Christopher Tolkien to finish lost Middle Earth novel

[davem]

Sunday Times article here http://entertainment.timesonline.co....cle1613657.ece

[narfforc]

Alan Lee will be at the Moreton-in-Marsh Exhibition along with Ted Nasmith on the 20th and 21st of this month, I will get my book signed there, along with the last version of The Silmarillion which Ted has given his marvellous interpretation to.

I think that certainly profit is the motive. Would J.R.R. Tolkien approve? Not to changes of any kind, since we know he carefully pondered every word, to see if it harmonized with the vision he had 'to report'.
Tolkien wanted foremost to entertain. Knowing that his manuscript would now do so, and that very many of us long to enter his world and view new vistas, he would concede with reservations.
I think it should only be done so long as there is a clear differentiation between the text written by J.R.R. Tolkien and that of Mr. Christopher. I do not at all support a text that gives no indication of where the Father ends and the Son begins. Otherwise I am tempted to believe that the whole thing is a fraud, not written by either Tolkien, and we will see that it contains shallow and swift scenes and heavy dialogue, and no doubt will form the basis of a new screneplay. After writing this and just now deliberating on the subject, I would say no.
If we still have questions and long to penetrate deeper into Tolkiens world, then let us become still, and silent, and meditate on this, and see if to us, like to Tolkien, that it might be revealed. Perhaps the desire for more is because we have not fully comprehended the grandeur beauty of what we have.

[Bêthberry]

Originally Posted by davem

Sunday Times article here http://entertainment.timesonline.co....cle1613657.ece

Very fine article there, davem, with some valuable observations about Tolkien's work. I can imagine some fans having hairy fits over the comment that Tolkien was not a writer, but there are some very intriguing avenues of thought to persue there.

Thanks for linking.

[William Cloud Hicklin]

Neithan:

You have Christopher Tolkien all wrong. He's most emphatically NOT in it for the money. If he were he could easily have pulled an Audrey Seuss long since and milked the cash cow shamelessly. Instead, he has opposed (or tried to) virtually all forms of commercial exploitation (although he has no control over what Saul Zaentz licenses). And there's no consideration of a screenplay, since the film rights to CoH will only be sold over CRT's dead body.

The Estate website says that CoH will be "entirely in the author's own words;" my source indicates that this includes a small amount of narrative material which has come to light since Unfinished Tales was published a quarter-century ago.

I admit that my knowledge of these outside the box subjects is limited. I know that Tolkien pondered every word, and I do not read ANY of CT's middle Earth history because much of that material was rejected by Tolkien himself as it did not entirely harmonize with his inner vision. Therefore, in order not to pollute my grasp of the pure and true meaning of Tolkiens revelation I read only what I feel in confidence that Tolkien himself would have been satisfied with, having reached that final developmental stage whereat the text harmonized with the chill that ran up and down his spine when he first spoke the word, "Earendil". For I am concerned, and if I daresay, gifted, above all, with meaning. Most people here ask, 'what did Tolkien say?' I ask, 'what did Tolkien mean?' But thank you, perhaps you have saved the gentlemen from the Inquisition I plan for after I succeed in taking over the world.