Exciting Tolkien news

[cairistiona7]

Have you seen this?

Treasure trove' of unseen J.R.R. Tolkien essays on Middle-earth coming summer 2021

So exciting!

Comments

[curiouswombat]

Is it just me, or does anyone else wonder if it doesn't always quite fit with Christopher's version, which is why they haven't been published before?

[cairistiona7]

That may well be? The question "how did Christopher miss these?" crossed my mind, but it could be he chose to ignore them as irrelevant to the vision he was building.

I honestly don't know what to think of Christopher. In some ways, I admire him for being such a determined guardian of his father's legacy, but in other ways... he seemed like a cranky old fusspot who was determined to toss water at anyone daring to have fun (or interpret something in a way he didn't agree with). Which is an opinion that would likely get me tarred and feathered by some in the Tolkien fandom/reader/academic community. O.O

[curiouswombat]

I totally agree with you :)

[mrowe]

Carl Hostetter (the editor) will probably follow Christopher's lead (they worked together on linguistic material); he is, by some accounts, just as disapproving of wild interpretations (not to mention fanfic and linguistic invention).

[cairistiona7]

That being the case, probably nothing will be wildly surprising when the book is published but rather just more insight into his world-building, which is what I gathered it to be from the description. I'm okay with that, as I fall somewhere between "preserving the legacy" and "wild interpretations" (though I'm sure Christopher Tolkien would wildly disapprove of my fanfic efforts XD).