“I eagerly went to my local bookstore on its day of
publication to get a copy of The Fall of Arthur, the latest
posthumous offering from the pen of J. R. R. Tolkien. To my surprise and
chagrin, I was told that the store did not have it in stock and indeed was not
scheduled to receive any copies. I was obliged to special-order it and wait
another seven days before I could finally lay eyes on the one and only work by
England's master fantasist on the Matter of Britain, the legends of King
Arthur. At the time I was privately angry and a little disgusted: a unique work
from a great author was, I felt, being slighted. So, what do we have in The
Fall of Arthur? The poem itself consists of 954 lines of alliterative
verse, divided into five cantos, and occupies only forty pages of this 233-page
book. The rest of the volume is fleshed out once again by Christopher Tolkien,
the professor's scholarly son, and includes a Foreword (introducing and placing
the poem in its personal historical context), Notes on the Text (identifying
persons and old words occurring in the poem itself), a chapter explaining the
poem in relation to Arthurian Tradition, a chapter explaining the poem in
relation to Tolkien's own developing ideas about his mythology, and a chapter
on how the poem changed through several drafts (only the last version is
presented in the book). Finally, there is an appendix explaining Old English
Verse, the tradition in which Tolkien was working, relying on stressed
alliterative words within the poetic line rather than rhyme. This all sounds
rather dry and drasty, except that it isn't. The real meat on this bone is
Tolkien's own voice in the verse, and when it starts rolling out it swells and
falls, thunders and sighs like the waves breaking on a stony beach. In the
beginning of the poem, Arthur (on the advice of Mordred) leads a punitive army
eastward to stem the repeated Saxon invasions and raids on Britain. Here is the
vaunt of Gawain in the face of what seems to be a vast army of wraiths and
darkness:
"--Clear went his voice
in the rocks ringing above roaring wind
and rolling thunder: 'Ride, forth to war,
ye hosts of ruin, hate proclaiming!
Foes we fear not, nor fell shadows
of the dark mountains demon-haunted!
Hear now ye hills and hoar forest,
ye awful thrones of olden gods
huge and hopeless, hear and tremble!
From the West comes war that no wind daunteth,
might and purpose that no mist stayeth;
lord of legions, light in darkness,
east rides Arthur!' "
In this defiance of the dark we hear once more the authentic Tolkien note. The
Fall of Arthur is woven around five main characters: Arthur, who
strives to maintain his kingdom and the remains of the Christian Roman world;
Mordred, whose lust for power and for Guinever will make him ally with any
invader or outlaw; Lancelot, whose affair with the queen has divided and
weakened Arthur's court; Guinever ("as fair and fell as fay-woman/ in the
world walking for the woe of men") who cares for nothing as long as she
gets what she wants, and Gawain, Arthur's chief knight after Lancelot, restored
here to his original British position as the paragon of loyal knighthood. The
plot of the poem (as it stands) can be very plainly summed up. Arthur and
Gawaine leave for the East on their mission. They hear that back home Mordred
has taken over and caused Guinever to flee, Arthur turns homeward and considers
asking Lancelot for help, but Gawain counsels against it, doubting his loyalty.
Lancelot wonders if he should come to their aid, but his debate keeps him from
leaving in a timely manner. Arthur's forces come once more to Britain and
notice woeful changes in the land. And it is here that Tolkien left his work.
It is of course in relationship to the poem that all of the ensuing scholarship
derives its interest: when, how, and why Tolkien wrote it, the tradition in
which he wrote and how he selected and changed things from the tradition, how
it affected his own 'legendarium.' In the end we are left with a beautiful,
tantalizing fragment, another 'what if' of literature, and, as Christopher
Tolkien phrased it, "one of the most grievous of [Tolkien's]
abandonments." – Power of Babel.
Ranking: Essential.
File Code: Poetry. Hardback.
Beowulf: A Translation and a Commentary (together with Sellic
Spell), by J. R. R. Tolkien. Edited by Christopher Tolkien. (2014)
“It is the long-awaited version of the premier Anglo-Saxon
epic by a great scholar of philology best known to the world as one of the
greatest Fantasy authors of modern times. As such it may be asked: at whom is
this edition aimed? The English scholar, or the fan of speculative fiction, or
is it just the enthusiastic reader who wants to tuck into a good version of
Beowulf? The answer, I think, is none of these in particular. The person this
book will appeal to most is someone with a great interest in Tolkien himself,
and the history of his thought and creative processes. Christopher Tolkien, in
his Preface, says as much: "The present work should best be regarded as a
'memorial volume, a 'portrait' (as it were) of the scholar in his time, in
words of his own, hitherto unpublished." The book itself consists of a
prose translation by Tolkien and commentary on the text extracted from a series
of lectures; included is Sellic Spell, his imaginative
reconstruction of the folk tale that Tolkien suspected lay behind the epic, and
a couple of short(-ish) ballad re-tellings of the Beowulf story. For the
Tolkien enthusiast and scholar a hearty banquet, for the casual peruser a hard
garden in which to find the way. Perhaps the most interesting (and by far the
longest) section is the Commentary on elements of the poem itself. It is
fascinating to watch Tolkien unpick and unpack the meanings of Anglo-Saxon
words and phrases, revealing the implications and thoughts behind such terms as
'wyrd' or 'the whale-road,' of Grendel's relation to Cain and the giants of
old, of the glimpses at life lived in another age revealed in simple metaphors
like trouble 'denying men the ale-benches,' i.e., the simple pleasures of a
stable life. Reading these notes, in the Professor's unmistakable voice, can
give you the feeling of actually attending one of his lectures on one of those
famous occasions when he turned the classroom into a mead hall. It would not
surprise me if scholars of Beowulf would be mining this volume
in years to come for insights and inspirations. The icing on top of this rich
cake and the part most immediately accessible to the casual reader is Sellic
Spell ("Marvellous Tale"), the Beowulf story recast into
what Tolkien imagined could be its original fairy-tale mode, followed by the
two ballads. It would be easy to imagine the Spell extracted,
illustrated by Pauline Baynes, and sold on its own as a children's book. Here
we read Tolkien's Anglo-Saxon scholarship, love of fairy stories, and vigorous
narrative skills once more combining to bring a "lost tale" to life,
and the ballads Beowulf and Grendel and Beowulf and
the Monsters are respectable contributions to the growing body of
Tolkien's poetry (always underrated, in my opinion). Beowulf: A Translation
and Commentary is a significant addition to the corpus of Tolkien's
work, and a beautiful book to boot, illustrated with three pictures from the
author's own hand. As a source of insight into his creation of Middle-Earth it
is at the same time peripheral and profound: the occasional reference to his
own epic work is only to be found in Christopher's editing hand. But Beowulf and
all the traditions behind it were a deep element in the "leaf-mould"
of Tolkien's mind, and here you can sniff and handle the soil from which Arda
sprang.” – Power of Babel, 2014.
Ranking: Essential.
File Code: Literary History. Hardback.
The Story of Kullervo, by J. R. R. Tolkien. Edited by Verlyn
Flieger. (2015)
“Kullervo, son of Kalervo, is perhaps the darkest and most
tragic of all J.R.R. Tolkien’s characters. “Hapless Kullervo,” as Tolkien
called him, is a luckless orphan boy with supernatural powers and a tragic
destiny. Brought up in the homestead of the dark magician Untamo, who killed
his father, kidnapped his mother, and tried three times to kill him when he was
still a boy, Kullervo is alone save for the love of his twin sister, Wanōna,
and the magical powers of the black dog Musti, who guards him. When Kullervo is
sold into slavery he swears revenge on the magician, but he will learn that
even at the point of vengeance there is no escape from the cruelest of fates.
Tolkien himself said that The Story of Kullervo was “the germ
of my attempt to write legends of my own,” and was “a major matter in the
legends of the First Age.” Tolkien’s Kullervo is the clear ancestor of Túrin
Turambar, the tragic incestuous hero of The Silmarillion. Published
with the author’s drafts, notes, and lecture essays on its source work,
the Kalevala, The Story of Kullervo is a
foundation stone in the structure of Tolkien’s invented world.” – Amazon.
Ranking: Essential.
File Code: Kalevala. Retelling. Hardback.
The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun, by J. R. R. Tolkien. Edited by
Verlyn Flieger. With a Note on the Text by Christopher Tolkien. (2016)
“Together with The Corrigan Poems”. I’d been wanting to read
this work since I read about it (in the 70’s!) in ‘Master of Middle-Earth’.
“Unavailable for more than 70 years, this early but important work is published
for the first time with Tolkien’s ‘Corrigan’ poems and other supporting
material. Set ‘In Britain’s land beyond the seas’ during the Age of Chivalry,
The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun tells of a childless Breton Lord and Lady (the
‘Aotrou’ and ‘Itroun’ of the title) and the tragedy that befalls them when
Aotrou seeks to remedy their situation with the aid of a magic potion obtained
from a corrigan, or malevolent fairy. When the potion succeeds and Itroun bears
twins, the corrigan returns seeking her fee, and Aotrou is forced to choose
between betraying his marriage and losing his life. Coming from the darker side
of J.R.R. Tolkien’s imagination, The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun, together with the
two shorter ‘Corrigan’ poems that lead up to it and which are also included,
was the outcome of a comparatively short but intense period in Tolkien's life
when he was deeply engaged with Celtic, and particularly Breton, myth and
legend. Originally written in 1930 and long out of print, this early but
seminal work is an important addition to the non-Middle-earth portion of his
canon and … belongs to a small but important corpus of his ventures into
‘real-world’ mythologies, each of which in its own way would be a formative
influence on his own legendarium.” – Amazon.
Ranking: Essential.
File Code: Poetry. Critical Edition. Hardback.
The Tolkien Fan’s Medieval Reader, by ‘Turgon’ (David E.
Smith) (2008)
“Turgon (co-author of The People's Guide to J.R.R. Tolkien)
and one of the founding members and main contributors of the Internet's most
popular Tolkien fan website - theoneing.net - presents modern prose renderings
of some of the essential works of medieval literature that were inspirations to
Tolkien. These prose versions introduce to Tolkien's wide readership the works
of medieval literature that were his greatest professional interests. For those
daunted by the alliterative verse-form of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, even
in Tolkien's own translation, here is the essential narrative of the poem to be
read in readable, updated prose. It can thus be used as steppingstone in
approaching Tolkien's excellent translation, where the artistry of the verse
will be more quickly appreciated when the story is already familiar. Other
major works included are Beowulf, the Edda of Snorri Sturleson, and the Saga of
the Volsungs from the Kalevala. These versions should not be seen as scholarly
translations, but as popular renderings to enrich any Tolkien fan's appreciation
of Middle-earth, and as an accessible entry into the fascinating world of
medieval literature. "This volume serves a very useful purpose for
Tolkien's devoted readers: collecting together in one place readable versions
of the essential medieval works that shaped Tolkien's literary interests and in
turn influenced significantly the creation of his invented world of
Middle-earth." – Amazon.
Ranking: Essential.
File Code: Anthology. Medieval. Softcover.
