Tolkien in the News

Philipa · Post by **Philipa** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 9:37 pm

marbretherese wrote:I love the illustration, too. And when I first read the piece you posted, Phiipa, I read "bugler" as "burglar" , which brings it's own connotations!

Riv Res · Post by **Riv Res** » Sat Mar 21, 2009 5:13 pm

Some news from Michael Drout

I thought we might want to make note of the Friday the 13th blog entry here http://www.wormtalk.blogspot.com/ and be on the lookout for the Tolkien segment of the interviews on The History Channel in a few months.

Could be very interesting.

Merry · Post by **Merry** » Sat Mar 21, 2009 5:22 pm

Thanks for calling this to our attention, RR. Drout is one of the very best. And the rest of his blog is funny on academia. It is really like he describes, I swear!

Iolanthe · Post by **Iolanthe** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 6:16 pm

It sounds really interesting! Pity I don't get the History Channel

. I love his next entry:

Yet another surreal moment (thanks, JRRT)

This morning my son and daughter were playing "Mama warg, baby warg." Yes, they were pretending that they were bloodthirsty super-wolves, ravening through Middle-earth (though mostly it seems they were making "dens" by draping blankets over the furniture).

So I asked them, "What are your names? Bone-gnasher and Blood-fang?"

Son: "I'm Cookie."

Daughter: "My name is Patches."

Philipa · Post by **Philipa** » Thu Apr 09, 2009 6:29 pm

From Tor.N

Exploring Tolkien: There and Back Again

April 8th, 2009 by xoanon

Cardiff University LogoCardiff University is offering an on-line course on Tolkien taught in 10 weekly units by Dr Dimitra Fimi. The course has already run twice this academic year and will run once more in the summer semester 2009, starting on 27 April 2009.

The students will be able to explore Tolkien’s Middle-earth from their home, in their own time. They will examine the vast mythology behind The Lord of the Rings and gain a thorough knowledge of Tolkien’s fiction and its creation by focusing on The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion and The Children of Húrin.

The course will focus on the northern European mythologies that inspired Tolkien’s Middle-earth, especially the creative uses of his sources in Old Norse mythology, Celtic myths and legends, Classical mythology, Shakespeare, and the literary tradition.

The students of this online course will also learn about Tolkien’s ‘invented languages’, their origins and sources, and they will examine Tolkien’s work in its historical context through intellectual history, focusing on the ‘races’ and cultures of Middle-earth.

The students will also have the opportunity to participate in a lively Discussion Board moderated by Dr Fimi and they will have full access to Cardiff University’s electronic resources (including such electronic journals as Tolkien Studies and Mythlore and a great number of e-book and reference collections). For those students who are already enrolled in academic programmes, there is the option of doing this course for credits to be used towards their Higher Education Qualifications.

We are also very happy to announce that we can now accept online enrolments for this course.

-To find out more visit the main web page of the course here.
-For Frequently Asked Questions about the course here.
-For an outline of the topics covered in the 10 Units of the course visit here.

See also the tutor’s academic website at: dimtra fimi.com

Philipa · Post by **Philipa** » Tue Apr 21, 2009 8:14 pm

Downloadable Tolkien!

Kindle Books and e-book store has announced they now have Tolkien titles for sale.

The Hobbit
Fellowship of the Ring
Two Towers
Return of the King
Children of Hurin

This is the first time these books have been available in this format. You can see more information on Amazon.com.

Riv Res · Post by **Riv Res** » Thu Apr 23, 2009 8:41 pm

From amazon.com today...

Dear Amazon.com Customer,

We've noticed that customers who have purchased or rated The Silmarillion - Thirty Years On (Cormare Series) by Allan, G Turner have also purchased The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun by J.R.R. Tolkien. For this reason, you might like to know that The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun will be released on May 5, 2009. You can pre-order yours at a savings of $8.84 by following the link below.

The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun
J.R.R. Tolkien
List Price: $26.00
Price: $17.16
You Save: $8.84 (34%)

Release Date: May 5, 2009

Other Versions and Languages
Hardcover
Audio CD (Audiobook,CD,Unabridged)

Product Description

The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún is a previously unpublished work by J.R.R. Tolkien, written while Tolkien was Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford during the 1920s and ‘30s, before he wrote The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. It makes available for the first time Tolkien’s extensive retelling in English narrative verse of the epic Norse tales of Sigurd the Völsung and The Fall of the Niflungs. It includes an introduction by J.R.R. Tolkien, drawn from one of his own lectures on Norse literature, with commentary and notes on the poems by Christopher Tolkien.

Lindariel · Post by **Lindariel** » Fri Apr 24, 2009 1:28 pm

Thanks so much, Riv! I'm DEFINITELY ordering this. For those of us who are madly discussing the Narn I Hin Hurin chapter from the Unfinished Tales, I suspect the Professor's translation of the Sigurd and Gudrun legend will illustrate some of the influences and inspirations for his tragic tale of Turin Turambar and Nienor Niniel.

Iolanthe · Post by **Iolanthe** » Fri Apr 24, 2009 6:09 pm

I think I need a handle on what sort of verse form it is first. I can't read Narn i Hîn Húrin because of the verse style, but can read the Lay of Luthien with no trouble. Maybe there will be some samples in reviews that will help!

Chrissiejane · Post by **Chrissiejane** » Tue May 05, 2009 12:08 pm

From The Guardian today:

Tolkien breaks silence over JRR's 'fierce, passionate' poem

JRR Tolkien's son Christopher admits the poetic form of his father's latest book, Sigurd and Gudrún, may 'put off' many Lord of the Rings fans

The reclusive son of JRR Tolkien has broken his silence to admit fears that fans of his father's work may be "put off" by the verse form of his latest posthumous publication. Responding via fax to a series of questions about The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún, published for the first time today, Christopher Tolkien expressed the hope that it would show a different side to the author of the much-loved classic The Lord of the Rings.

The 500-stanza poem is closely modelled on the Elder Edda, a collection of Norse myths preserved in a 13th-century manuscript, a pedigree Christopher Tolkien described as "unknown territory" for most people.

"I dare say that a good many will be instantly put off by the very idea of 'long narrative poems in verse' and pursue it no further," he said. It was equally possible that their form will lend them an "unexpected impact," he continued.

"My hope is that some of those who appreciate and admire the works of my father will find it illuminating in respect of Old Norse poetry in general, in his own treatment of the fierce, passionate and mysterious legend, and in this further and little known aspect of him as both philologist and poet. Above all I hope they will take pleasure in this poetry."

Christopher Tolkien, who as a child was paid two pence by his father for every mistake he could find in The Hobbit, and as an RAF pilot during the war contributed suggestions to the progress of The Lord of the Rings, worked from a manuscript which he believes his father wrote in the early 1930s. JRR Tolkien taught Old Norse alongside Anglo-Saxon at Oxford university, giving lectures and classes on Norse language and literature for at least 13 years.

Telling in verse the story of Sigurd the Völsung and the fall of the Niflungs – also adapted by Wagner into the Ring cycle – The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún sees the hero Sigurd kill the dragon Fafnir (a slaying which may have influenced Tolkien's writing of Bilbo's encounter with Smaug in The Hobbit), take his gold and rescue the Valkyrie Brynhild from her imprisonment on a rock surrounded by fire. Love, magic, jealousy, and, eventually, tragedy in the murder of Sigurd and the suicide of Brynhild ensue.

"My father left one manuscript, and that was complete; there were no more than a few pages of earlier writings, and all other drafting has disappeared. The manuscript is in good clear handwriting, written out without corrections, and obviously intended to be a final fair copy. A few minor changes were made to it much later," said Tolkien, who was appointed as his father's literary executor and has over the past 36 years devoted himself to editing and publishing his father's unpublished works, including The Silmarillion and a 12-volume History of Middle-Earth. "My 'editing' consists very largely of explanation and clarification."

Tolkien, 84, has lived in France since 1975, where wild rumours have suggested that he guards his property from obsessive fans of his father's work with a wild boar – a canard he dismissed as nonsense. "In the full form of the story I keep not one, but a whole troop of wild boars, expressly in order to chase off Tolkien fans who are imagined to lurk in the woods that surround my house," he said. "There are indeed many wild boars in these parts, but I don't think they would be at all suitable as guardians even if I wanted them."

Two years ago Tolkien completed and published his father's unfinished tale of Middle-Earth The Children of Húrin, which went on to sell more than 1m copies in English.

Speculating about what his father, who died in 1973 aged 81, would have made of his immense popularity today – over 150m copies of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings have sold worldwide – Tolkien said he "might have been in turns delighted, charmed, amused, puzzled, disquieted, baffled, indignant, but, finally, comprehensively astounded".

There's also a Guardian Q&A with Christopher Tolkien here.

Riv Res · Post by **Riv Res** » Tue May 05, 2009 1:04 pm

In whatever form...long live the Professor!!!

Philipa · Post by **Philipa** » Tue May 05, 2009 2:01 pm

Thanks Chrissiejane. I was just coming to post the Q&A here on this thread.

I don't have time to read both but will be coming back to follow up.

Merry · Post by **Merry** » Sat May 09, 2009 4:47 pm

Here is a link to Tom Shippey's long review of the new book:

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/ ... 232731.ece

From what I understand, it seems pretty favorable. I'm still not sure I'm going to buy the book. Will you?

Philipa · Post by **Philipa** » Sat May 09, 2009 5:38 pm

Merry wrote:
From what I understand, it seems pretty favorable. I'm still not sure I'm going to buy the book. Will you?

Honestly, I am not so much into the myth genre. I do like them, but to read such a long one seems tough for me to do right now. Sometime when I'm feeling scholarly maybe I'll attempt it.

Iolanthe · Post by **Iolanthe** » Sun May 10, 2009 2:10 pm

I'm thinking of getting it as I'm interested in the whole Sigurd myth and the old 'Königsproblem' which Shippey refers to - all the disparities between the several different versions of the myth and the fact that not a single one of them makes any real sense. I'm intrigued to know how Tolkien solves the story problems and contradictions!