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Eruonen
Half-elven
Jan 28 2019, 4:51pm
Post #1 of 15
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'The Silmarillion was always his heart'
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https://www.dailymail.co.uk/...illion-projects.html
"He wrote: 'I don't much approve of The Hobbit myself, prefering my own mythology (which is just touched on) with its consistent nomenclature ... and organized history, to this rabble of Eddaic-named dwarves out of Voluspa, newfangled hobbits and gollums (invented in an idle hour) and Anglo-Saxon runes.'
(This post was edited by Eruonen on Jan 28 2019, 4:52pm)
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Ataahua
Forum Admin
/ Moderator
Jan 28 2019, 11:45pm
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Celebrimbor: "Pretty rings..."
Dwarves: "Pretty rings..."
Men: "Pretty rings..."
Sauron: "Mine's better."
"Ah, how ironic, the addictive qualities of Sauron’s master weapon led to its own destruction. Which just goes to show, kids - if you want two small and noble souls to succeed on a mission of dire importance... send an evil-minded beggar with them too." - Gandalf's Diaries, final par, by Ufthak.
Ataahua's stories
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kzer_za
Lorien
Jan 29 2019, 12:16am
Post #5 of 15
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At the end of the day, I think The Silmarillion benefited from not getting published with LotR at the time
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Despite the Sil's unfinished nature. Hobbits added a more "human" element to the high myth of the legendarium that also filters back to earlier ages, to a certain degree. For example, I don't think the Children of Hurin (in its mature form) or Aldarion and Erendis could have been written without Bilbo, Frodo, and Sam coming first.
(This post was edited by kzer_za on Jan 29 2019, 12:24am)
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Dunadan of North Arnor
Rivendell
Jan 29 2019, 3:03am
Post #6 of 15
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pleased at the validation of Tolkien’s true ‘Magnum Opus’
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rightly being the ‘Silmarillion’, and the acknowledgment of LOTR as a “side project”.
Damn shame the same curator scheduled the Symposium in NY for mid-March, and not for the May 11th weekend, when the curtain closes on the exhibit, the Tolkien Biopic is released, and the weather is actually tolerable for travel!
(This post was edited by Dunadan of North Arnor on Jan 29 2019, 3:11am)
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Cygnus
Lorien
Jan 29 2019, 4:19am
Post #7 of 15
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Definitely my next book. I've heard so much about the Silmarillion.
"I found it is the small things.....everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keeps the darkness at bay.....simple acts of kindness and love." - Gandalf (movie quote)
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Eruonen
Half-elven
Jan 29 2019, 4:20am
Post #8 of 15
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You have to read it differently than the other works. It more similar to reading the Old Testament,
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However, it has some fantastic scenes and plots.
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Dunadan of North Arnor
Rivendell
Jan 29 2019, 5:06am
Post #9 of 15
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I’ll suggest Unfinished Tales first, backwards
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From your threads in the RR, you seem to be appreciating the narrative style of LOTR, but with a self-confessed ‘character overload’. Rather than diving into the deep end of the pool with the Sil, maybe try wading into the shallow end with Unfinished Tales, reading the sub-sections from the back to the front - LOTR-age material back thru the 3rd Age to the 2nd to the 1st.
When you get through the first few paragraphs of the ‘History of Galadriel and Celeborn’ (last sub-section of the 2nd Age), you’ll know if you’re ready for the Sil, or want to keep reading UT to the finish with a keen eye for the ‘History of Middle-earth’ after the Sil, or just want to get out of the pool and towel off for a while.
No matter what, you have options, so keep reading!
(This post was edited by Dunadan of North Arnor on Jan 29 2019, 5:12am)
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grammaboodawg
Immortal
Jan 29 2019, 12:23pm
Post #10 of 15
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The Sil is his masterpiece while The Hobbit and LotR are his doodles. If I could grow doodle apples like those, I'd call myself a gardener ;)
That exhibit sounds so awesome!
We have been there and back again.
TIME Google Calendar
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Alassëa Eruvande
Valinor
Jan 29 2019, 3:14pm
Post #11 of 15
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getting a copy of The Atlas of Middle-Earth by Karen Wynn Fonstad and keeping it next to you for reference as you read the Sil. It has maps of all the battles and journeys, among other things like major landmarks, buildings and populations. I never would have made it through reading the Sil without it.
But most of all: Maps!
I am SMAUG! I kill when I wish! I am strong, strong, STRONG!
My armor is like tenfold shields! My teeth like swords! My claws, spears!
The shock of my tail, a thunderbolt! My wings, a hurricane! And my breath, death!
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Cygnus
Lorien
Jan 30 2019, 5:27pm
Post #12 of 15
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Thanks for the advice!
"I found it is the small things.....everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keeps the darkness at bay.....simple acts of kindness and love." - Gandalf (movie quote)
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No One in Particular
Lorien
Feb 1 2019, 2:11am
Post #13 of 15
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I enjoy reading the Silmarillion, but I almost enjoy listening to it more, the unabridged version. It works really well.
While you live, shine
Have no grief at all
Life exists only for a short while
And time demands an end.
Seikilos Epitaph
(This post was edited by No One in Particular on Feb 1 2019, 2:12am)
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Cygnus
Lorien
Feb 1 2019, 4:11am
Post #14 of 15
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So, after he wrote the Sil did he then get the inspiration for the Hobbit or is it way more complicated than that?
"I found it is the small things.....everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keeps the darkness at bay.....simple acts of kindness and love." - Gandalf (movie quote)
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Silverlode
Forum Admin
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Feb 1 2019, 5:33am
Post #15 of 15
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The Sil was not written in a linear way as a single story. It isn't a narrative book like The Hobbit or LOTR. It's more like an ancient chronicle and it contains quite a lot of different sorts of writing. Tolkien began writing snippets of stories based on his invented languages when he was quite young. And for the rest of his life he wrote new bits of it, re-shaping older stories, adding new ones, changing his mind, writing parts of narratives that were never completed (Unfinished Tales), etc. He was sort of hopeful after the unexpected success of The Hobbit that maybe people would be interested in his other saga if he worked it into shape, but it was not as accessible in nature as stories about hobbits, so he gave that up and wrote LOTR and set it in that larger world. And then that necessitated the tweaking of some of the older stories to match, and...
Tolkien wrote a short story called Leaf by Niggle about a man who worked his whole life on a grand painting. But he took such pains over all the small details that he feared it would never be done in his lifetime. This is pretty much how he felt about The Silmarillion. You also see echoes of it in Bilbo's longing to "find somewhere quiet where I can finish my book". And in fact, Tolkien never did finish The Sil. When he died, his son Christopher was made his Literary Executor. Christopher went through his father's writings and compiled some of the latest versions and most developed tales into what we know as The Silmarillion and published it. He then continued to organize and sort through, and produced the several volumes of the History of Middle-earth, in which you can see the evolution of various stories and ideas. And in recent years, he's taken a few of the most-finished tales and published them as separate novels (The Children of Hurin, Beren and Luthien, and The Fall of Gondolin).
Aside from his great epic endeavors, Tolkien wrote a number of other shorter, much more lighthearted stories, mostly for his children. Farmer Giles of Ham, The Father Christmas Letters, Roverandom, etc.. The Hobbit began as one of these, but became something that could be published, and caused demand for other stories, so after LOTR some of these other stories also began to be brought out and published.
He also wrote some literary criticism such as Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics, and Essay on Faerie Stories. Because, after all, he was also a Professor at Oxford and had a real job and a family as well. Author of fantasy novels was only a sideline, and one his colleagues often didn't think much of, at that.
Silverlode
Roads go ever ever on
Under cloud and under star
Yet feet that wandering have gone
Turn at last to home afar.
Eyes that fire and sword have seen
And horror in the halls of stone
Look at last on meadows green
And trees and hills they long have known.
(This post was edited by Silverlode on Feb 1 2019, 5:37am)
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