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Loading... The Silmarillion (original 1977; edition 1983)by J. R. R. Tolkien
Work detailsThe Silmarillion by J. R. R. Tolkien (1977)
1983 EDITION   katlikesbooks | Apr 20, 2013 |  very good condition, owner tag on inside page. Has MAP OF BELERIAND attached to back page - in excellent condition. ravens29 | Apr 20, 2013 | THIS IS A FIRST AMERICAN EDITION sharthebear | Apr 9, 2013 | Interesting for detail and background, but quite boring to read. There's so much detail. (  ) shanaqui | Apr 9, 2013 | I first read The Silmarillion when I was young and foolish -- well, perhaps not, but definitely young and unprepared for it. I come back armed with a better knowledge of how to approach it. It isn't a story in the same way as The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings are. It's closer to the myths that so fascinated Tolkien, closer to Norse sagas and the Old English Beowulf. It helped to see it in that way, to approach it in the same way as I would a Norse saga -- and I can't help but think that Tolkien would approve of that. He set out to write mythology, and succeeded. It might be a bit dry for your average reader who wants more of hobbits: it's a different kind of story. But it's a gem on its own ground. It saddens me that he never managed to finish it himself. Looking at the published drafts of The Silmarillion, I regret a lot that Christopher Tolkien didn't include in his edited version. His father's vision comes to us fragmented and reinterpreted by his understanding -- but at least it comes to us. The riches in this book don't come easily, but they are worth looking for. My main advice is to go with it; there are lots of names and genealogies, but they come straight in the end without you needing to make family trees and hurry to look at them every time another name crops up. If a family kinship is important, the narration will remind you. If someone's name has changed, the narrative will find them out before long. If this had been edited to completion by J.R.R. Tolkien instead of his son, it would unquestionably get five stars. A reader can see the shape of what he was trying to make, here. Still, I have my quibbles with Christopher Tolkien, the editor. (Not just about the Silmarillion, either. I wish he'd release his father's Arthurian work. I pledge now, sight unseen, that if he does, I'll write my PhD thesis on it.) (  ) shanaqui | Apr 9, 2013 |
 At its best Tolkien's posthumous revelation of his private mythology is majestic, a work held so long and so power fully in the writer's imagination that it overwhelms the reader. Like Tolkien's other books, The Silmarillion presents a doomed but heroic view of creation that may be one of the reasons why a generation growing up on the thin gruel of television drama, and the beardless cynicism of Mad magazine, first found J.R.R. Tolkien so rich and wonderful. If "The Hobbit" is a lesser work that the Ring trilogy because it lacks the trilogy's high seriousness, the collection that makes up "The Silmarillion" stands below the trilogy because much of it contains only high seriousness; that is, here Tolkien cares much more about the meaning and coherence of his myth than he does about these glories of the trilogy: rich characterization, imagistic brilliance, powerfully imagined and detailed sense of place, and thrilling adventure. Not that these qualities are entirely lacking here. Was inspired byInspiredHas as a reference guide/companionThe Complete Guide to Middle-Earth by Robert Foster A Tolkien Bestiary by David Day The Origins of Tolkien's Middle-earth for Dummies by Greg Harvey Has as a studyHas as a supplementHas as a commentary on the text
References to this work on external resources.
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(retrieved from Amazon Thu, 14 Feb 2013 13:38:50 -0500)
A number-one New York Times bestseller when it was originally published, The Silmarillion is the core of J.R.R. Tolkien's imaginative writing, a work whose origins stretch back to a time long before The Hobbit. Tolkien considered The Silmarillion his most important work, and, though it was published last and posthumously, this great collection of tales and legends clearly sets the stage for all his other writing. The story of the creation of the world and of the First Age, this is the ancient drama to which the characters in The Lord of the Rings look back and in whose events some of them, such as Elrond and Galadriel, took part. The three Silmarils were jewels created by Feanor, most gifted of the Elves. Within them was imprisoned the Light of the Two Trees of Valinor before the Trees themselves were destroyed by Morgoth, the first Dark Lord. Thereafter, the unsullied Light of Valinor lived on only in the Silmarils, but they were seized by Morgoth and set in his crown, which was guarded in the impenetrable fortress of Angband in the north of Middle-earth. The Silmarillion is the history of the rebellion of Feanor and his kindred against the gods, their exile from Valinor and return to Middle-earth, and their war, hopeless despite all their heroism, against the great Enemy. This second edition features a letter written by J.R.R. Tolkien describing his intentions for the book, which serves as a brilliant exposition of his conception of the earlier Ages of Middle-earth.… (more)
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