New Tolkien book discovered

News.com.au ^ | 12/30/02

[John Farson]

A yellowing manuscript by J.R.R.Tolkien discovered in an Oxford library could become one of the publishing sensations of 2003.

The 2000 handwritten pages include Tolkien's translation and appraisal of Beowulf, the epic 8th century Anglo-Saxon poem of bravery, friendship and monster-slaying that is thought to have inspired The Lord of the Rings.

He borrowed from early English verse to concoct the imaginary language spoken by Arwen, played by Liv Tyler, and other elves in the second film made from the Rings books, The Two Towers.

A US academic, Michael Drout, found the Tolkien material by accident in a box of papers at the Bodleian Library in Oxford.

An assistant professor of English at Wheaton College in Norton, Massachusetts, Dr Drout was researching Anglo- Saxon scholarship at the Bodleian, and asked to see a copy of a lecture on Beowulf given by Tolkien in 1936.

It was brought to him in a reading room in a large box. Professor Drout, who reads Anglo-Saxon prose to his two-year-old daughter at bedtime, said: "I was sitting there going through the transcripts when I saw these four bound volumes at the bottom of the box.

"I started looking through, and realised I had found an entire book of material that had never seen the light of day. As I turned the page, there was Tolkien's fingerprint in a smudge of ink."

After obtaining permission from the Tolkien estate, Professor Drout published Beowulf and the Critics, a version of Tolkien's 1936 lecture, in the US earlier this month.

Even more exciting will be Tolkien's translation of the poem and his line-by-line interpretation of its meaning, which will be published next summer.

Tolkien's name on the cover is likely to make the translation a bestseller.

Professor Drout says Tolkien found inspiration for many of his storylines and characters in Beowulf. The Anglo-Saxon hero's friendship with Wiglaf is mirrored in the relationship between Frodo and Sam in The Lord of the Rings.

Elves, orcs and ents, the latter a type of giant that becomes a walking and talking tree in Tolkien's work, are all mentioned in Beowulf.

Merlin Unwin, son of Tolkien's original publisher, said: "Beowulf is a wonderful story, and if you put Tolkien's name to it, it would probably be a great commercial success."

[John Farson]

ping

[NovemberCharlie]

Something to watch for.

[2Jedismom]

Wow!!! I have got to get this! I loved Beowulf in high school and can't wait till Matthew is just a little older so I can share it with him!

[CapandBall]

won't it be a 13 warrior repeat?

[Billthedrill]

Well, I have hopes but let's face it - Tolkien was a superb professional philologist whose specialty was mind-bogglingly obscure. Not everyone is going to be enthralled by a learned discussion on the declension of old German verbs...

[HairOfTheDog]

Ring Ping!!

~HairOfTheDog, standing in for the Ring Ping King!

[Ramius]

Ping for "things that make you go hmmm...."

[Alouette]

Tolkien's name on the cover is likely to make the translation a bestseller.

I only wish I could have read this essay when I was learning Beowulf in 11th grade. Although if it is anything like his essay "On Fairy Stories" which is a critique of the fantasy genre, it is not likely to be a page turner.

[HairOfTheDog]

hmmmmmm.

I haven't read it yet! Too busy pinch-pinging

and being harassed on the Hobbit Hole Thread.

[SamAdams76]

Well, I guess this new book is going to generate around 420,000 threads on Free Republic over the next 20 years. We better get used to it.

[aruanan]

A US academic, Michael Drout, found the Tolkien material by accident in a box of papers at the Bodleian Library in Oxford.

At least Drout probably isn't doing a Walter Hooper on Tolkien.

[Radix]

Please hide it.

I cannot take another three hour movie.

[Samwise]

I'll wait for the Cliff Notes. I absolutely loathed my British Literature classes. I really despise translating. All of our finals were translation heavy. I made it a point to immediately forget every story line as soon as the finals were over. I do vaguely remember one line of Chaucer about a guy passing wind in someone's face though. I believe he stuck his arse out a window and said "kiss it"....or maybe I'm just remembering Clinton.

[proxy_user]

It's more likely to be like his edition and translation of 'The Fight at Finnesburgh'. Brilliant, yes, but a 148-page book on a 48 line fragment. He also tends to assume you know Anglo-Saxon, Old Norse, and Latin at a minimum.

I'm OK with that, but I get stuck in Old Norse sometimes. Anyway, he's no worse than the Klaeber edition everybody uses in grad school.

[John Farson]

Beowulf is superior to Chricton's novel.

[Sabertooth]

((((((growl)))))

[Corin Stormhands]

...being harassed on the Hobbit Hole Thread.

*Ahem*

[Sabertooth]

((((((growl)))))

[Sabertooth]

((((((growl)))))