News For Tolkien Fans
Fans of Lord of the Rings’, ‘the Hobbit’ and many other Tolkien creations will be excited by the news that a book started by J.R.R. Tolkien back in 1918 has been finished by his son, Christopher. It should be ready for publication by Harper Collins in Spring 2007.
According to the Guardian, of September 19, 2006: Christopher Tolkien has worked for 30 years on an edited version of ‘The Children of Hurin’, a story set in the legendary land of elves, hobbits and dwarves depicted by his father in the epic trilogy, The Lord Of The Rings. The tale itself was abandoned by Tolkien but his son felt that there was much he could retrieve and develop from the writing left to him. (Parts of the story have been published previously).
This, of course, is not the first of Tolkien’s books to be published after his death – as ‘the Silmarillion’, ‘Bilbo’s Song’ and ‘Unfinished Tales’ are earlier examples. Tolkien is also not the first fantasy writer to have his notes developed by others after death. Frank Herbert left a rich posthumous legacy for his readers. He left behind notes for both the history of the Dune universe before the events of Dune which have been used by his son, Brian Herbert for a series of books. (See http://www.scifi.com/sfw/issue350/interview.html for an interview with Brian)
Christopher Tolkien was said to be unhappy with the portrayal of his father’s works in the movie adaptations of ‘Lord of the Rings’. Will others be happy with his adaptations of his father’s abandoned works? Tolkien fans will naturally be drawn to these books to make comparisons.
Why do you think Tolkien put his work aside and left it unfinished? Do you think it is right for people to finish off the work of others?
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