Letters to the Editor
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Perspective is needed here
Having not read this work, I cannot comment on it.
But I CAN comment on the life and work of author. Tolkien was not a New Age prophet. He was a brilliant linguist and equally brilliant scholar of Northern Indo-European languages and legends.
Let us award him his due in that field, before we address his latter-life cynicism and good/evil dichotomy.
To my mind, the best book of the Ring series isn't even one of the three: it's The Hobbit. There, we find a cheerfully innocent Bilbo, who willy-nilly finds an unwelcome "Adventure" thrust upon him. And who gradually rises to the task, with much humor to leaven the violence.
Only in The Hobbit will you find villains who are amusing, inept dolts (the trolls), much less villains who are sympathetic, and complex. (That is, who share the qualities of real people rather than archetypes.) Surely Smaug is the wittiest, most self-aware, and most charming dragon in all mythology.
Alas, Tolkien was a convert to Roman Catholicism (to which faith he converted C.S. Lewis), and everything he wrote thereafter must be re-examined in that light. His faith became his touchstone, and black/white good/evil, rather than shades of grey, became the source of his famous trilogy.
That is, everything AFTER The Hobbit, must be considered as evangelistic.
Any examination of these very late papers must be examined in light of his deeply felt religious beliefs.
They are not discredited, but they lack the humanity of his early work.
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Oh come on...
J.R.R. Tolkien's son Christopher spent more than 30 years piecing together fragments his father left behind. Now readers can learn what happened 6,000 years before Bilbo Baggins sought the One Ring.
As any person who ever read The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings knows. Bilbo did not seek the Ring. It sought him.
This needs correcting.
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Beowulf
JRR Tolkien is also recognized (based on the introduction of the Seamus Heaney translation) as the first scholar to treat Beowulf as a literature work of art.
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Wow
I cannot wait to read this book. I could not get through the Silmarillion, though I tried, several times. This looks fascinating...
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Perfect Review...
Aiming at people who love Lord of the Rings but could not make it through The Silmarillion is the prefect tactic. Amazon's Tolkien sector will light up tonight and tomorrow.
Speak friend!
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new age prophet
Andrew O'Hehir doesn't ever imply that Tolkein was a new age prophet and does mention his catholocism at the end of the review.
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thanks
great review. Read the LOTR trilogy as a child, read the Silmarillion just this year, after the LOTR movie hype. I will definitely read Children of Hurin. If i remember, Turin's story is one of the more interesting ones in the Silmarillion.
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nope
Alas, Tolkien was a convert to Roman Catholicism (to which faith he converted C.S. Lewis)
C.S. Lewis converted to Christianity (partly due to his friendship with Tolkien), but he was Church of England, not Roman Catholic.
Sorry to burst that little bubble. Or maybe it was the "alas" that ticked me off. I doubt Tolkien felt his religious beliefs needed your sympathy.
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Qs for Tolkien Fans
I'm not into Tolkien but I can appreciate the amazing mind at work behind his universe. I read the first two parts of the ring trilogy. I found the books engaging and impressive and sometimes ridiculous and tedious. (See the quote from the book cited in the review...amazing, creative and also annoying). But I came to the books as an adult, and I'm sure reading them as a child would have put a different spin on them. There are two things I always wonder that I am sure his fans will be so kind as to answer for me:
1. How do you feel about Christopher's stewardship of his father's work, including not just licensing for motion pictures, but more importantly his work as editor/author? What were Tolkien's wishes? Are you just happy that more of his vision is out there for public consumption? Is your opinion different because his mythology is so vast and detailed that it would be a shame not to publish it?
I've always been on the side of the author's intent. Sometimes it is not easy to determine what that is. The musician Jeff Buckley died and his mother as guardian of his estate has put out rough material from his unfinished second album (and everything else that exists). I've been bothered by this...His death is still a terrible loss for the music world and his influence is heard every day now. Same for Tupac. Still putting out albums. I hear that Vonnegut does not want anything published after his death. I support this even though I would love to get a look at the unfinished novel about a comedian at the end of the world. Add Ellison's Juneteenth to the abandoned novel category.
2. How much of Tolkien's world has been pilfered from other sources, from Norse mythology and the oral traditions of the middle ages? "Pilfer" may sound a bit harsh, but consider that Shakespeare relied heavily on source material for his plays, so many things are pilfered. I don't mean it in a negative sense. This review mentioned Beowulf and the Finnish epic poem Kalevala. Beowulf is ubiquitous on college campuses now; but what of the literature of the Finns, Balts and Scandinavians? It seems like Tolkien would have wanted his writing to renew interest in those rich oral and literary traditions, I wonder if it has. It is getting harder for non-English language books to be published in the US, which sadly means we are missing out on the best of world literature, new and old. Do we lack English translations that are more than serviceable?
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RE: Qs for Tolkien Fans -- Q1
>> 1. How do you feel about Christopher's stewardship of his father's work [licensing,works, etc]:
Well, the movie licensing of LOTR actually took place when JRR was alive, so it was a done deal by the time CJRT (aka Christopher Tolkien) was given control of the literary estate.
As to CJRT's publication of Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales, and the later History of Middle Earth (HoME) series, he himself was both reticent to publish the works, yet felt compelled by his father's explicit directions to him (while JRRT was still alive) that he should "finish" [at least the Silmarillion] and get it published; and also later believed that his initial editing of Silmarillion (for example) was perhaps inappropriate, and that it should have been done more in the fashion of his later HoME series. Regardless of any misgivings or regrets, I think JRRT would be very pleased at how the thoughtful stewardship son has given his works.
As a fan (though sans the "hobbit" costumes or any of the more prosaic "fanaticism") I do own, and am grateful for all of the works that Christopher published:
"Silmarillion", far from being eye-straining, I found to be a wonderful, delightful and very interesting work. Far from being too long or complex, I felt it was too brief, found many of the stories fascinating, and could only have wished for a fuller portrayal of the stories.
"Unfinished Tales" was equally pleasurable, albeit in a far different manner. Rather than complete stories, many chapters are "passages" of stories that were present in Silmarillion, but here are more "fleshed out" and much of this writing is poetical, lyrical, pictureqsue, and quite enthralling. (I cannot fathom NOT having been able to read the passage about Ulmo and his appearance before Tuor by the shores of Vinyamar!) Other chapters are either incomplete stories that we published nowhere else, or background information that is fascinating to the Tolkien fan. (Certain passages in "The Mariner's Wife", most especially the King's reading of GilGalad's letter and his thoughts thereafter are perhaps some of the most poignant sentences on "Military Preparedness" and how it affects a nation and civilization -- perhaps topped only by Tolkien's own LoTR short sentence in Samwise Gamgee's reflections on seeing the dead Haradrim. And as JRRT was a first-hand veteran of the horrible trench warfare of WWI, he KNEW the consequences of what he wrote.) Other passages in this latter work are perhaps less sanguine, but it is simply fun to learn a bit more about Queen Berúthiel and her cats; nor any less about the [previously unknown] Druedain; and about Alatar and Pallando, one can only wish for more, yet be grateful that Christopher deigned to publish these "bits and pieces" Is it for everyone? No. But much literature has limited audiences.
I care NOT one whit for "Breakfast at Tiffany's" and or "Lolita" and consider them worth less than the paper they are written on; but if others want to read them, then so be it.
RE: Author's Intent -- as I stated above, it specifically WAS the intent of JRRT to his son Christopher (CJRT, his youngest son, BTW) in particular that he should act as his literary estate executor, and that CJRT should exercise his own judgement as to how and what to publish.
As too licensing for movies, etc. I am not certain if you are complaining that CJRT refuses to license more material for movies, or somehow believe him to be at fault for the recent LoTR movie licensing?
If the former, then as a fan of the author, in the main I am in agreement with CJRT's dislike of this. While I have some appreciation to Peter Jackson for having given me some "moving life-like illustrations" in his LoTR series of movies, I really wish that he had not massacred the material even to the extent that he did (albeit it could have been FAR WORSE in others hands, I shudder at what a "Disney" would do with the material.) Yet, I would love nothing more than to see the "Aldarian & Erendis" story made into a full-blown epic movie or mini-series -- the story certainly has the potential for wonderful scenery and powerful character interaction. But whether anyone could be trusted to make such a movie without turning it into a fiasco or adulteration is questionable (witness the adulteration of a movie that was "Earthsea" licensed from U.K. LeGuin's wonderful series -- so bad I couldn't bring myself to view past the first 5 minutes. Do the screenwriters even bother READING the source materials... egads!) So I can praise CJRT's refusal to license anything further -- indeed his father really only licensed Hobbit and LoTR because he needed the cash for tax purposes -- and instead can live with the movie version of "The Mariner's Wife" that lives in my mind.