Christopher Tolkien to finish lost Middle Earth novel

[Aiwendil]

Great review, Maglor - I think both your praise and criticism are more insightful than that of most of 'literary critics' (though I admit this is not saying much).

I have a few crticisms. For one, it is too short. Can't really lay the blame on anyone for that because it obviously wasn't completed during Tolkien's lifetime, but some of the most pivotal events suffer from its brevity, notably some of the battle sequences (esp. Nargothrond, which says that the elves go into battle and are defeated in about a paragraph). The death of Beleg was also too short, but I still felt its impact due to Turin's demeanor afterward.

I think you are probably quite right that the brevity of these sections is a flaw (though I still haven't purchased the book yet, I have had a quick look through it). The sections you point out are precisely the sections that Tolkien had not yet written in full form; only scattered notes and short passages of dialogue exist in the 'Narn' manuscripts for all the events between Turin's coming to Amon Rudh and his return to Dor-lomin after the fall of Nargothrond.

You may be interested to know, though, that a full account of some of these events does exist - though it was written close to thirty years before the 'Narn' and therefore differs from the later story in a few regards. I speak of the old alliterative 'Lay of the Children of Hurin' which can be found in HoMe III, The Lays of Beleriand. You may want to check this out - in particular, the details of Beleg's death and its impact on Turin are dealt with very vividly there - I think it's one of Tolkien's most moving pieces of writing.

[davem]

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/s...ectid=10436820

Good one

[Maglor]

Originally Posted by davem

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/s...ectid=10436820

Good one

"If someone wanted to torture me with false hope, they'd start a rumour that a lost archive had just been found, deep in the bowels of some obscure university, containing a fully expanded, Lord of the Rings -style version of just one of my favourite chapters: "The Tale of Beren and Luthien", perhaps, or "The Fall of Gondolin" or "The Tale of Turin Turambar"."


^That about sums me up to a 'T' right now. CoH has whetted my appetite in a way that, sadly, cannot be satiated...

[Lalaith]

Most vivid moments for me in CoH -
Nienor/Niniel climbing up the mountain and suddenly coming face to face with Glaurung. Horrible.

Followed closely by the return of Turin to Dorlomin, his meeting with Labadal and Aerin, his violent murderous tantrum in the hall of Brodda.

And Hensher (grumpy Telegraph guy) is right, the reunion of Hurin and Morwen at the grave of their children *is* the most moving thing Tolkien ever wrote. Coming at the end of a complete novel as it does here, it is even more so.

[davem]

Originally Posted by Maglor

^That about sums me up to a 'T' right now. CoH has whetted my appetite in a way that, sadly, cannot be satiated...

To be frank, since finishing CoH I've felt increasingly annoyed that Tolkien allowed himself to get distracted by the kind of 'speculative' stuff we see in The Athrabeth, Laws & Customs among the Eldar, the 'Myths Transformed', etc. Yes, there's interesting stuff in there, but the thought that by devoting so much time & energy to such a dead end we never got completed versions of the Three Great Tales is a frustrating one - to say the least. I'd willingly lose those works if it meant seeing CoH, The Tale of Gondolin & Beren & Luthien in a completed form.

In fact, I'd go further & say that it was this very tendency to run off at tangents that dissipated his creative talent & meant that he never managed to complete The Sil at all. I honestly feel that if he had managed to complete the First Age Trilogy they would have surpassed LotR & have been the work he was remembered for.

[Anguirel]

I know Philip Hensher. He's a typical lit crit Tolkien disparager; he loves Pullman, who he thinks he discovered, hates, hates CS Lewis. He's a good novelist, I must admit. Anyway that review represents a big concession to the power of CoH. Another conflicted response - I expected him to pan it...

[davem]

Originally Posted by Anguirel

Anyway that review represents a big concession to the power of CoH. Another conflicted response - I expected him to pan it...

That's what I felt too. Its as though he was impressed by the book & was struggling to admit it - even to himself. I suspect that CoH will change the way Tolkien is viewed by even some of his harshest critics - which is, I suspect, one of CT's main motivations in making it available to a general readership. This is a new kind of Tolkien novel for most people, who only know TH & LotR & consider the rest of the books published so far as either boring or unreadable. I'm absolutely certain that due to CoH Tolkien's work will be completely reassessed by the literary establishment. This is probably the single most important & significant thing CT has done.

[Maglor]

Originally Posted by davem

To be frank, since finishing CoH I've felt increasingly annoyed that Tolkien allowed himself to get distracted by the kind of 'speculative' stuff we see in The Athrabeth, Laws & Customs among the Eldar, the 'Myths Transformed', etc. Yes, there's interesting stuff in there, but the thought that by devoting so much time & energy to such a dead end we never got completed versions of the Three Great Tales is a frustrating one - to say the least. I'd willingly lose those works if it meant seeing CoH, The Tale of Gondolin & Beren & Luthien in a completed form.

In fact, I'd go further & say that it was this very tendency to run off at tangents that dissipated his creative talent & meant that he never managed to complete The Sil at all. I honestly feel that if he had managed to complete the First Age Trilogy they would have surpassed LotR & have been the work he was remembered for.

I have nothing to add to this but to say that I fully agree. To think of what might've been...

[davem]

Originally Posted by Maglor

I have nothing to add to this but to say that I fully agree. To think of what might've been...

You know, its maybe that I'm still under the spell of CoH - & that I haven't re-read LotR for a couple of years - but right now I have to say that CoH is by far the more powerful & significant work imo, of course.

[Maglor]

Originally Posted by davem

You know, its maybe that I'm still under the spell of CoH - & that I haven't re-read LotR for a couple of years - but right now I have to say that CoH is by far the more powerful & significant work imo, of course.

Heh, "the spell"...I know how you feel. I too haven't read LOTR for a few years (except the first few chapters of Fellowship several months ago), but the grandeur of the First Age tales move me in a way that LOTR did not, and not least of all being Turin's tale. Now I'm reading "Of Tuor and his Coming to Gondolin" in UT and have loved seeing the lives of the two cousins and the undercurrents that intertwine (albeit indirectly) their fates, which fall to such polar ends.

It's funny...prior to reading I heard many people expressing their wishes that the other Great Tales receive the "CoH" treatment but I just shrugged it off because I knew they weren't nearly as far along. But now I almost finding myself thinking, "Please, Chris...anything you can scrape together!"

[littlemanpoet]

Originally Posted by davem

To be frank, since finishing CoH I've felt increasingly annoyed that Tolkien allowed himself to get distracted by the kind of 'speculative' stuff we see in The Athrabeth, Laws & Customs among the Eldar, the 'Myths Transformed', etc. Yes, there's interesting stuff in there, but the thought that by devoting so much time & energy to such a dead end we never got completed versions of the Three Great Tales is a frustrating one - to say the least. I'd willingly lose those works if it meant seeing CoH, The Tale of Gondolin & Beren & Luthien in a completed form.

By way of "I told you so", I mildly ask that you recall a certain thread I started once upon a time declaring that this very thing you are complaining about (rightly in my opinion) was the greatest tragedy of Tolkien's creative life; I grant you that may be an exaggeration, but it's nice that you see my point.

[Maglor]

Originally Posted by Aiwendil

Great review, Maglor - I think both your praise and criticism are more insightful than that of most of 'literary critics' (though I admit this is not saying much).

Well, thank you.

Originally Posted by Aiwendil

You may be interested to know, though, that a full account of some of these events does exist - though it was written close to thirty years before the 'Narn' and therefore differs from the later story in a few regards. I speak of the old alliterative 'Lay of the Children of Hurin' which can be found in HoMe III, The Lays of Beleriand. You may want to check this out - in particular, the details of Beleg's death and its impact on Turin are dealt with very vividly there - I think it's one of Tolkien's most moving pieces of writing.

Thanks for the tip! I'm not sure whether you got to check out the appendix or not, but Christopher Tolkien includes a few passages of Tolkien's poetry concerning Nargothrond, and proceeds to explain how the passage (and the story) evolved into the comparatively succint final outcome.

But yes, I am most definitely interested in perusing some of HoME now...that is, after I finish the Silmarillion and the Turin-less portions of Unfinished Tales.