Posted on 01/20/2020 7:28:34 AM PST by Kaslin
Last week, amid churning news cycles about impeachment and Iran and global trade deals, an era quietly ended. Christopher Tolkien, the third and youngest son of “Lord of the Rings” author J.R.R. Tolkien, died at the age of 95.
The younger Tolkien, who spent the last four decades of his life completing his father’s grand artistic vision, was one of the great unsung literary heroes of the last century. For countless readers whose imaginations were molded in part by the legendarium of Middle Earth, his passing severs the last living link to another existential plane.
His obituaries variously describe Tolkien as the editor of his father’s posthumous works, or the guardian of his legacy. But that is not quite right—or not quite enough. Christopher Tolkien was more than an editor or a guardian; he was a kind of co-creator with his father of Middle Earth itself.
It was Christopher Tolkien who, in 1975 at age 50, left his fellowship at Oxford University to sort through dozens of boxes of his late father’s unfinished writings, some dating back more than 60 years and most of which dealt with the creation and history of Middle Earth and its peoples—the entire literary universe in which “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings” take place.
He spent years compiling and editing these fragments and notes, and in 1977, more than two decades after the publication of his father’s acclaimed trilogy, “The Silmarillion” was published. It went on to sell millions of copies in dozens of editions and translations, and served as the foundation for two-dozen subsequent works derived from Tolkien’s archives, culminating with the publication, last August, of “The Fall of Gondolin”—Christopher Tolkien’s final literary contribution to a creative project that now spans more than a century.
From the very beginning, Tolkien had a hand in crafting what would become one of the greatest literary achievements of modern times. As a boy, he would point out inconsistencies in the ornate stories his father told—stories that eventually became “The Hobbit,” first published in 1937 when Christopher was just 13. He helped his father sort through competing versions of stories, histories, timelines, and especially the geography. He drew the now-famous map of Middle Earth that accompanied the 1954 publication of “Lord of the Rings,” giving shape to the world that helped form his imagination, and in turn shaping the imagination of millions.
It is not too much to say that without Christopher Tolkien, we would not really have J.R.R. Tolkien or the fully realized world of Middle Earth. How much poorer we would be without it. Although “The Lord of the Rings” and the entire Tolkien compendium established fantasy as a literary genre, these works were themselves far more than fantasy as we understand the term today. J.R.R. Tolkien called them fairy-stories, but he meant it in a sacramental sense.
The world of Middle Earth, with its elves and dwarves and wizards and orcs, was shot through with meaning, and it revealed something true about our own world, not just about good and evil but about truth, beauty, and goodness as such. That’s why the saga of Middle Earth has resonated down the century. We recognize ourselves in this enchanted world, where the veil between the spiritual and physical is thinner, and in that recognition our world becomes reenchanted, despite the ravages of scientism and secularism and modernity.
Something else about Christopher Tolkien’s life and work must be said. It’s a remarkable thing for a son to realize the unique genius of his father and, instead of trading on that genius to advance his own career and fortune, choose to dedicate his life to the stewardship and advancement of his father’s work. It is hard to imagine the son of a famous man doing that today, which makes the humility and filial devotion of Christopher Tolkien all the more remarkable.
He was a man who in some ways inhabited two worlds, carrying the great truths he apprehended in the peoples and stories of Middle Earth into the way he lived his life and went about his work. We are not likely to see his kind again, at least not in this age.
The son of J.R.R. Tolkien did far more than just compile and edit his father’s unfinished stories. He helped create the world of Middle Earth.
He had a difficult job to do; he admitted there were various inconsistencies in the works, as his father’s vision morphed over the decades. I appreciate that he shared those works with us regardless; he did his father proud!
Read “Lord of the Rings” trilogy for the first time when I was 15 years old, then “The Hobbit” afterwards. Re-read both of those books many times since. Still have my old dog-eared Ballantine paperback versions. Read “The Silmarillion” later on as well.
One of the greatest tales ever told, IMHO, created by a true genius.
Enjoyed Peter Jackson’s film rendering as well, though Same and Frodo were always whining and crying a bit too much. :^)
Jackson got the Orcs and Uruk-Hai down perfectly, though...
1965 edition?
Red, Green, and Blue covers for the “Lord of the Rings”, white cover for Hobbit and Silmarillion.
Got them new back in the 70s.
Copyright page says “Copyright 1965”.
I am reading it right now. 1300 pages of English wording and text. Reminds me of Shakespeare (that I read in College). Nice to have the Internet to translate. :)
No, the word "faggot" is not a derogatory term for a homosexual.
Anyway, I think that it is a 50th anniversary deluxe edition? But it is definitely a great read.
And in that very moment, away behind in some courtyard of the city, a cock crowed. Shrill and clear he crowed, recking nothing of war nor of wizardry, welcoming only the morning that in the sky far above the shadows of death was coming with the dawn. And as if in answer there came from far away another note. Horns, horns, horns, in dark Mindolluin's sides they dimly echoed. Great horns of the north wildly blowing. Rohan had come at last.”
Also, the story of Creation in the Ainulindale, the first story in the published Silmarillion, is just gorgeous.
This passage is the best
“I sit beside the fire and think
of people long ago
and people who will see a world
that I shall never know.”
The whole poem...
“I sit beside the fire and think
of all that I have seen
of meadow-flowers and butterflies
in summers that have been;
Of yellow leaves and gossamer
in autumns that there were,
with morning mist and silver sun
and wind upon my hair.
I sit beside the fire and think
of how the world will be
when winter comes without a spring
that I shall ever see.
For still there are so many things
that I have never seen:
in every wood in every spring
there is a different green.
I sit beside the fire and think
of people long ago
and people who will see a world
that I shall never know.
But all the while I sit and think
of times there were before,
I listen for returning feet
and voices at the door.”
The first one I read was National Lampoon’s “Bored of the Rings”. I was a big comic book and Mad magazine fan in my pre-teens, so I bought the parody for laughs. I became intrigued, however and around 12 or 13 began reading “Lord of the Rings”. A few chapters in, I was hooked. I stopped, went back to read “The Hobbit”, then the Rings. Each about three times.
In between, read “Leaf by Niggle” and “Farmer Giles of Ham”, then went on to Gardner’s “Grendle”, T. H. White’s “Once and Future King”, the “Mabinogion” etc.
Life was simpler then, but the world of literary imagination was rich.
So RIP Christopher, and thanks for your part in shaping what was a big part of my youth.
“It’s a remarkable thing for a son to realize the unique genius of his father and, instead of trading on that genius to advance his own career and fortune, choose to dedicate his life to the stewardship and advancement of his father’s work. It is hard to imagine the son of a famous man doing that today, which makes the humility and filial devotion of Christopher Tolkien all the more remarkable.”
Thank God for Christopher Tolkien. RIP
As far back as I can remember my mother read this series every year. She passed away in 1999. I’ve been continuing that tradition. I’m now finishing up The King Returns. .Ive probably read it 8 times. Our son first read it when he was 12.
“Faggot” refers (or at least used to refer) to a bundle of sticks, deadfall, wrapped up and carried on the back.
Somewhere along the way, like other words, it picked up a different meaning.
As far as required reading, I don’t recall it being required when I was in High School back in the late 70s.
I also remember a very abbreviated Ralph Bakshi animated version that came out in the early 80s(?) thereabouts, that cut off suddenly in the middle of the second book. I think he ran out of funding or something like that.
All in all, it was an amazing undertaking by a man with a brilliant mind.
Classic bright-line battle of good versus evil.
“Rohan had come at last”...
Great scene, when the Rohirrim came charging in.
Jackson really captured it well. He did great with “King Kong” too. Loved the original when I was a child (the dinosaur island scared the Hell out of me), and was equally thrilled by his rendition of it.
Especially the insect pit scene... good lord... which was actually cut out of the original.
I remember reading once that Professor Tolkien was asked how he would feel if instead of being known for all his academic achievements and scholarship, he was instead known for his stories and Middle-Earth. He responded with a smile and something like "well, that would be just fine."
Indeed it is.
“...A few chapters in, I was hooked. ...”
Yeah, it IS that kind of story... grabbed me like that as well.
I remember hearing some songs by Led Zeppelin, referring to “Gollum”, “The Evil One”, and the “darkest depths of Mordor” and I think that got me into asking about it. Evidently, Robert Plant was a huge fan of the story.
Bored of the Rings is the finest satire I’ve ever read. Absolutely pitch perfect take off on Tolkien’s masterpiece, and particularly the poems and songs. I still recite this little couplet for politicos like Beto who flame out:
.. for fortune strums a mournful tune,
For those whose campaigns peak too soon.
To anyone who loves Lord of the Rings, read Bored of the Rings. In print continuously for 50 years. Available on Amazon. The footnotes in the current edition explaining the 60’s cultural references are a bit jarring for us elders, but maybe necessary for the young ‘uns
Cool!
Hear, hear! Sadly, for me, after many (many) moves, I lost my copies of those precious Ballantine paperbacks. and, yes, quite dogeared, to, LOL.
I've been looking for a hardcopy set of TLoTR, but not one of the nicely illustrated ones (very expensive!). I just want a nice hardcopy version to own. Strange how Barnes & Nobles has none, but Amazon does...
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