The Lays of Beleriand // J.R.R. Tolkien

Unfinished epic poems ; mainly the Ley of Leithian (following Beren and Luthien) and the the Lay of the Children of Hurin (following Turin). 

Where I got the book
A very expensive birthday and Christmas present.

Why I’m reading
I’ve loved Tolkien’s works since I read LoTR, but the Silmarillion really sealed my fate. The world he created is amazing.

Expectations
I’m halfway through this section right now. I remember expecting… well, more of the same, after finishing the BoLT. I was also expecting much more fragmentary works. 

So how was it?

The lays are… lays! They’re written as long poems. For some reason, I was not expecting that. I also wasn't expecting it to be so pleasant to read; I usually hate poetry. It reminds me of a fanfic drabble: every word chosen carefully, lots of rich details but nothing extraneous. Maybe when I have the house to myself I will read them aloud. {EDIT: I did, and it was amazing.}

"The Lay of Leithian" is the familiar story of Beren and Lúthien. The rhyming couplets are perfect for this story; I prefer it over all the other prose versions. It also has a lot more detail. "The Lay of the Children of Húrin" is in alliterative verse, and I enjoyed it, although maybe not as much. I don’t know a lot about poetry, but alliterative verse was a much better choice than rhyming couplets, since it’s a much darker story.

Favorites
Lúthien faces down Morgoth. She is brilliant as always, but it’s the characterization of Morgoth himself that gets to me: you can feel his hatred of the Valar, how convincing he can be, and how twisted his view of the world. [Lúthien faces down Morgoth. She is brilliant as always, but it’s the characterization of Morgoth himself that gets to me: you can feel his hatred of the Valar, how convincing he can be, and how twisted his view of the world. (hide spoiler)]

Least favorites
None of it is finished! Luckily we know how the stories end, but I would love to read them all the way through in verse.

Writing style
Alliterative verse and rhyming couplets.

The Book of Lost Tales // J.R.R. Tolkien

A collection of very early manuscripts, including early versions of stories later included in the Silmarillion ; edited and commentated by his son Christopher Tolkien.

Where I got the book
A very expensive birthday and Christmas present.

Why I’m reading
I’ve loved Tolkien’s works since I read LoTR, but the Silmarillion really sealed my fate. The world he created is amazing.

Expectations
I’m writing this having already started and finished the BoLT volumes, so I will try to remember my expectations going in. I did try to read a little bit of the HoME/UT as a teenager, in these awful paperback books, and just couldn’t get into it. So I expected a struggle. I also went into it with a huge preference for elves and elvish history, and wasn’t so excited to read stories about humans. In retrospect, I might have been struggling through The Children of Húrin back then...

So how was it?

First of all, what IS The Book of Lost Tales? It’s a collection of Tolkien’s unpublished and unfinished writings, brought together and annotated by his son Christopher Tolkien. It includes rejected ideas, drafts, outlines, and variations as well as comparisons and notes on the evolution of the texts. Ever wanted to know how Tolkien developed his iconic elves, what Melian was originally named, or a more detailed account of Gondolin? BoLT is your book.

No idea what I’m talking about? Check out my post on the works of J.R.R. Tolkien.

The BoLT blew my mind, especially Part I. These are Tolkien’s very early writings, before his concept of the world was fully developed. And wow, I’m very glad that he did develop it further. His elves were once decidedly closer to fairies and gnomes. He had an entirely different framework for telling these tales, one which he eventually (and in my opinion, rightly) discarded. Some of the concepts and ideas were very whimsical and childish (like “the cottage of lost play”) and don’t seem to fit Tolkien’s high-fantasy world.

Part II and the later sections of Part I are much closer to Tolkien’s finalized world. There are all sorts of familiar stories, not always “accurate” to published canon, but often with much more detail; most of these stories were revised and shortened before being added to the Silmarillion. The tales were not yet sewn together by the story of the Silmarils; the jewels were a side-story at best, and the Sons of Fëanor were not fully realized. I don’t think I appreciated how intricately Tolkien wove the Silmarillion together until I read BoLT.

Favorites
Glorfindel! He’s a side character at best, but one of my favorites. The BoLT contains the full narrative of the Fall of Gondolin, which is only summarized in the Silmarillion. Gondolin itself, while not a “character,” is one of my favorite sections, especially Tuor and Idril. I won’t lie; I broke out the sticky notes to mark Gondolin sections. The detailed variations on the creation story, the sun and moon, the trees, etc., were also wonderful. It was fascinating to watch the Silmaril narrative develop.

Least favorites
Oh god, Ælfwine. The original framework was the story of Ælfwine, an Englishman who journeys to an elven land and hears tales of elvish history. It ties the story together and embeds it into English history… but the entire thing is just too whimsical and fairytale-like. I love the sort of nonsense whimsy you find in children’s bedtime stories, but it just isn’t right for Tolkien’s world. [ The original framework was the story of Ælfwine, an Englishman who journeys to an elven land and hears tales of elvish history. It ties the story together and embeds it into English history… but the entire thing is just too whimsical and fairytale-like. I love the sort of nonsense whimsy you find in children’s bedtime stories, but it just isn’t right for Tolkien’s world. (hide spoiler)]

Writing style
Tolkien paints a wonderfully full, detailed, high-fantasy world, full of fantastic characters and beautiful scenery. Lots of repeated themes: betrayal, greed, love, oaths, etc. Many of the stories seemed darker than in the Silmarillion, which I very much appreciated.

I recently had a friend (a reader and a fantasy fan) complain that Tolkien “interrupts” his story too often. I can see where she’s coming from; but to insist that side stories like the Entwives were interruptions and just bad writing, not world-building? This is what happens when you speed read through everything, children. ಠ_ಠ

Finally, you can’t tackle BoLT without warning: CHRISTOPHER TOLKIEN IS SUPER PEDANTIC. No criticism is intended; it’s just that he has taken great pains to present and interpret his father’s drafts, notes, corrections, re-writes, name changes, etc. etc. as accurately as possible. So be prepared to read (or skip through) his analysis and explanations for every section.

Similar books

• Christopher Tolkien’s notes are similar to what you would find in a study Bible.
• Most of these stories can be found in their final form in the Silmarillion.
• The stories of Tuor and Eärendel are similar to the epic tales of Aeneas (the Aeneid) and Odysseus (the Odyssey) while Túrin’s is closer to the Oedipus tragedy.
• The story of Beren and Lúthien (Tinúviel) shares themes with Romeo and Juliet, although to me it has always felt like Baucis and Philemon. And, of course, it is similar to the love story between Arwen and Aragorn. 

The works of J.R.R. Tolkien

 

I started reading Tolkien a long, long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away (...ok, a decade ago in Fairfield). The books were a huge part of my teenage years. I re-read them every once in a while, so I’ll probably review Tolkien’s main works a bit later. But for now, I’m inching my way through three fat volumes of Tolkien’s unfinished work, published and annotated by his son Christopher. Believe me, it’s not for the faint of heart. (Or the sleepy, which is why it’s taking me so long).

But first! The shortest-guide-ever to reading Tolkien:

1. Start with The Hobbit. It’s comparatively short and an excellent introduction to Tolkien’s world.
2. Loved it? Move on the The Lord of the Rings. Did you find hobbits suuuper boring? Trust me: plow through the first few chapters, until they get out of the Shire, and it gets a lot more action-packed.
3. Can’t get enough of dem elves? The Silmarillion might be for you. It can be a tough read, with sections that are all mystical-abstract-y, passages that get deep into geography or genealogy, and lots and lots and lots of names. For me, that’s part of the charm, along with the long and intricate history it builds. If you hit a chunk that you just can’t get through, just skim to the next part.
4. If The Silmarillion was a little too “out there” for you, The Children of Húrin might be more your speed. It’s a darker adventure set around two human characters, compiled by Christoper Tolkien but formatted like a full story.
5. Found yourself obsessed with Tolkien after all? You probably don’t need me to tell you that The Unfinished Tales and The History of Middle Earth are next on your plate. These works were published by Christopher Tolkien, and never fully finished or integrated together; Chris does a lot of piecing-together and version-control. It’s not a light read, but some of the stories in there are absolutely worth it.

Finally, Encyclopedia Arda and Wikipedia's Middle-earth Portal are your friends :)

I’m currently working my way through The History of Middle Earth as well as The Unfinished Tales. The copies I have were published together in The Complete History of Middle Earth, three super-thick books with Bible-thin pages (that's them over on the left). So far I’m through the first two volumes of HoME and halfway through the third. That means I'm only halfway through the first big book. I’m going to review them separately, because they were actually published separately… and because that’s a whole lot of pages and stories to summarize in one place.