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The Shaping of Middle-Earth: The Quenta, the Ambarkanta and the Annals

by J. R. R. Tolkien

Other authors: Christopher Tolkien (Editor)

Series: The History of Middle-Earth (4), Middle-earth (7.04)

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2,03147,924 (3.71)8
This is the fourth volume of The History of Middle-earth, edited by Christopher Tolkien, the first two comprising The Book of Lost Tales Parts One and Two, and the third The Lays of Beleriand. It has been given the title The Shaping of Middle-earth because the writings it includes display a great advance in the chronological and geographical structure of the legends of Middle-earth and Valinor. The hitherto wholly unknown "Ambarkanta," or Shape of the World, is the only account ever given of the nature of the imagined Universe, and it is accompanied by diagrams and maps of the world before and after the cataclysms of the War of the Gods and the Downfall of Numenor. The first map of Beleriand, in the North-west of Middle-earth, is also reproduced and discussed. In the "Annals of Valinor" and the "Annals of Beleriand" the chronology of the First Age is given shape; and with these are given the fragments of the translations into Anglo-Saxon made by Aelfwine, the Englishman who voyaged into the True West and came to Tol Eressea, the Lonely Isle, where he learned the ancient history of Elves and Men. Also included are the original "Silmarillion," written in 1926, from which all the later development proceeded, and the "Quenta Noldorinwa" of 1930, the only version of the myths and legends of the First Age that J.R.R. Tolkien completed to their end. As Christopher Tolkien continues editing the unpublished papers that form the bedrock from which The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion were quarried, the vastness of his father's accomplishment becomes even more extraordinary.… (more)
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» See also 8 mentions

Showing 4 of 4
Christopher Tolkien systematizes his father's papers. ( )
  Mama56 | Dec 4, 2023 |
I started to read it in 2008 (?), and it is too full of references to the Silmarillion. So I went back and re-read the Silmarillion.
  threadnsong | Jun 18, 2016 |
http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/1735779.html

Yet more refinement of the events of the Silmarillion, in various different formats; I'm rather glad that the next volume in this series takes us to NĂºmenor and away from Beleriand. The most interesting thing in this volume (though unfortunately also the least readable) is Tolkien's casting of the Annals of Beleriand into Anglo-Saxon, a very visible piece of his commitment to reshaping English mythology by giving it new roots as invented by himself, though as it turned out rather a blind alley creatively. There is also some impressive forensic work on the faint pencil-drawn maps on which Tolkien planned out the geograohy of early Middle-Earth. But this is probably the least accessible so far of this rather obscure series. ( )
  nwhyte | May 17, 2011 |
Not easy to read, even for a die-hard Tolkien fan. But still worth a look. ( )
  Radaghast | Nov 11, 2009 |
Showing 4 of 4
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Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Tolkien, J. R. R.primary authorall editionsconfirmed
Tolkien, ChristopherEditorsecondary authorall editionsconfirmed
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This is the fourth volume of The History of Middle-earth, edited by Christopher Tolkien, the first two comprising The Book of Lost Tales Parts One and Two, and the third The Lays of Beleriand. It has been given the title The Shaping of Middle-earth because the writings it includes display a great advance in the chronological and geographical structure of the legends of Middle-earth and Valinor. The hitherto wholly unknown "Ambarkanta," or Shape of the World, is the only account ever given of the nature of the imagined Universe, and it is accompanied by diagrams and maps of the world before and after the cataclysms of the War of the Gods and the Downfall of Numenor. The first map of Beleriand, in the North-west of Middle-earth, is also reproduced and discussed. In the "Annals of Valinor" and the "Annals of Beleriand" the chronology of the First Age is given shape; and with these are given the fragments of the translations into Anglo-Saxon made by Aelfwine, the Englishman who voyaged into the True West and came to Tol Eressea, the Lonely Isle, where he learned the ancient history of Elves and Men. Also included are the original "Silmarillion," written in 1926, from which all the later development proceeded, and the "Quenta Noldorinwa" of 1930, the only version of the myths and legends of the First Age that J.R.R. Tolkien completed to their end. As Christopher Tolkien continues editing the unpublished papers that form the bedrock from which The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion were quarried, the vastness of his father's accomplishment becomes even more extraordinary.

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