The Children of Húrin

[eric_lippert]

My copy of the new book by J.R.R. Tolkien -- begun in 1918, edited into publishable shape 89 years later! -- has arrived. Initial reviews are reasonably positive. I'll post my review here as soon as I have finished the book.

Somehow I must make it through my work day without shutting my door and curling up on my office couch to read the whole thing

Comments

[thingo]

I like this comment from the Sunday Times: "Fans will doubtless read on with passionate piety, but for others it is an act of painful penitence." I'm currently nearing the end of the Silmarillion, and I can relate.

[eric_lippert]

It is important to not read the Silmarillion with the idea that you're reading a novel. It is not a novel at all, it is written with none of the conventions of the novel. There is no narrative drive, the stories are not about the emotional journey of a central protagonist, etc. Rather, it's a true epic -- a chronicle of the important events in the history of multiple large groups.

Had I known you were reading The Silmarillion I would have loaned you my copy of Foster's Complete Guide. I don't read The Silmarillion without it, there is just too much to keep track of. Thingol, for instance, holds grudges for thousands of years; slights that happen early on in the story turn out to be relevant a hundred pages later. It's easy to lose track.

[thingo]

Yes, I knew going in that I wasn't about to read a novel. That's one of the reasons I like the quoted text so much (apart from the alliteration). The choice of "passionate piety" or "painful penitence" might just as well be applied to the bible, or any other text of which Silmarillion is reminiscent.

I'm generally following what's going on, though of course a companion volume would be helpful. Would there be any value in reading through Foster after finishing the Silmarillion, or would it be too late by then?

[eric_lippert]

Foster's Complete Guide is just an alphebetical cross-referenced listing of almost every proper noun in The Hobbit/TLOTR/The Silmarillion. Very handy when you can't remember whether Elwe is the same person as Thingol or not. :-)

[macabre0]

I saw this coming out yesterday and thought of you. Look forward to hearing what you think of it, as my local resident Tolkien expert. And probably a national Tolkien expert as well. :)