2013 to bring final (?) unpublished Tolkien work

[River Boy]

I agree, although I felt there were 1 or 2 too many versions of the Silmarilion recanted in the Histories I found the first 9 or 10 of them very compelling.

Tolkien was mostly writing for personal interest. He loved language so much and didn't suppose anyone would be interested in publishing or reading modern-day English language versions of Old English style poetry. Mostly he wrote them for a love of the style and to pass around his academic friends to see what they made of them. He might not have finished them, but he didn't skimp on the quality so for me they're worth reading - especially as much poetry from the dark ages comes in fragments anyway (even some Shakespeare plays are incomplete). Primarily he's writing for the language rather than to complete a story which we actually already know; how he's using language to express the drama is the most important thing to take from them.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Fall of Arthur and could see why those who had read it thought it more powerful than his other attempts. Gawain seems the most interesting character -the original hero knight who was relegated by French writers who prefered to have a Bretonic hero in Lancelot; Tolkien clearly wants to give Gawain back the credit he deserves.

 

[Extollager]

If you like Tolkien and you like "The Shadow Out of Time," hasten to get hold of this remarkable work [The Notion Club Papers].

So far as I can tell by Googling, nobody other than myself has written on this, although Johnny Henning came close when he wrote:

[FONT=&quot]-----Also, it is strange to think of it, but in 1927, aeronautical engineer John W Dunne wrote the book An Experiment In Time where he theorized that time existed only as an experience and that when dreaming we are able to travel backward and forward in time. This led Tolkien to begin writing a time travel novel called The Lost Road or Notion Club Papers which was basically about the members of a literary club called THE NOTION CLUB (based on Tolkien's reading group The Inklings which included CS Lewis) in which the members recount dreams about an ancient island civilization, Numinor, which is destroyed along the lines of an Atlantis Myth (this was based on a dream Tolkien recurrently had). He couldn't finish the novel, but, of course, he fleshed out the mythology to eventually go into Lord of the Rings.

After the publication of Dunne's book, Lovecraft, who also found inspiration in dreams, wrote At The Mountains of Madness and Shadow Out Of Time which also used a conception of serial time somewhat similar to Dunne's theory. ------[/FONT]


If anyone knows of a discussion relating the two, could you advise me and save me the duplication of effort? Otherwise, I will probably write something for the Tolkien newsletter Beyond Bree (whichTolkien fans really should get).


http://www.cep.unt.edu/bree.html

 

[j d worthington]

I don't recall running into anything of that sort, but I know there are some articles comparing Tolkien and HPL. Unfortunately, I only have one on general comparisons between the Inklings and Lovecraft, but I believe it came out before "The Notion Club was published. At any rate, you could check with Phillip A. Ellis, Martin Andersson, or STJ himself; one of them might be able to help.

There are a few articles relating to both HPL and JRRT, but having not read these, I don't know if any address what you're looking for. However, here's the information on them, from STJ's bibliography of Lovecraft and Lovecraft criticism (rev. ed.):

Benvenuto, Raffaella. "Tolkien e Lovecraft: Due grandi del fantastico a confront." Studi Lovecraftiani No. 6 (Winter 2007): 21-37.

Blackmore, L[eigh] D. "Middle-earth, Narnia and Lovecraft's Dream World: Comparative World-Views in Fantasy." Crypt of Cthulhu 13 (Roodmas 1983): 6-15, 22.

Cannon, Peter. "The Inklings, Lovecraft and the Kalems." Crypt of Cthulhu 13 (Roodmas 1983): 3-5. (This can also be found in Cannon's "Sunset Terrace Imagery in Lovecraft" and Other Essays, published by Necronomicon Press in July 1990.) (J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and others)."

Indick, Ben P. "Kadath and Mordor: The Quest in Lovecraft and Tolkien." Crypt of Cthulhu 13: 23-24.

Weir, Arthur R. "J. R. R. Tolkien -- A Brief Survey and a Comparison." Eldritch Dream-Quest 1, No. 1 (November, 1960): 8-17.

I believe I've got that issue of CoC. If you like, I'll try to look it over this weekend, and let you know if any of the essays there fit....

 

[Extollager]

Thanks, JD. I have floated the "Shadow"/Notion Club idea to the editor of Mythprint and the proposal has been accepted. If it turns out that someone in the Lovecraft fanzine world has written on the topic, I will be surprised, but in any event I doubt there would be any appreciable overlap of audience if my piece appears in a publication of the Mythopoeic Society.

 

[PhillipAEllis]

I've got the book appearance of this if you accept scans &/or photocopies:

Cannon, Peter. "The Inklings, Lovecraft and the Kalems." Crypt of Cthulhu 13 (Roodmas 1983): 3-5. (This can also be found in Cannon's "Sunset Terrace Imagery in Lovecraft" and Other Essays, published by Necronomicon Press in July 1990.) (J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and others)."

 

[Extollager]

Thanks, PAE. I'd be happy to see the scan -- although the way I see the piece right now, as 1500 words, I won't have room to say more than a very few words about Lovecraft's biography and probably nothing about his circle. If you're interested in the Inklings as a writing group, don't miss Diana Pavlac Glyer's award-winning The Company They Keep! She really did the research, and the book reads well.

 

[PhillipAEllis]

PMme your email address, and I'll see to getting them to you tomorrow (Tuesday). I'm busy tonight with a poetry publication that I edit.