05-10-2002, 03:57 PM | #1 |
Marshal of the Eastmark
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Portland, OR
Posts: 1,412
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Lost Tales and Silmarillion
I must say that, despite all the interruptions of Christopher's comments, The Book of Lost Tales reads more easily than The Silmarillion. And I wish JRRT had used the same method in the final version. I find the links entertaining, and the voices of te story-tellers, and the way they fill in little details that would be redundant if it weren't for the fact that it's different story-tellers each time. Of course, the names have changed, and Beren's race, and so much else over the 30 to 40 years between the versions. But it might have been nice to do the new version that way, say, with Bilbo at Rivendell instead of Eriol at Tol Eressëa.
In fact, when Frodo finds Bilbo nodding in the story-telling room, it just makes me think that JRRT had that going on in some way in his mind.
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05-12-2002, 04:42 PM | #2 |
Númenorean
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Louisiana
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aye..i thoroughly enjoyed book of lost tales 1 and 2
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05-27-2002, 01:43 PM | #3 |
Elf Lord
Join Date: May 2002
Location: Tring, Herts, England
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I actually found the Sil a lot easier to read than the Lost Tales. I've only read book 2 but i just found the language easier to understand!
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06-03-2002, 02:46 PM | #4 |
'Sober' Mullet Frosh
Join Date: Jan 2002
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I could never get into BoLT myself. I'll have to try someday.
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06-08-2002, 08:56 PM | #5 |
Elven Loremaster
Join Date: Feb 2000
Posts: 892
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The Silmarillion is not a rewrite of The Book of Lost Tales. It is a wholly separate work, conceived of for a different purpose. Tolkien reused the themes and many characters from The Book of Lost Tales, but he set out to achieve something different with the Silmarillion mythology.
That mythology was abandoned in the mid-1930s, just as the BoLT mythology for England had been abandoned in the mid-1920s. Tolkien created a new mythology as he worked on The Lord of the Rings. The new mythology incorporated the older Silmarillion mythology as well as The Hobbit and much new material. I think that the narrative style of what became The Silmarillion was determined by Tolkien's need to tell the full story of Middle-earth as quickly and authoritatively as possible. Its roots most likely lie in the composition of the appendices to The Lord of the Rings (although Tolkien actually returned to the Elder Days material a couple of years before he began working on the appendices). |
06-08-2002, 09:04 PM | #6 |
Queen of Nargothrond
Administrator Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: Akron, Ohio - USA
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Doesn't Tolien carry over some of the old mythology into the existing mythology? What I mean is: for instance in the Lays of Beleriand, he refers to Sauron as Thu. Also, part of the song of power between Finrod and Sauron was brought forth in the Silmarillion, but in the Lay of Leithian it is worded differently.
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06-08-2002, 09:22 PM | #7 | |
Elven Loremaster
Join Date: Feb 2000
Posts: 892
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Quote:
Now you design a new quilt. In this new quilt, you include a picture of an armored knight standing beside his horse, and a dragon is swooping down on them. You get this quilt about 50 per cent done. Now design a third quilt. In this quilt, an armored knight is riding out of his castle and far away a dragon sits upon a hill-top, looking at the knight. You get this quilty about 80 per cent done. Finally, you just sit down and do a quilt from start to finish without really thinking about how it should appear in advance. What you end up with is a completely finished quilt which is adorned with knights and dragons and horses and castles. So, do you have one quilt or four? |
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06-08-2002, 09:51 PM | #8 | |
Queen of Nargothrond
Administrator Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: Akron, Ohio - USA
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Quote:
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06-08-2002, 10:00 PM | #9 | |
Elven Loremaster
Join Date: Feb 2000
Posts: 892
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Quote:
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06-08-2002, 10:16 PM | #10 | |
Queen of Nargothrond
Administrator Join Date: Feb 2001
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06-08-2002, 10:28 PM | #11 |
Elven Loremaster
Join Date: Feb 2000
Posts: 892
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I don't remember nearly as much of this stuff as people think I do. I often refer to the books before answering questions. And I certainly don't write all those essays off the top of my head!
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06-08-2002, 10:31 PM | #12 | |
Queen of Nargothrond
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06-15-2002, 08:04 AM | #13 | |
Elven Warrior
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Mississippi
Posts: 123
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Michael, I love your quilt metaphor or analogy. A mental picture can be worth so much more than a thousand words.
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