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The Children of Hurin by J R R Tolkien (view source)
Revision as of 10:28, 11 May 2018
, 10:28, 11 May 2018no edit summary
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As the film cycle finished, we all went back to the original books, re-read the child-like joy of [[There & Back Again]] (otherwise known as The Hobbit) and wandered on to the more adult, much darker, much more complex, involved, lyrical and expansive trilogy of [[''The Lord of The Rings]]'', grateful that at last (whatever liberties may have been taken) Tolkien's great work had finally been brought to the cinema in a way that "worked".
That it couldn't have done any sooner - that the 21st cinematographic and CGI technology would be necessary to enable Middle Earth to be realistically portrayed in anywhere other than in the mind's eye says everything you need to know about the author's scope and depth of vision.
I've never heard tell that he ever regretted his choices - and the literary heritage of the planet has cause to be grateful - but oh, if he'd had the life-span of the elves he envisioned, what other joys might he have given us?
Many, I feel. And many which fans of ''The Hobbit'' and ''Lord of the Rings'' might not necessarily have enjoyed. I speak as someone who has tried and tried again to "get into" [[''The Silmarillion]] '' and failed.
After reading the ''The Tale of the Children of Húrin'' - I'm ready to try again.
The text itself suggests that foreknowledge of the outcome is a given, with chapters headed: Túrin in Doriath... Túrin among the Outlaws... .The Fall of Nagorthrond... The Death of Glaurung...
This notion of the story being not a "telling" but a "re-telling" of the tale will sit well with the Tolkien aficionados who ARE familiar with not only ''The Silmarillion'', but also the [[''Unfinished Tales]]''... for versions of this story or parts of it appear in both of those posthumous publications.
What the editor has done with this version is to go back again to the original manuscripts and reconsider his earlier judgements. He is allowed to do that. As the third son of the man himself, Christopher Tolkien was entrusted with the literary estate - to which he has devoted his life since his father's death. For my part, I think his father made a good choice in his executor. In Christopher's own words, he has revised earlier judgements, and been less 'interfering' in this rendition... for which we should be grateful. Grateful also for his continued trawling through the various versions of the tale - in poetic and prose form - that his father left behind.