Christopher Tolkien to finish lost Middle Earth novel

[Child of the 7th Age]

There is a fascinating interview with Tolkien's grandson Adam, where he answers questions about the new material. Here.

Adam Tolkien indicates that, while much of the material will be drawn from texts that readers have already seen, CT has added some new parts to the story. When asked if there was any chance of the publication of other revised stories such as the Fall of Gondolin, Adam said that would be harder because there is less material extant. However, he did not totally rule out even that possibility!

It also sounds as if Hurin will be written in a different style than the Silm.

Christopher Tolkien believes there may be many readers who have found the Silmarillion too difficult and distanced in style to be attracted to the story, and who have not wished to make their way through the painstaking editorial content that makes for the main interest of the History of Middle Earth.

Hmm... I wonder if Hurin will read more like LotR. But that would be hard to do....

I still feel that someday in the far distant future the Legendarium will be treated much like the Arthurian corpus with various retellings and interpretations. The excellent ones will rise to the top; those that are poorly told will be forgotten. This sounds like the first tentative step in that direction, albeit within the protecion of the estate. Retellings like this have all kinds of problems in terms of canon. But if the Legendarium is truly modern mythology, isn't that better than having Tolkien's writings ossify? And hasn't the precedent alright been set with the Silm and all the editing and additions that had to be done?

There is also a reference to the possibility of a Hobbit film. Adam is cautious but not innately hostile:

Alejandro Serrano: They say many things about a film (or two) based on The Hobbit. ¿this things are good for the books (many people could read them for the first time if they do a film, as happened with The Lord of the Rings) or they are damaging them?


Adam Tolkien: I would have to say that it will depend on the film!