Christopher Tolkien on The Silmarillion's development
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 20 ส.ค. 2024
- A recommended presentation of JRR's several Silmarillions (!) and how they stand in relationship with The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.
JRR's son Christopher was a creative confidant and posthumously composed his father's work and published The Silmarillion in 1977.
Source: J.R.R.T.: A Film Portrait of J.R.R. Tolkien (1996). All rights belong to Landseer and other concerned parties
Devoted his life to untangling minute threads so we the fans could immerse ourselves in Tolkiens incomparable work of art. R. I. P
Christopher Tolkien needs more credit for what we have in regards to middle earth.
no way. he was mad.
@@giannilyanicks1718 why do you say that?
I believe anyone who ought to know, does know. Without him we wouldn't have any of the tales of the Elder days; not to mention his analysis of them
Without Christopher, we would not have the Silmarillion, the languages, etc. I know that not everyone is interested in this stuff, but it is good to have the back story.
too bad he was out of his mind.
@@giannilyanicks1718 How?
What a good man, and what a good son. Thank you for sharing this
he wasn't.
@@giannilyanicks1718 he was.
@@Hero_Of_Old no way he was a ibsane old man.
@@giannilyanicks1718 Why was he insane?
May Tolkien’s work endure.
A worthy successor to his father's work.
What a truly great man and loving son.
I recall reading that the first story Tolkien wrote down, that was to become the Silmarillion, was not Beren & Luthien or Turin, but Gondolin. While recovering in a military hospital, injured from a gas attack in the trenches, Tolkien began crafting a story about a great, glittering white city and its destruction in a nightmarish war.
At the end of the war, Tolkien remarked that all of his friends were now dead. In the Silmarilllion, he wrote a moving passage about the Elves witnessing the death of Men: "...but at last Beor the Old died when he had lived three and ninety years, for four and forty of which he had served King Felagund. And when he lay dead, of no wound or grief, but stricken by age, the Eldar saw for the first time the swift waning of the life of Men, and the death of weariness which they knew not in themselves; and they grieved greatly for the loss of their friends. But Beor at the last had relinquished his life willingly and passed in peace; and the Eldar wondered much at the strange fate of Men, for in all their lore there was no account of it, and its end was hidden from them."
Turin is a legend about the inevitability of death for even the mightiest warrior. But Beren & Luthien is about the triumph of hope and love over every enemy, even death itself (a distinctly Christian idea). Tolkien openly modeled Beren's first encounter with Luthien on a spontanious little dance he saw wife do in the forest while out one day. She pre-deceased him by a matter of months. On the gravestone, he superscribed "Luthien" next to Edith's name, and instructed "Beren" to be inscribed next to his own when the time came. At the heading of the chapter in the Silmarillon is written, "Among the tales of sorrow and of ruin that come down to us from the darkness of those days there are yet some in which amid weeping there is joy and under the shadow of death light that endures. And of these histories most fair still in the ears of the Elves is the tale of Beren and Luthien."
I read The Silmarillion about a decade ago having been steeped in the animated TLR and Peter Jackson's movies, having owned The Hobbit as a lad and having no interest in anything to do with fantasy, I was a natural sciences minded kid. I had read one vol. of TLR before The Silmarillion. I thrilled in a subdued sort of way to The Sil. So I read Tolkien's nonfiction and a bio of him. I'd read Silmarillion again and again. And anything else by him I suppose now.
Thanks for posting this.
My pleasure! I consider this one of the best ways to get an overview of JRR's main works, so it is something I deem should be spread - and Christopher was ofc also always a delight!
Fascinating, many thanks for sharing this, Ngugi.
I love this
So sad what they did after his death, and his sister's death 🥲
Wanganooie?
BACK OF BOURKE!
54
What (Tao's) skilful planter plants
Can never be uptorn;
What his skilful arms enfold,
From him can ne'er be borne.
Sons shall bring in lengthening line,
Sacrifices to his shrine.
Tao when nursed within one's self,
His vigour will make true;
And where the family it rules
What riches will accrue!
The neighbourhood where it prevails
In thriving will abound;
And when 'tis seen throughout the state,
Good fortune will be found.
Employ it the kingdom o'er,
And men thrive all around.
In this way the effect will be seen in the person, by the observation of different cases; in the family; in the neighbourhood; in the state; and in the kingdom.
How do I know that this effect is sure to hold thus all under the sky? By this (method of observation).
46
When the Tao prevails in the world, they send back their swift horses to (draw) the dung-carts. When the Tao is disregarded in the world, the war-horses breed in the border lands.
There is no guilt greater than to sanction ambition; no calamity greater than to be discontented with one's lot; no fault greater than the wish to be getting. Therefore the sufficiency of contentment is
an enduring and unchanging sufficiency.
27
The skilful traveller leaves no traces of his wheels or footsteps; the skilful speaker says nothing that can be found fault with or blamed; the skilful reckoner uses no tallies; the skilful closer needs no bolts or bars, while to open what he has shut will be impossible; the skilful binder uses no strings or knots, while to
unloose what he has bound will be impossible. In the same way the sage is always skilful at saving men, and so he does not cast away any man; he is always skilful at saving things, and so he does not cast
away anything. This is called 'Hiding the light of his procedure.'
Therefore the man of skill is a master (to be looked up to) by him who has not the skill; and he who has not the skill is the helper of (the reputation of) him who has the skill. If the one did not honour
his master, and the other did not rejoice in his helper, an (observer), though intelligent, might greatly err about them. This is called 'The utmost degree of mystery.'
18
When the Great Tao (Way or Method) ceased to be observed, benevolence and righteousness came into vogue. (Then) appeared wisdom and shrewdness, and there ensued great hypocrisy.
When harmony no longer prevailed throughout the six kinships, filial sons found their manifestation; when the states and clans fell into disorder, loyal ministers appeared.
which translation do you use?
@@brendanburgess7949 Are you stupid? James Legge. Of course!
I think of Christopher Tolkien as the successor of his father, not just an editor of his unifinished or unpublished works.