Finrod
Rohan
Jul 17 2012, 6:56pm
Views: 500
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"The Fall of Arthur" has been the "holy grail" (pun intended) for serious Tolkien fans for a long time. I am glad that it finally will be published. I thought the work that Christopher did on "The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun" was some of the best that he has ever done, and so I am particularly glad that he will be editing (and presumably providing commentary) on this work as well.
I'm plenty glad that this is coming out. I'm ultra intrigued by what Chrisopher shall have done with it. Is it just another unfinished poem? Or will it be a finished work, either because Christopher found completed bits his father worked on hitherto unknown to the world, or because Christopher has finished the writing himself?
I do not know if that’s something Christopher is comfortable with doing, and I can see good reasons why he might not be. First, he wants to present his father’s work as his father’s, showing what his father actually did. Second, he might not be confident in his own poetic abilities to produce lines of verse that mesh well with the existing text. And third, he may not wish to be compared with his father, as would surely inevitably occur. No matter what the judgement would be, it would seem to risk detracting from his father’s own work if people were quibbling with Christopher’s own creativity.
The thing I really wish that Christopher would do — or has done, or had done, or soemthing like that — is to publish in full a complete version of the greatest of those three Great Tales that compose the heart of the greater “Silmarillion”: The Lay of Leithian: Release from Bondage.
Of those three, Christopher is now published the Narn, and we know that Eärendil’s tale was never completed, but surely Luthien’s Lay is nigh complete and should be so published?
Yes, it would be a lot of work, but who else has his father’s voice in his head but Christopher? He would have to make editorial decisions, and fix up the names and spellings, which sometimes requires rewording because of the changes in the syllables or rhyme. I’m thinking of things like Inglor > Finrod, Finrod > Finarfin, and Thû > Sauron throughout, with the latter two adding an extra syllable, which may not be all that important, but might be. The idea would be to fix it up so that the names at least follow the style used in the other published works.
If you read “the Lay of Leithian recommenced” at the end of the The Lays of Beleriand, you will see how much better the later realization of the poem is than the earlier ones. It may be that there is no hope ever of finishing up the revision in that same style. But so be it: the published Children of Húrin is also something of a patchwork made up of unequal pieces composed at different times. (And gosh I wish it had included the wanderings of Húrin that follow the end of that book!!)
Yes, there are some real editorial decisions that need being made. There are things in the Lay that don’t work out well with the published storyline, such as saying that Maelor (> Maglor) ended his life in the sea, rather than what the published Silmarillion has. Or maybe just leave the conflicts; after all, there were many tales, and there is no reason that they should all be completely consistent the one with the other.
Then beyond the editorial decisions, real creative decisions need to be made, because the Lay breaks off at the end and does not finish. The last Canto needs fleshing out, or even a new last Canto added. Even if he had both the will and the energy to undertake such an endeavor, does Christopher have the skill and ear to write the new verse needed to produce the missing ending?
If not, even so, then perhaps he would work with another poet of his own choosing. It surely can’t be worse than the fabricated ending Christopher put at the end of the published Silmarillion.
Could this ever happen, that the Lay ever be published in full?
I dearly wish it could, and I would like it done with Christopher’s cooperation and input, and blessing, not something a hundred years from now long after its copyright, and I, have expired.
…all eyes looked upon the ring; for he held it now aloft, and the green jewels gleamed there that the Noldor had devised in Valinor. For this ring was like to twin serpents, whose eyes were emeralds, and their heads met beneath a crown of golden flowers, that the one upheld and the other devoured; that was the badge of Finarfin and his house.The Silmarillion, pp 150-151 while Felagund laughs beneath the treesin Valinor and comes no more
to this grey world of tears and war.The Lays of Beleriand, p 311
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The Tolkien scholarly community is afire with curiosity and rumours after it emerged that a new Tolkien book is on the horizon. The book, which we understand will be called The Fall of Arthur appears to be set for a May 2013 release going from pre-order information that inadvertently popped up on the website of retailing giant Amazon. It's possible that it has been edited by Christopher Tolkien, but this is unconfirmed. 
- there's far more to Tolkien's writings than his fiction - his non-fiction works demonstrate his breadth of imagination as much as his Middle-earth works, IMO. 
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