SPECIAL - The Book of Lost Tales Part 1 - Book Review
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 26 ก.ย. 2024
- The Book of Lost Tales is a collection of early stories by English writer J. R. R. Tolkien, published as the first two volumes of Christopher Tolkien's 12-volume series The History of Middle-earth, in which he presents and analyses the manuscripts of those stories, which were the earliest form (begun in 1917) of the complex fictional myths that would eventually comprise The Silmarillion. Each of the Tales is followed by notes and a detailed commentary by Christopher Tolkien.
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Taylor, friend, this was a treat to watch an listen! The recitation in the beginning was flawless! If anyone could do this book a proper justice, than I think you have succeeded quite well in pointing out the most important aspects in it. There are not many well articulated reviews on volume one and two on TH-cam and that is understandable. I personally have yet to read The Book of Lost Tales Part 1 and 2 and I am still on my way to buy and gather all 12 volumes. There's a two volume hardcover with all the books contained in them, but I prefer the separate volumes, which of course each has a wonderful cover art made by the one and only John Howe. The hardbacks also quite expensive for my wallet, but I do wish to have them at some point. I am not only a Tolkien fan and reader, I also collect many editions of his books. I also don't wish to wait to gather all 12 books and then start reading from the first book till the last, because that is not going to happen any time soon (at least not during this year). Perhaps I will read this book next year after I finish Beren and Lúthien, The Fall of Gondolin and when I re-read The Silmarillion. I must also admit that I too was putting aside this book for at least five years since I first bought it (I have Lost Tales part 2 as well), and I am not proud of that. I love Tolkien's world and legendarium, but the hard part for me when going back there is that throughout the year I read other books by so many different authors and not only fiction. Sometimes I have conflicting thoughts and feelings and cannot tune and go back to Tolkien. I know this may sound offputting and strange to some readers and fans of Tolkien, but I am very much a seasonal reader, meaning, I read certain books in certain months and parts of the year. I don't know why my brain works like that. Is that good or bad way to read books in general? I don't know....yet. If I force myself to read only Tolkien during entire year, that could happen and it is possible, but in this way I will be missing on other authors and books. It's a tricky business. Also taking into consideration that I am myself a writer and have to deal my own thoughts and arrange them in order to produce book and quality writins or essays. So, yeah, it's tough, but I have to manage this somehow.
So I also have a great admiration, respect, gratitude, reverence and all the positives you can think for both J.R.R. and Christopher Tolkien. They are the pillars in the fantasy genre and every single writer or world these days created by fantasy writers is an offshoot and in a way pays homage to them, which is they way it should be. They (John and Christopher) have shaped me as a writer and as an individual who lives and breathes the fantasy genre, Middle-earth and the entire legendarium, and I cannot possibly think of any other fantasy world that gave me so much and so vast understanding and wisdom. I can see the feelings and the expressions on you that they both mean a lot to you as well. As you say in your review, this book has so much in it, so dense, so packed with information, so many small important details and changes that we know from The Silmarillion and other books, that a reader can literally lost him/herself inside these pages, and I am very much aware that Christopher's intention to having done all this work of a grand and cosmic scope, and presenting it to us the readers, and to the rest of the world, meant that these works, all 12 volumes should be properly studied and not just read and skimmed over like mere fantasy books or works of fiction. Yes they are very much a history for Middle-earth, that is what they are called, but they are so, so much more than that. These books are the very building blocks of professor Tolkien's own world condensed inside them and they show us, or perhaps give us a glimpse of the way he was thinking and trying to construct his imaginary (secondary) world. That I think no writer of fiction have ever achieved and may not ever achieve in my humble opinion as a reader. I am not sure, and correct me if I am wrong, but I think teachers, scholars and university professors should recommend to their students every single volume of these as a mandatory read when someone studies either literature, philology and perhaps other fields in academia. Maybe they do that already, I cannot know, because I don't occupy the world of universities, academia and schools. You have a better understanding of these things, as I know that you are about to take an MA in literature yourself. I wish you good luck with that.
So I cannot think of much else to say here, because you have said and touched on the most important points in this first volume and I admire that. Half and hour is a proper review. Not too long and not too short. I also see that you cannot help but feel very emotional and touched when reading paragraphs of the book and the sublime poetry contained in there. Kortirion is in my view one of the finest poems every written in a book. I am perhaps forgetting to mention something, but I will just leave it at that. All the name changes, the landscape, events, etymology, it's just so vast and detailed. I wish I could have more time, more peace and quiet and more energy to delve into this vast ocean of lore, history, language and landscape and immerse myself in it to the fullest. Sadly with my current lifestyle I am no way near of doing that. I perhaps do not wish to become a Tolkien expert like some people these days, and to know every single detail, name, place and word of every single race, but at least I wish to be aware and have a proper understanding of the history and the legendarium as a world where I can escape or write about in my own books. The human brain cannot contain so much information.
So thank you so much again for doing this review my friend, and I wish you all the best when you decide to read the rest of the legendarium at some point. Cheers!
- Borislav
Thanks for watching, Borislav. I wouldn't say my recitation in the intro was flawless by any means, but that's because I said it swiftly just to indicate that I'd memorized it! Oh, for some reason I thought you'd read BoLT Part 1. I definitely think this should be high on the priority list, but I sympathise with what you say concerning reading habits and whatnot. As for experts, there are certainly people who know more about the lore of the Legendarium than me, of course. One doesn't even need to look to academics to find them. Have you heard of The Red Book channel? I highly recommend it.
To be completely honest, I'm not entirely happy with this review other than the emotion and respect shown for the book. Frankly, it's less of a review and more of a reminiscence. I've been doing a few of these types of videos lately as I review so many books retroactively. But with BoLT Part 1, it's incredibly difficult to recall the events and the names. It'd be like summarising and analyzing what happens in the Silmarillion whilst trying to recall how the new names of characters and places link up to their older versions.
As for general Tolkien reading, yes, I think it requires a certain mindset and willpower. Sometimes it feels like one needs to retain as much information as possible before moving on to the next book. I also just don't read that much in the way of fantasy, believe it or not. I've actually only read a handful of works that could be considered "proper" secondary world fantasy. 99.9% of my reading is non-secondary world fantasy, mostly in short story form. In fact, I mostly read "Weird" fiction, though I dislike the term for a variety of reasons. I often just use the word "fantastical" as it accounts for any numinous or strange occurrences. Put simply, I prefer stories that blend reality with fantasy. That reminds me, did I ever talk about what my potential MA thesis will be about? I might send you a document about this, if you're interested.
By the way, I'm not sure if you saw my (updated) pin, but I wrote a little paragraph perhaps indicating why I feel so emotional when reading Tolkien, especially in contrast to other, more modern fantasies.
Beautiful discussion.
The way you revere the Legendarium really comes through and is inspirational - that a body of literary work can have such a profound impact on a reader.
I love LOTR and The Hobbit. My aim is to retry and complete The Silmarillion before the end of this year.
Agree with you about the immense accomplishment of Christopher Tolkien. The world would have been poorer if we didn't get to see the full immense scope of JRR Tolkien's creativity and dedication and it is Christopher Tolkien who brought it to fruition from those unfinished manuscripts and notes.
Thanks for watching, Paromita. Yes, Tolkien's work inspired me to start writing my own world-building project in 2016. Well, I say that, but I'd had rudimentary versions of it for many years before I was interested in the Legendarium, but the point still stands. People have issues with Christopher's approach, but I don't see them as issues at all, to be honest. I think he was the bulwark of the Legendarium after his father died. May they both rest in peace.
@@thitherword 🙏🏽 I too think Christopher Tolkien achieved something very special. And JRRT...well he is one of the greats in literature for me, not just SFF literature.
I'm afraid I haven't read The Book of Lost Tales yet, but my husband definitely has. Christopher Tolkien did a HUGE amount of work on the annotations and commentaries--I looked at the book; they're something like half the pages--as well as collecting and preparing the tales, which his father did not exactly leave in a finished and polished-up condition. Thanks for bringing them back to my attention. I'd meant to read them ages ago, and this time might actually do it.
That's no problem, S.D. Though I do highly recommend the book, I know this one can be especially difficult as it requires recapping the history and events in the Silmarillion to be able to grasp what's going on. I know I had to sit down and recall as much of the Silmarillion as I could before I started reading BoLT P1. There's much in here that I neglected to talk about. Especially interesting are the cosmological drawings and primitive maps.
@@thitherword Yes, I find the scope of the whole thing mind-boggling. And there's another ten or so books after these that Christopher Tolkien published. A labor of love, I'm sure.
*** Whilst watching some parts of this review back, the ones in which I got emotional just saying certain names and places, I realised that my love of Tolkien is, if I can extrapolate it in this way, a love of fantasy, myth and legend in general. It's not only having a certain respect and reverence for the names and places of this world myself, but the same feeling is in the breasts of the characters themselves. Wonder and awe are intrinsic to them. In the broadest sense, what I care about is the spiritual and the numinous quality of this type of fantasy, of paying homage to the Powers and knowing that the world and the universe is very much greater than you are. This is why I've never engaged with ironic, acerbic and irreverent fantasies such as Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire. ***
In a sense, I didn't need to record this review. I only needed to make the image at 36:10.
I consider this video a special not only because it's another primary Tolkien book review, but also because I'm intending to make my reviews shorter these days. I did plan on discussing ways of tackling Tolkien's more difficult stories, but I forgot. I may write a miniature essay on this soon, so keep an eye out in this comment section.
Apologies for the lighting. In some respects, it's better than the natural lighting I had in the past, but the brightness may be a bit severe, and the shadows aren't too great. Lastly, I've been aware that the sound quality isn't too good in my reviews; I should probably look into a better way of recording sound other than with my phone. I've tried using my Zoom H1 mic (the one I use outdoors) but it's always too far away to produce good quality sound.
What about Sarturus by the way, seems like you never talked about in depth or, unless I missed it, at all.
Hi, Nefi. Thanks for your interest regarding Sarturus. This is definitely something I'd like to cover, perhaps in a special, but I've not figured out how to approach it just yet. If you've not seen them already, my twin produced two high quality videos on our world. One is an audio drama based on my novella Serpents of the Heart, featuring various actors from across the world. The other is a detailed exploration of the lore.
th-cam.com/video/yfDSeJ7WKmw/w-d-xo.html
th-cam.com/video/QfPYXGT83no/w-d-xo.html
T.
An inspiring review! It's been on my TBR for quite a while. I'm just about to get Tolkien's Beowulf, so maybe The Book of Lost Tales will be next. I noticed that Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey recently published a Beowulf related book called Beowulf and the North before the Vikings. Something Tolkien adjacent which may be of interest.
Thanks, Thomas. Much appreciated. So, for some reason I wasn't ever able to get into Tolkien's translations and interpretations of European myths, e.g., Beowulf, The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun, and The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm's Son. I'm not sure why I've not considered these more. I think it may be because I tend to have peaks and troughs when it comes to my interest in history. I can spend the first few months of a year reading history and myth, but it'll just trail off later on... Strange. Thanks for bringing Shippey's work to my attention though.