Christians and LOTR

[pengolodh_sc]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter, "Anne" wrote:
[snip]
> Seriously though, I never managed to finish the Silmarillion,
> precisely because of the doorstop tenor of the writing.

> I do recall that Tolkien's family found the manuscript
> --unfinished-- after his death, and based on the size of it, and
> the density (and I don't mean weight), it could have stood some
> serious editing. But, I mean, who can edit Tolkien, eh? 
[snip]

The diverse manuscripts that formed the basis of The Silmarillion 
were well known to at least Christopher Tolkien, and probably JRRT's 
other children as well.  Christopher Tolkien became significantly 
involved in his father's creative process in the later years; the map 
found in most editions of Lord of the Rings was drawn by Christopher 
Tolkien, for instance, a long time before his father's death.  
Tolkien did not have one Silmarillion manuscript in process of 
editing.  Each part, of often subparts of the parts, existing in 
many, many different versions, as he had been writing on the whole 
thing since around 1917-1918, sometimes changing his mind on what 
things should be like.  Particularly the Grey Annals, which were 
titled Quenta Silmarillion (the main part of the book The 
Silmarillion), were subjected to a lot fo this treatment.

Sometimes the process JRRT used when writing these manuscripts seems 
more like the process of a researcher discovering new facts about an 
ancient culture, and reinterpreting the culture in light of the new 
facts.  For instance, in his last years he was considering a major 
rewrite of significant parts of the main portion of The Silmarillion, 
based on his opinion that the story as it stood did not fit the 
linguistics of the elf-languages he had created.  Indeed, he also 
surmised that a chief reason for Feänor's rebellion against the Valar 
lay in an obscure change of grammar in the elvish language Quenya.

When JRRT died, he had indicated to his son that he did want to see 
The Silmarillion published, and Cristopher did his best to edit 
together what he felt was the best selection of texts.  Part of the 
problem is that when you have so many, many versions of text, some 
written on typewriter, some in near-illegible handwriting with faded 
pencil, some handwritten by someone paid to handwrite it for Tolkien, 
etc. etc., things fall through the cracks.  In the later 
published "Book of Unfinished Tales", Christopher Tolkien explains 
how he with his knowledge gathered through his later delvings into 
this mountain of texts, probably would have made different selections 
of versions.  The book "Unfinished Tales" incidentally can be 
recommended - while it does have many things sounding much like The 
Silmarillion, it also has other pieces more like LotR, and it has a 
lot of extra information on various subjects, including the wizards.  
It is composed of things Tolkien wrote which (obviously, from the 
title) never were completed as intended.

> Anne U
> (who seriously disliked the lack of Frodo and Aragorn in that 
book...)

But who needs Frodo or Aragorn, when one has a choice of Tuor or Huor 
or Fingolfin or Finarfin or Fingon or Agnor or Aglor or Finrod 
Felagund or Turgon or Maedhros or Elwë Singollo or Celebrimbor...?  
;-)

Incidentally, if one has trouble with The Silmarillion, it pays to 
skip the chapter which simply lists out the realms and lands of 
Beleriand - even devoted fans have problems with that chapter.

Best regards
Christian Stubø