Browsing the Compleat Middle-Earth Library - Page 8

I still use this book on an almost daily basis. The Tolkien family and friends gave Carpenter unprecedented access to the author's private correspondence, which included many insights and explanations into the societies and history of Middle-earth. People who hungered for more Hobbit stories found some interesting and detailed trivia here about the Tooks, Baggins, Smeagol's people, and Hobbits in general. Many, many questions are answered only in Tolkien's correspondence. However, the evolving nature of his work shows through clearly, and there are some lapses in memory and changes in mind as the years roll by.

Just when people thought The Silmarillion was the final word in Middle-earth literature, Christopher Tolkien unleashed this bombshell. In fact, he mentioned an indeterminate amount of material yet remained to be published in the foreword to The Silmarillion, but Unfinished Tales opened up entire new vistas in Tolkien studies and revealed depths to Middle-earth never before imagined. It is unsatisfying in several respects, however, not the least being the fact that the stories and essays are indeed mostly incomplete. "Of Tuor and his Coming to Gondolin" promises to be a great story, and yet it ends with Tuor's arrival at the vale of Tumladen. "Aldarion and Erendis" is perhaps one of the greatest stories Tolkien wrote, because it does not focus on world-threatening events. It is simply a love story that is nonetheless interwoven with Middle-earth's histories. Unfinished Tales introduces the casual reader to the extensive resources Christopher's subsequent books provide without the overwhelming power of scholarly analysis and editorial interruption.

I recommend this book for anyone who wants to see how Tolkien wrote stories when he was young. And you should also get Part Two at the same time you buy this book. If you give it as a gift, give both volumes. The Book of Lost Tales is completely useless, however, for any serious research into how The Silmarillion was composed. There is one story, "The Fall of Gondolin", which Christopher was forced to adapt to the published Silmarillion text, but you have to read his explanations in The War of the Jewels to understand what he did and why. The Book of Lost Tales should be enjoyed on its own merits. Sadly, too many people mistake it as a legitimate resource for the study of Middle-earth. It is invaluable in the study of J.R.R. Tolkien's literature, but not Middle-earth.