What is The History of Middle Earth like to read?

malickfan

malickfan

Gondor
I've been interested in reading them for a while and was wondering if anyone could fill me in a bit onm the way they are laid out and written.

I've read The Lord of The Rings and The Hobbit Back to back 5 times, Unfinsihed Tales and the Children of Hurin Twice, and I have just started on my Third read of The Silmarilion, I've never had any particluar trouble with any of these books, but I gather that The History of Middle Earth is very fragmentary- Is it as complex as The Silmarillion?, or do the volumes get 'easier' to read as they progress? I've gathered there are often many diffent versions of the same story- does it get a little confusing?

I've wanted to read these books for ages but only recnetly have I found enough deisposbale cash to invest- Do you suggest I buy the voulmes individually, or in the larger anthologies?-

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Complete-History-Middle-Earth-Part/dp/0007149158/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1332418319&sr=1-1
-These are probably the additions I would buy


I classify myself as a bit of a Tolkien nut so I don't think I have much trouble but any info would be of great help.

Sorry if I've come across a bit arrogant or annoying, but I thought this would be the best place to ask.
 
- Not at first, anyway. I always recommend folk borrow books from the library before buying. Your local library ought to be able to get them on inter-library loan, if they don't have them in stock.
 
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I am afraid that I only have 6,7 and 8 (and I haven't finished those). There are lots of different versions of one section, and it is fragmented, but I think that Christopher is very clear in 'signposting' what the different sections are and cross-referencing between them. I found it helped to have a copy of Lord of the Rings at hand. It's essentially passages of different versions of text with Christopher's commentary between them.
I found it fascinating, but quite heavy, but then I must confess to never finishing Sil. [blush] Do I get excommunicated now mods?

If you enjoyed the Sil, I should definitely go for it. It's very interesting, and I found it a little like reading a research paper in style.
I'm afraid I can't give any advice on what format to buy though. I have the black paperbacks with the paintings on the cover. Although, if you end up flicking to the index as much as I did, perhaps smaller versions rather than anthologies would be best. [;)]

Hope this helps!

Edit: Just seen the above post - the library would be a great idea to get a flavour for them
 
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If you enjoyed reading UT -- and perhaps specifically the section on "the History of Galadriel and Celeborn" which is the closest in style -- then the HOME books would likely appeal to you in general.

Most of HOME is about the process of writing, more than "revealing new information".

I would agree with geordie's suggestion about borrowing a copy of one of them first if you can. Though not all 12 books are the same, so if you get a copy of, say, "The Shaping of Middle-earth" and find it dull, you don't need to give up on the whole thing.

If you are highly interested in the process of writing, then I think the LOTR-related volumes will be the most interesting (starting with "The Return of the Shadow").
 
Also if you are wanting the books you linked to, they are going as a set in a slipcase for about the price of two of them at the moment.

Finally just on a side note, my favourite editions of HoME are The People's of Middle-Earth and Morgoth's Ring. Though there is of course something interesting in all the editions.
 
I bought some of them only for those parts that have "new material" that adds to the rest of the "canon", such as the LOTR epilogue, the Notion Club papers, the full story of Finwë and his wives, The New Shadow, the essays about Glorfindel, Dwarves, Cirdan, elvish customs, expanded tale of Aragorn and Arwen, and so on.
That would be volumes 8 to 12.
I must admit that the texts related to early or different versions of LOTR and the Sil. are not my cup of tea, just those that complement the established lore.
 
...is essential reading for someone as seriously into the other books as malickfan. It contains background essays on the Elves and other topics of great interest.

The important point is that HoME isn't a "history" per se, it's a collection of papers ranging from early drafts of things that ended up in the "narrative" books to background essays such as those I mentioned. The volumes I've read are interesting in their way, but they're very much a mixed bag.
 
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and have no regrets about buying them. The only difficulty I have found with that particular set is in ease of use. Because they've taken the separate books of the HoME and bound them in groups the pagination doesn't run through the volume. Each original book section has its own page numbers and its own index; when you move on to the next section the page numbers go back to roman numerals for the Foreword, then page 1 and so on - so, for example, Part Three, with 'Morgoth's Ring', 'The War of the Jewels' and 'The Peoples of Middle Earth' has three page 1s, three indexes, and so on. This can make it quite frustrating to track down something you want to refer back to. You have to make sure you're looking at the right index and searching the right block of pages.

But that's just procedure. If you're fascinated by the stories and the building of the stories and the thinking that lay behind them, and if you've read and enjoyed 'Unfinished Tales' and not been put off by the footnotes and explanations then the books are well worth having. 'Unfinished Tales' is the nearest comparison, I think, if you can't manage to borrow one and 'test drive' it before buying.
 
I have nothing useful to add to what the others have said, apart from that with all 12 (+index) together with LOTR, Hobbit, Sil and UT, my top bookshelf looks amazing [heart]
 
agree with everything written above...

For example, HoME is vastly more complex than UT.

HoME is split into 2 separate sections, or 3, depending on how you like to divide it.

Volumes 1-5 cover Tolkien's early, pre Hobbit/TLOR writings on The Silmarillion & are very archaic in structure, extremely far removed in the first 3 volumes in any resemblance from the published Silm.

6-9 are early drafts of TLOR ~ no interest for me there, so I'll reserve comment.

10-12 are Tolkien's post-TLOR writings on The Simarillion, the majority of what his son used for the published Silmarillion (but not all).

It's a ton of great info, but a real bear to weed through.

If you think The Silm is tough, you ain't seen nothing yet.

Personally, I like Volumes 10-12, but I tend to look at Middle-earth like a real history (yes, I know it's a story that's made up, lol), so I don't like getting into 'multiple/early versions' as it' ruins it for me ~ are dragons made of metal or flesh?
Did Morgoth create Balrogs or are they Maiar? Is there 7 of them or thousands? etc......

As Elizabeth said, Morgoth's Ring has a bunch of great stuff, especially 'Myths Transformed'.
 
I hadn't seen that before either. Very helpful both to those considering which volumes to buy and to those who already have them all. Thanks for the link!
 
...are the ones revealing the development of the text of LOTR. The Lost Tales and all that other stuff are really beyond my area of interest.

Unfortunately I've had to stop in the middle of the LOTR ones because I discovered that the copy I bought many years ago has a 200+ page chunk missing out of the middle. And I just haven't had the opportunity to contact the publisher to see if they can/will replace it.
 
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Seems like he spent years figuring out who would go on the quest, and juggling their names. And I understand a lot better why Book 1 seems to wander at times... the legacy of that period. And then all the possible alternative plots as regards why Gandalf was late meeting Frodo, what would happen with Boromir, who Eowyn would turn out to be, ...

I was shocked when reading a passage out around "Many Partings" to see yet a reference to Trotter!!! (the original concept of Aragorn, as an eccentric hobbit with wooden feet as a result of a Bad Experience in Mordor)
 
In fact, as late as the first version of the unpublished Epilogue, he still used the name Tarantar (Sauron Defeated p. 121); only before publishing, Tolkien decided to discard the name which began as a vagabond hobbit's, and make it something more elevated.

In fact, I'm pretty sure that Eomer's "That is no name for a man" (The Riders of Rohan) were only conceivable because a lordly Man would never call himself "Trotter" - for "Strider" this speech seems odd.
I suspect this detail simply escaped revision, or else Tolkien couldn't think of a better way to express Eomer's initial doubts in one sentence, after the book has already been typeset - as an editor myself, I know from experience how little wiggle-room there is after typesetting!
 
I don't think it's necessary to read it... at least the first few.
It basically goes over what is in the silmarillion, but it's a good deal harder to follow. The first two books are Tolkien's earlier concepts of the stories that would later be the sil, with a lot of extra side stories tucked in.
Some of the material is really beautiful - there's the Little House of Lost Play, and Tinfang Warble (two of my favorites). They don't have much to do with the sagas in the sil and LotR, but they are Tolkien's ideas of Middle Earth and Valinor.
There's also a lot of poems he wrote in those books.
Then there are the lays of Beleriand, which are really long and probably the most complete tales of Beren and Luthien, Turin, and the Fall of Gondolin.

I have haven't read all the histories, but I would say read them only if you're curious about Tolkien's ideas and are looking for some interesting stories and poems.
Don't read them if you're looking to reinforce your knowledge of the Silmarillion and LotR - they'll only confuse you.
 
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