Silmarillion: What would you add/expand?

[Bêthberry]

I wonder how my comments here relate to your point, pio, and perhaps they don't exactly fit your interest in dissatisfaction with various versions, Child, but here goes.

I had read The Silmarillion many times, but before this summer, never consecutively or coherently. I read it as an encyclopedia, referring to it whenever I wanted more info on various characters or events. This summer I finally read it straight through as a consistent narrative. Two points struck me, which might apply here.

First, the inexorable 'speed' of the doom of the world. I was hard pressed to find any free will such as I find in LOTR. I wonder if this relates to Tolkien's choice of narrative structures/ point of view.

Second, the relative shortness of the story of Tuor compared with that of Turin Turambar. In my edition, Tuor's story takes ten pages; Turin's, forty. Is this due to Christopher Tolkien's selection or JRRT's intention?

I'll save other observations for interpretive rather than textual threads.

Bethberry

[ August 27, 2002: Message edited by: Bethberry ]