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Loading... The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun (edition 2016)by J R R Tolkien (Author), Verlyn Flieger (Editor), Christopher Tolkien (Contributor)
Work InformationThe Lay of Aotrou and Itroun together with The Corrigan Poems by J. R. R. Tolkien
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. This book includes the three poems written by Tolkien about the folklore of Brittany. It was a pleasure to read, and the explanatory material added by Christopher Tolkien and Verlyn Flieger were helpful and interesting. ( ) This was a very interesting book, not only because of the tale itself but also because I'm so used to Tolkien writing Middle-earth poetry that it's almost strange to see him write about un-Middle-earthean characters in an un-Middle-earthean world, if I may say so. However, te Lay of Aotrou and Itroun was something both different and similar to Middle-earth - different in that the story, of course, doesn't take place in Arda, and similar in that the "feel" of both "worlds" is one of fantastical and mythological depth and beauty. https://nwhyte.livejournal.com/3819584.html This is minor Tolkieniana, to be honest. It's a poem published in 1930 about a Breton lord who buys a magic potion for his wife; and it all goes horribly wrong. Verlyn Flieger, who is one of the most prolific and interesting Tolkien scholars out there, has done a great job of presenting the poem itself and three earlier goes (a draft and two other poems on closely related themes). But even the completist can rest easy without this on their shelves. Sometimes I wonder how many more fragments of works the Tolkien estate will produce, but like many others, I will continue to buy them. What I liked about this - beyond Tolkien’s poetry which I love (and I think it’s inclusion in the Hobbit and LOTR provides a richness and depth to his story, world building, and development of languages) - is reading how the piece developed from the early Corrigan forms to the finished work. But beyond this, it seems what’s available here is a little on the thin side for producing a separate book no reviews | add a review
Unavailable for more than 70 years, this early but important work is published for the first time with Tolkien's 'Corrigan' poems and other supporting material, including a prefatory note by Christopher Tolkien. Set 'In Britain's land beyond the seas' during the Age of Chivalry, The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun tells of a childless Breton Lord and Lady (the 'Aotrou' and 'Itroun' of the title) and the tragedy that befalls them when Aotrou seeks to remedy their situation with the aid of a magic potion obtained from a corrigan, or malevolent fairy. When the potion succeeds and Itroun bears twins, the corrigan returns seeking her fee, and Aotrou is forced to choose between betraying his marriage and losing his life. Coming from the darker side of J.R.R. Tolkien's imagination, The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun, together with the two shorter 'Corrigan' poems that lead up to it and which are also included, was the outcome of a comparatively short but intense period in Tolkien's life when he was deeply engaged with Celtic, and particularly Breton, myth and legend. Originally written in 1930 and long out of print, this early but seminal work is an important addition to the non-Middle-earth portion of his canon and should be set alongside Tolkien's other retellings of myth and legend, The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún, The Fall of Arthur and The Story of Kullervo. Like these works, it belongs to a small but important corpus of his ventures into 'real-world' mythologies, each of which in its own way would be a formative influence on his own legendarium. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)821.912Literature English English poetry 1900- 1900-1999 1900-1945LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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