Book of Jonah - Tolkien's 'Translation'???

[davem]

But will it happen?

http://www.tolkienguide.com/modules/...ss/archives/69

The book is currently targeting an August release, not July as reported by Amazon.

There is a Foreword by Sir Anthony Kenny, where he “recalls his own memories of working on the Jerusalem Bible and the impact made by its groundbreaking publication.” This memoir has evidently already been published, as it (or another version of it) is cited by Hammond and Scull’s Reader’s Guide and Drout’s J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia: Scholarship and Critical Assessment in the Judaism entry by L.J. Swain (pp. 314-5). [Thanks to Jason Fisher for these references]

The main text is edited by Brendan Wolfe. From the publisher: “Brendan Wolfe tells the little-known story of how Tolkien, then at the height of his fame as the author of The Lord of the Rings, agreed to join the team of Catholic writers and scholars working on a major new translation of the Bible into English in the early 1960s. The result was the Jerusalem Bible, still celebrated for its elegant, timeless English. Wolfe shows the resonances between the story of Jonah and the whale, Tolkien’s contribution to the JB, and themes in his other writings.”

The publisher also confirmed to me via email that “[t]he book will include unpublished material which was not used in the Jerusalem Bible as published in 1966.” Also the Advanced Information flyer states “Newly available material from one of Britains most celebrated authors.”

Darton, Longman and Todd, the publisher for this new paperback volume, are the original publisher of the 1966 Jerusalem Bible as well. The issue of copyright (especially for previously unpublished materials), attribution (”translated by J. R. R. Tolkien”) and permission (the Estate was unaware of this book until today) may still need to be settled.

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

Originally Posted by davem

But will it happen?

Well, I would certainly hope it will. That would be a pity if it didn't come out.

Originally Posted by Hookbill the Goomba

I'm interested in this book. Even if it is based on the French version. I've tried my hand at translating Hebrew and would like to pick it up again at some point. Comparing my version to this would be a neat excuse.

Although I've seen and sold many copies of the New Jerusalem Bible in the bookshop I work in, I've never actually read it. I'm curious how close it follows the poetry of the Hebrew, heck, even the King James has some good poetry. We did have someone ask about the old Jerusalem Bible, we found a second hand copy for about £50.

I wonder if I can convince my boss to stock this book...

You should, and then you can secretly pass a copy or two to your fellow Barrow-Downers

But actually, interestingly enough, just today we have been talking with our Old Testament departement leader about the Jerusalem Bible, and I remembered this... I actually thought that it might not be bad to eventually really obtain that translation of Tolkien (if it comes out all right) and then try to compare it with the Hebrew original or something, or just overall with various translation versions, it could actually make a nice - although not sure how long - paper, or some longer thesis... hmm Perhaps I would finally join the ranks of people who write about Tolkien for their studies? I always wanted to do that