Quote:
Originally Posted by pwalker8
The Fall of Gondolin, likely Christopher Tolkien's last book (he is 94), came out this past week. Like pretty much all of Christopher Tolkien's books, it's basically an academic book based on the back story of LOTR from JRR Tolkien's notes. Like the rest of his books, it's certainly interesting to Tolkien fans who want to know as much as they can find out.
|
I don't know if this will be his last work or not. In his Preface to
Beren and Luthien he wrote ... "In my ninety-third year this (presumptively) my last book the long series of editions of editions of my father's writings ..." And yet, here we have another one.
It's odd because I recently requested (through the Overdrive mechanism) that our library add
The Fall of Gondolin, and found that they bought it and that I was automatically put on the hold list (in the 3rd position) to borrow it. Obviously others had also requested it.
In the late 70s I first read
The Hobbit and the
Lord of the Rings — basically in one gulp — but I couldn't (or wouldn't) work my way through
The Silmarillion. Until this year I had read a few of Tolkien's short works — loved
Smith of Wooten Major and
Farmer Giles of Ham — also enjoyed Leaf by Niggle, his essay On Fairy Stories, some of his poems and his translation of
Sir Gwain and the Green Knight, but his other writings seemed too "dense."
This year I finally sat down and read
Beren and Luthien and
The Simarillion and, although I still think they make for "dense" reading I enjoyed the background of the Tolkien world. Not sure yet if I'll read
The Children of Hurin or the
Last Tale volumes, but the "history" of Gondolin interested me.
After reading these two books (
The Simarillion and
Beren and Luthien) I have a few observations.
First, it's incredible how long JRR Tolkien dwelt on this world. It looks like it was a huge part of his life.
Second, it's incredible how devoted Christopher Tolkien has been to publishing his father's unpublished works. At least fifty years of deciphering, rewriting, editing, and sifting through it all. I know I would never have the patience to do that.
Third, the world Tolkien created (or "sub-created") is amazing. Incredible vision.
Fourth, without the hobbits, I doubt we would even know about this world.
It was the hobbits (i.e., "us") that made
The Hobbit and the
Lord of the Rings relevant. Stories are about people. Myths are about gods. And even the humans in
The Simarillion were really gods or super heroes. Something well above us. I noted that, after the success of
The Hobbit, Tolkien sent
The Simarillion to his publishers. It sat there ... they wanted another "hobbit story." I think this is why so many of the recent "comic book hero" moves leave me cold. It's modern mythology, but the only mythology that is really interesting is when it involves people.
At least that's the way I look at it. I should add, however, without the depth of Tolkien's world built in
The Silmarillion and his other unpublished stories,
The Lord of the Rings would never had affected us the way it did — or at least the way it affected me. I half-way of gave up on fantasy (and SF) because I kept trying to find another
Lord of the Rings, and I never did.
Sorry to ramble.