Christopher Tolkien to finish lost Middle Earth novel

[davem]

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/enter...s/7661401.html

[Sir Kohran]

I was intrigued by the idea of a 'First Age Trilogy' - I assume there would be Beren And Luthien, The Children Of Hurin and The Fall Of Gondolin/The War Of Wrath. Sadly Tolkien never got round to publishing this idea, but with the release of the COH, could we now see the other two 'great tales' in print too?

[davem]

Originally Posted by Sir Kohran

I was intrigued by the idea of a 'First Age Trilogy' - I assume there would be Beren And Luthien, The Children Of Hurin and The Fall Of Gondolin/The War Of Wrath. Sadly Tolkien never got round to publishing this idea, but with the release of the COH, could we now see the other two 'great tales' in print too?

Can't see it happening. Alex Lewis did 'construct' a version of The Tale of Gondolin some years back, but it doesn't seem likely to see a wider audience than those who have bought the limited (50 in number) edition. Lewis got verbal permission from Priscilla Tolkien to publish that edition (don't think Christopher knew she'd given that permission). From reports I've seen its a readable enough version, but it has nothing like CT's Intro & Appendices for CoH. Lewis removed some of the 'archaisms' from some of the early versions he used, but its basically a sticking together of various versions Tolkien wrote. Unlike CoH there is no 'novel' (or 'novella') length version of the Tale that could be published. Same goes for Beren & Luthien.

So, that's not to say that it wouldn't be possible to knock something up. Its just it wouldn't really be 'Tolkien'.

I suppose it could be argued (with some justification perhaps) that CT took a wrong turn when he chose to follow up The Sil with Unfinished Tales & HoMe, rather than CoH & then to re-construct & complete the other Tales. After reading CoH I'm leaning towards that position myself. Much of HoM-e is fascinating, but none of it is as powerfully affecting as CoH in the form we now have it.

Back to the original question, though, who would write (or construct) the versions of the other two tales? I can only think of CT - & I don't think he's up for it.

[Maédhros]

Lewis removed some of the 'archaisms' from some of the early versions he used, but its basically a sticking together of various versions Tolkien wrote. Unlike CoH there is no 'novel' (or 'novella') length version of the Tale that could be published. Same goes for Beren & Luthien.

So, that's not to say that it wouldn't be possible to knock something up. Its just it wouldn't really be 'Tolkien'.

I disagree. If Lewis used writtings from JRRT and didn't invent anything into his tale, why wouldn't it be Tolkien. It doesn't makes sense.

[Formendacil]

Originally Posted by Maédhros

I disagree. If Lewis used writtings from JRRT and didn't invent anything into his tale, why wouldn't it be Tolkien. It doesn't makes sense.

Davem's talking about length. The Lewis tale, based on Tolkien, wouldn't be substantially longer than the Book of Lost Tales "Fall of Gondolin", and that isn't nearly comparable to the Children of Húrin's length. Likewise, the longest official compilation of "Beren and Lúthien" wouldn't be nearly long enough.

Ergo, if you want to produce a trilogy... you'd have two very slim volumes going with The Children of Húrin.