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A review by the_sunken_library
The Story of Kullervo by J.R.R. Tolkien
3.0
The tale is actually only 41 pages, the majority of this book is made up from two versions of the same speech given by Tolkien about his inspiration "The Kalevala" (a 19th-century work of epic poetry compiled by Elias Lönnrot from Karelian and Finnish oral folklore and mythology) and an interpretative essay on the impact/role this short story/retelling had on the Silmarillion by the editor, Verlyn Flieger, plus a bunch of glossaries.
While I don't doubt the impact and relevance this "exercise" (which it is in my opinion, more than anything of substance) - his first dabbling in "Language informing Literature", practicing his ballads and generally getting to grips with "Epic" style, this could have been included as a preface to a new printing of the Silmarillion or in the next Tolkien volume.
While I don't doubt the impact and relevance this "exercise" (which it is in my opinion, more than anything of substance) - his first dabbling in "Language informing Literature", practicing his ballads and generally getting to grips with "Epic" style, this could have been included as a preface to a new printing of the Silmarillion or in the next Tolkien volume.