Do you want more? - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

Estelyn Telcontar · 08-24-2005, 01:59 AM

Modesty perhaps prevents Sono from mentioning another possibility which he knows well: fan fiction! I know there's much of it out there, of wildly varying quality, but some of it is well written and enjoyable to read. The Barrow-Downs Fan Fiction site, of which Sono is one of the moderators, has some good stories. I don't know all of them, but Mithadan's 'Tales from Tol Eressëa' are wonderful, just to mention one example.

The Squatter of Amon Rûdh · 08-24-2005, 03:46 AM

Yes, and I've found it too, although recently it's been leading further and further from the man himself.

There are some journals which have access to material that was not published in the HoME series, among them Vinyar Tengwar. This post by lindil discusses one of the texts they have published.

If you just want more Tolkien, there are Farmer Giles of Ham, Roverandom, The Father Christmas Letters, Leaf by Niggle and Smith of Wootton Major, all available in recent editions. I strongly recommend the annotated Farmer Giles and Roverandom, as Tolkien makes some pretty scholarly allusions that were certainly lost on me.

Then there's his non-fiction, which often helps to understand the legendary material: his translations of the Middle English poems Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Pearl and Sir Orfeo are available in paperback, and his discussion of the characters Finn and Hengest in Beowulf and The Finnsburg Fragment has also been edited and published quite recently. Anyone who likes Tolkien's languages will certainly want to read 'A Secret Vice', which is published by HarperCollins in The Monsters and the Critics and Other Essays.

That's by no means everything (thanks be to Tolkien mania, which has guaranteed that someone could edit his laundry list and publish it with some hope of profit); but once you've read that lot you'll probably find that you're out in the deep waters of medieval languages and literature. I can't go into that subject here because I need to do some serious work on it today, but if you end up there, good on you.

08-24-2005, 01:59 AM	#1
Estelyn Telcontar Princess of Skwerlz Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: where the Sea is eastwards (WtR: 6060 miles) Posts: 7,500	Modesty perhaps prevents Sono from mentioning another possibility which he knows well: fan fiction! I know there's much of it out there, of wildly varying quality, but some of it is well written and enjoyable to read. The Barrow-Downs Fan Fiction site, of which Sono is one of the moderators, has some good stories. I don't know all of them, but Mithadan's 'Tales from Tol Eressëa' are wonderful, just to mention one example. __________________ 'Mercy!' cried Gandalf. 'If the giving of information is to be the cure of your inquisitiveness, I shall spend all the rest of my days in answering you. What more do you want to know?' 'The whole history of Middle-earth...'

08-24-2005, 03:46 AM	#2
The Squatter of Amon Rûdh Spectre of Decay Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Bar-en-Danwedh Posts: 2,178	Further readings in Tolkien Yes, and I've found it too, although recently it's been leading further and further from the man himself. There are some journals which have access to material that was not published in the HoME series, among them Vinyar Tengwar. This post by lindil discusses one of the texts they have published. If you just want more Tolkien, there are Farmer Giles of Ham, Roverandom, The Father Christmas Letters, Leaf by Niggle and Smith of Wootton Major, all available in recent editions. I strongly recommend the annotated Farmer Giles and Roverandom, as Tolkien makes some pretty scholarly allusions that were certainly lost on me. Then there's his non-fiction, which often helps to understand the legendary material: his translations of the Middle English poems Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Pearl and Sir Orfeo are available in paperback, and his discussion of the characters Finn and Hengest in Beowulf and The Finnsburg Fragment has also been edited and published quite recently. Anyone who likes Tolkien's languages will certainly want to read 'A Secret Vice', which is published by HarperCollins in The Monsters and the Critics and Other Essays. That's by no means everything (thanks be to Tolkien mania, which has guaranteed that someone could edit his laundry list and publish it with some hope of profit); but once you've read that lot you'll probably find that you're out in the deep waters of medieval languages and literature. I can't go into that subject here because I need to do some serious work on it today, but if you end up there, good on you. __________________ Man kenuva métim' andúne? Last edited by The Squatter of Amon Rûdh; 08-24-2005 at 11:44 AM.