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Summary
Summary
This is the fourth volume of The History of Middle-earth, edited by Christopher Tolkien, the first two comprising The Book of Lost Tales Parts One and Two, and the third The Lays of Beleriand.It has been given the title The Shaping of Middle-earth because the writings it includes display a great advance in the chronological and geographical structure of the legends of Middle-earth and Valinor. The hitherto wholly unknown Ambarkanta," or Shape of the World, is the only account ever given of the nature of the imagined Universe, and it is accompanied by diagrams and maps of the world before and after the cataclysms of the War of the Gods and the Downfall of Numenor. The first map of Beleriand, in the North-west of Middle-earth, is also reproduced and discussed. In the "Annals of Valinor" and the "Annals of Beleriand" the chronology of the First Age is given shape; and with these are given the fragments of the translations into Anglo-Saxon made by Aelfwine, the Englishman who voyaged into the True West and came to Tol Eressea, the Lonely Isle, where he learned the ancient history of Elves and Men.Also included are the original "Silmarillion," written in 1926, from which all the later development proceeded, and the "Quenta Noldorinwa" of 1930, the only version of the myths and legends of the First Age that J.R.R. Tolkien completed to their end. As Christopher Tolkien continues editing the unpublished papers that form the bedrock from which The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion were quarried, the vastness of his father's accomplishment becomes even more extraordinary. "
Author Notes
A writer of fantasies, Tolkien, a professor of language and literature at Oxford University, was always intrigued by early English and the imaginative use of language. In his greatest story, the trilogy The Lord of the Rings (1954--56), Tolkien invented a language with vocabulary, grammar, syntax, even poetry of its own. Though readers have created various possible allegorical interpretations, Tolkien has said: "It is not about anything but itself. (Certainly it has no allegorical intentions, general, particular or topical, moral, religious or political.)" In The Adventures of Tom Bombadil (1962), Tolkien tells the story of the "master of wood, water, and hill," a jolly teller of tales and singer of songs, one of the multitude of characters in his romance, saga, epic, or fairy tales about his country of the Hobbits.
Tolkien was also a formidable medieval scholar, as evidenced by his work, Beowulf: The Monster and the Critics (1936) and his edition of Anciene Wisse: English Text of the Anciene Riwle.
Among his works published posthumously, are The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún and The Fall of Arthur, which was edited by his son, Christopher.
In 2013, his title, The\Hobbit (Movie Tie-In) made The New York Times Best Seller List.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (3)
Booklist Review
This is the fourth volume of Christopher Tolkien's edition of his father's unfinished and preparatory manuscripts related to The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. It consists of fragments of the Lost Tales collected in the first two volumes, the earliest version of The Silmarillion, a history of gnomes called the Quenta, the first Silmarillion map, the ``Earliest Annals of Valinor,'' and the ``Earliest Annals of Beleriand.'' None of these selections provides the ideal, or even a very good, place to strike up an acquaintance with J. R. R. Tolkien. Written in a style redolent of the translations of medieval sagas and the Arthurian legends, the prose is much drier and more plodding than that of the books Tolkien published during his lifetime. They are made yet more arid by son Tolkien's copious commentary, as dogged a scholarly exegesis as any father Tolkien might have expended upon his beloved Old English texts. For utterly fanatical Tolkien devotees only. Index. RO. 823'.912 Middle Earth (Imaginary place) Literary collections / Fantastic literature, English [OCLC] 86-10338
Kirkus Review
This fourth installment of Tolkien's early notebooks, carefully edited by his son Christopher, is made up of all-but-unreadable fragments dated between 1926 and the 1930's--years during which Tolkien was more profitably engaged in writing The Hobbit. There is a very early and mercifully brief version of the impenetrable elf-epic, The Silmarillion. The Annals of Valinor and the Annals of Beleriand fill in more pre-history leading up to the action later depicted in Lord of the Rings. There are maps drawn by Tolkien (including the earliest Silmarillion map) that show how early Tolkien's imagination settled into specifics of time and place. But the charismatic heroes that made The Lord of the Rings such a compelling heroic narrative--The Aragorns, the Frodos--are nowhere to be found. It was characterization that came last to Tolkien--after many years of the repetitive five-finger exercises painstakingly (and misguidedly) preserved here. It could be said that Tolkien showed better sense than his editor in choosing not to publish these elaborate and ingenious but dry-as-dust background scenarios. The fragments have been edited with an attention to variant spellings and first appearances of themes and characters that should be helpful to some Tolkien scholars. But Tolkien himself will surely be remembered by his admirers for the extraordinary people be imagined so fully--as well as for the subtle geographical and political/cosmological backdrop against which they moved in Lord of the Rings. These scratchings and faulty early drafts will add nothing to his reputation. . .except among those skeptics who have always derided him as a bore. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Library Journal Review
This volume in the History of Middle-earth presents the earliest version of the Silmarillion as well as the ``Quenta,'' which further develops this material. The ``Annals'' are a chronological presentation of the major events in Tolkien's vast mythology. There is also a copy of the earliest map Tolkien created of Middle-earth. Original material is followed by copious annotations relating each part to the others as well as to material presented in other volumes. This collection will be most useful to scholars interested in tracing the development of Tolkien's work. A small group of serious and sophisticated fans of fantasy may also be interested. Suggested for comprehensive literature collections. Beth Ann Mills, New Rochelle P.L., N.Y. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.