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A review by nwhyte
The Book of Lost Tales Part 1 by J.R.R. Tolkien
3.0
http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/1581275.html
The Book of Lost Tales was published in 1983, interpreted from a series of longhand notebooks started by J.R.R. Tolkien in 1917, as later interpreted by his son Christopher. Tolkien's series of linked short stories were written in his spare time from his academic career and family obligations; once he decided to abandon the Lost Tales and start over, he probably did not expect that they would ever see the light of day - this is essentially a private set of thoughts whose author did not deem them ready for publication.
The book offers insights into the process of writing, crafting and drafting, trying to get it right, over the decades which led to Tolkien's great works. Occasionally one can trace particular elements to the outside world: Tolkien's town of Kortirion is very explicitly modelled on Warwick. But more often the writers are drawing on their own emotional resources and imagination, trying as it were to find the story that is trying to get out - the Tolkien drafts show constant refining to get a better result.
The Book of Lost Tales is of interest more because of what it eventually led to, and also to an extent because of what fed into it, than because of the content. Of course Tolkien drew on the ancient literature with which he was very familiar in crafting his own work; but the style seemed to me to have strong links with Lord Dunsany and with the earlier and less weird Lovecraft. Dunsany's The Gods of Pegāna had of course been published in 1905, but I see that Lovecraft only started publishing horror in 1919, so I guess it is a case of two contemporaries drawing from a common well.
I couldn't really recommend The Book of Lost Tales to anyone but a Tolkien enthusiast (and I have been one for most of my life, but have only now got around to reading it 27 years after it was published).
The Book of Lost Tales was published in 1983, interpreted from a series of longhand notebooks started by J.R.R. Tolkien in 1917, as later interpreted by his son Christopher. Tolkien's series of linked short stories were written in his spare time from his academic career and family obligations; once he decided to abandon the Lost Tales and start over, he probably did not expect that they would ever see the light of day - this is essentially a private set of thoughts whose author did not deem them ready for publication.
The book offers insights into the process of writing, crafting and drafting, trying to get it right, over the decades which led to Tolkien's great works. Occasionally one can trace particular elements to the outside world: Tolkien's town of Kortirion is very explicitly modelled on Warwick. But more often the writers are drawing on their own emotional resources and imagination, trying as it were to find the story that is trying to get out - the Tolkien drafts show constant refining to get a better result.
The Book of Lost Tales is of interest more because of what it eventually led to, and also to an extent because of what fed into it, than because of the content. Of course Tolkien drew on the ancient literature with which he was very familiar in crafting his own work; but the style seemed to me to have strong links with Lord Dunsany and with the earlier and less weird Lovecraft. Dunsany's The Gods of Pegāna had of course been published in 1905, but I see that Lovecraft only started publishing horror in 1919, so I guess it is a case of two contemporaries drawing from a common well.
I couldn't really recommend The Book of Lost Tales to anyone but a Tolkien enthusiast (and I have been one for most of my life, but have only now got around to reading it 27 years after it was published).