"J.R.R. Tolkien to release new book, despite deceased..." Topic

…status.

"A new title by Lord of the Rings author JRR Tolkien is set to be published next year. Beren and Lúthien, the story of the love between a mortal man and an immortal elf, will be released by HarperCollins in May 2017, one hundred years after it was first written.

The characters of Beren and Lúthien had great personal significance for the author: their names appear on the headstone of the grave he shares with his wife, Edith. "I never called Edith Lúthien – but she was the source of the story," he wrote in a letter to his son Christopher, shortly after her death…"
From here
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Amicalement
Armand

Since at least Hemingway, best-selling authors have continued to publish for years or even decades after death. Sadly, they aren't as good at quality as they are at volume.

I'll have a look. But I'm not expecting another LOTR.

They did a good job of pulling the story of Hurin out as a standalone book – The Children of Hurin. So I'll pick this up.

Unfortunately the only word he wrote in these books is "Braaaaiiiins."

Tupac does the music.

This will apparently be a compilation of Tolkien's writings,not "ghosted",but edited by Christopher Tolkien. With illustrations by my favorite Tolkien artist, Alan Lee. I'm looking forward to it.

link

I'm not dead yet.

There could be a fine enough book in this -- the tale is fairly well developed in The Silmarillion (illustrated with some crackerjack paintings by Ted Naismith), and there are other texts and drafts that could be merged with this to flesh out a more detailed narrative similar to what was done with The Children of Hurin a few years ago.

I'm with those who liked Children of Hurin: I liked what Christopher Tolkien did with that* so I'm looking forward to this.

John T

* no it's not LotR but it's not the Silmarillion either: it's a much more cohesive story and a far better read. CoH is a story. The Silmarillion is a collection of research material

As Christopher Tolkien said in the interview. "The Spice must flow" seeing as he most likely got the idea from Frank Herbert's dependents. Nice that they pick over the bones for our um, their benefit.

John T--a mild disagreement on Silmarillion. I consider it a collection of several different stories,all of them self-contained and coherent in themselves. Perhaps too much so--Christopher later expressed regret for the level of editorial intrusion he'd (at the time) felt necessary to publish a "cohesive" story.

"Research material" could be justly applied to much of "Unfinished Tales", though,especially the evolving,and often conflicting,picture of Galadriel,for instance. Though there are some real gems in that book: "The Faithful Stone",for one. And no ME gamer would want to be without "The Battles of the Fords of Isen". I have to say that "Cirion and Eorl" brought a lump to my throat(even though the lacuna at the Celebrant section caused much wailing and gnashing of teeth).

Not to say "Silmarillion" makes for easy reading,as we've both mentioned before. T.A.Shippey has pointed out the depth of familiarity with Elvish history necessary to catch all the subtlies--who knew "though they be of other kin" could be such a deadly insult?

BTW,Zargon--is that a real interview,or are you joking?

I like Hurin too and large parts of the Silmarillion.

Looking forward to new world – and don't mind some editing.

TomT

(smile)

Amicalement
Amrand

Tolkien has been deceased for a long time now. He was deceased when the Silmarillion was publish, a book I found difficult to read when I was younger but have grown to love it with age. I enjoyed reading the Children of Hurin, but wonder what could possibly remain unpublished of Tolkien's work after all these years. Hope it is good; looking forward to reading reviews here.

You're right Hafen – I was too blunt on the Silmarillion. I've read it loads of times – as I have Unfinished Tales. I love them both but I see them as more alike than dissimilar.

There are lots of individual stories within both – granted. I just find what Christopher T did with CoH more… "satisfying" (for want of a better term).

John T

Well, I must shamefacedly admit I haven't read Hurin yet,despite having it since it came out. A very grim story. I did pull it out last week,but have only gotten through the editorial material so far. Beren and Luthien makes a more hopeful tale. For me,at least.

USAFpilot,Tolkien left a huge amount of material,if various comments by his son are any indication. I doubt if all of it will ever be published.

I imagine the hardcore "lore-hounds" will end up with a sort of three-way split of canon:

First things written directly by Tolkien himself.
Second tier will be things written by him but prepared and finished by his son or others.
Third tier will be the periphery of various licensed material.

Like Usafpilot, I found the Silmarilon to be difficult when I read it a decade ago, but reading it currently (with my son actually), it's very enjoyable.

That sounds great. Pick out some things from UT after that.

There is hope for GRR Martin !

Oh, wait Tolkien wrote a lot, but didn't publish, Martin is just busy running from one convention to another and having too much fun geeking out to crank out a new book.