'chore'.
* Many of the 'linguistic' writings have appeared subsequently in the journal Vinyar Tengwar.
|