TITLE: Beren and Lúthien

 

AUTHOR:  J.R.R. Tolkien

 

EDITOR:  Christopher Tolkien

 

ILLUSTRATOR:  Alan Lee

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DESCRIPTION:

 

"Painstakingly restored from Tolkien’s manuscripts and presented for the first time as a continuous and standalone story, the epic tale of Beren and Lúthien will reunite fans of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings with Elves and Men, Dwarves and Orcs and the rich landscape and creatures unique to Tolkien’s Middle-earth.

The tale of Beren and Lúthien was, or became, an essential element in the evolution of The Silmarillion, the myths and legends of the First Age of the World conceived by J.R.R. Tolkien. Returning from France and the battle of the Somme at the end of 1916, he wrote the tale in the following year.

Essential to the story, and never changed, is the fate that shadowed the love of Beren and Lúthien: for Beren was a mortal man, but Lúthien was an immortal Elf. Her father, a great Elvish lord, in deep opposition to Beren, imposed on him an impossible task that he must perform before he might wed Lúthien. This is the kernel of the legend; and it leads to the supremely heroic attempt of Beren and Lúthien together to rob the greatest of all evil beings, Melkor, called Morgoth, the Black Enemy, of a Silmaril.

In this book Christopher Tolkien has attempted to extract the story of Beren and Lúthien from the comprehensive work in which it was embedded; but that story was itself changing as it developed new associations within the larger history. To show something of the process whereby this legend of Middle-earth evolved over the years, he has told the story in his father's own words by giving, first, its original form, and then passages in prose and verse from later texts that illustrate the narrative as it changed. Presented together for the first time, they reveal aspects of the story, both in event and in narrative immediacy, that were afterwards lost."

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REVIEW:

 

This book is a compilation of all the bits and pieces and various versions that J.R.R. Tolkien wrote about the Tale of Beren and Lúthien (excluding the relevant chapter in The Silmarillion).  So you have Tevildo, the Prince of Cats, mightiest of all cats, and close companion to Morgoth, that never made it into The Silmarillion, and you have a rather lengthy (but wonderful) poem of the saga.  The full-colour illustrations by Alan Lee are a bonus.  A wonderful book if you love J.R.R. Tolkien's writing style, have read The Silmarillion, and want more background.  There is nothing here that hasn't already been included in The History of Middle Earth volumes.

WARNING:  This is not a complete, narrative style novel. 

 

NOTE:Beren and Lúthien and Their Not-So-Little Dog, Too by Jeff LaSala

 

 

 

 

 

Beren and Lúthien by J.R.R. Tolkien is one of the Tales of the Elder Days as touched upon in The Silmarillion.

Beren and Lúthien is another story that finally has seen the light of day. I loved reading this tale and learning more about other characters in Tolkien's world. In addition, the poems were beautiful with beautiful prose. I had not realized what an amazing poet Tolkien was. This was an added treat for me.

I highly recommend anyone who loves Tolkien's work to read this. You will not be disappointed.

If you read the Sil, then you know this story.  If you haven't and have only seen the movies, (1) what is wrong with you and (2) Beren and Luthien are the couple that Strider sings about in Fellowship.

 

This book supposedly sets the story in a story mode as opposed to bits and pieces.  But it doesn't really.  It's more a collection of various parts of the story, rough drafts and what not.  Some are in verse.  There are illustrations by Alan Lee, which most likely are the real selling point of the book.

 

In many ways, it is a good source for an academic, but in terms of an actual story, nope.  In some ways, it feels like a way to re-package something that didn't really need to be repackaged for the average reader, at least not in this format.

 

Lee's illustrations are nice though.

 

 

The story of Beren and Lúthien is one of the three central stories of Tolkien’s Elvish history, presented in this book in a new light, revealing the process of Tokien’s writing and how it evolved from its earliest concept to the latest, though never quite finished version.

Edited by Christopher Tolkien, Beren and Lúthien is actually a collection of various versions, accompanied with a commentary on their conception and development and the reasoning behind it, following by now a familiar approach when it comes to Tolkien’s posthumously published works.

As such, it comes out rather academic – perhaps overly so – to a reader only interested in a ‘story’.

However, I found Beren and Lúthien extremely readable and even refreshing and I loved rediscovering the already familiar story from The Silmarillion with its different and new angles through both in prose and verse. Although Tolkien’s poetry does at times seem awkward, it is in most places highly evocative and yet again shows Tolkien’s skill. The latest written verses in particularly make you think about what he could have done if he had had more time.

I was, nevertheless, a little ‘disappointed’ to learn that Tolkien was apparently not a cat person (just kidding, LOL.)

All in all, Beren and Lúthien was an enjoyable and quick read that only rekindled my love for all things Tolkien, so maybe even 4.5 stars.

This review was first published on my book blog, Beyond Strange New Words.

Gerade noch mal auf den Klappentext geguckt: "Den Leser erwartet die schönste Geschichte Tolkiens."

Ja, ich finde Mord und Totschlag und Tod auch immer ganz schön... 

 

Jetzt habe ich das Bedürfnis meine eklatanten Wissenslücken mit dem Silmarillion aufzufüllen. In meinem Kopf schwirren lauter Namen. Und danach dieses Buch vielleicht noch mal lesen.