Tolkien heads
THE CHILDREN OF HÚRIN<br>J.R.R. Tolkien, edited by Christopher Tolkien<br>Harper Collins pp 313, ISBN 9780007246229
The Children of Húrin is being hailed as the sequel to the legendary The Lord of the Rings trilogy. For a work which has such a colossal fan following, a sequel would obviously be received with much exhilaration. Regrettably, this work was never finished by J.R.R. Tolkien and, as with all his other posthumously published books save The Silmarillion, has been pieced together and edited by his son Christopher. Even though it was conceived prior to, and chronologically comes before,
The Lord of the Rings books, The Children of Húrin has been published after the latter books gained their mammoth credence in fantasy literature, and thus has perhaps too much to live up to; besides, its fragmented nature does not help.
The Lord of the Rings was created as the result of stories Tolkien used to tell his children, and at parts seems to break off and begin again. However, this never managed to detract from the story's glorious magic, possibly because it was given some form of continuity as well as a beginning and an end by its creator writer. Sadly the same cannot be said of The Children of Húrin. Since the work was never finished and takes place over a shorter period of time, it is not as well-developed as its predecessor novels and perhaps only serves the role of filling in a few lacunae in the history of Middle Earth for the Tolkien fan.
What is most important is the connection between The Children of Húrin and its predecessor trilogy. The links can be found in The Lord of the Rings when Treebeard strode through the forest of Fangorn carrying Merry and Pippin and sang to them of places he had known in remote times. These places date back to the time of The Children of Húrin.
Tolkien began writing a collection of stories The Book of Lost Tales before The Hobbit or Lord of the Rings. It is in here that the narrative of the Gods, Valar, Elves and Men first appeared as the children of Ilúvatar as well as that of the Balrogs and the Orcs which readers will be familiar with from The Lord of the Rings. An explanation of how Túrin was born under a curse of hatred which had been cast on his parents by Morgoth because Húrin had defied him (6,500 years before the council of Elrond).
Tolkien seems to have had more of an affection for the hobbits: He abandons his work on The Silmarillion for the work on "a new story about hobbits". And it is the hobbits to which we, the readers, also are drawn.
Although the tale of Túrin is one of immense sadness and suffering, perhaps the degree of fragmentation is not conducive to the reader being as gripped by the narrative as with the completed The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. These latter two tales allow for Bilbo's and Frodo's characters to be developed enough for the reader to fall in love with the brave hairy-toed creatures, for our interest in Gandalf to be fermented, for our scepticism of Gollum darkened and our scorn for Saruman further embittered.
Of course The Children of Húrin is not void of any emotions, for instance the narration of the Battle of Unnumbered Tears, also known as The Nirnaeth Arnoediad, is that of the great battle in the late First Age where Fingon, one of the princes of the Noldor was slain and in which the last hope of Elves and Men for the defeat of Morgoth was swept away. However, Tolkien's affection for the stories of the hobbits is evident. He obviously spent more time in refining and giving cogency, as well as a definite beginning and end, to his story of the hobbits in The Hobbit and later in Lord of the Rings, which, admittedly, form a small part in the history of the vast world of Middle Earth which he created. But as anyone who reads stories will tell you, the ingredients of a story such as plot and characters are not enough; the quality of a good story rests on the way it is told.
Christopher Tolkien explains how his father set out on a task to write stories of various families - but this task was on too large a scale and was never fulfilled.
Although The Children of Húrin was the dominant story of the Elder days and is perhaps the most complete, Christopher Tolkien says that even in this story, JRR Tolkien "found it hard to impose a firm narrative structure as the tale grew in complexity of character and event" which is perhaps what makes the book more of a reference book than a new story.
• Ms Stivala is currently fighting battles of her own up north. She is about to finish her MSc in Comparative Literature at the University of Edinburgh.
• A review copy of this title was provided by Agenda Bookshops.
The Lord of the Rings books, The Children of Húrin has been published after the latter books gained their mammoth credence in fantasy literature, and thus has perhaps too much to live up to; besides, its fragmented nature does not help.
The Lord of the Rings was created as the result of stories Tolkien used to tell his children, and at parts seems to break off and begin again. However, this never managed to detract from the story's glorious magic, possibly because it was given some form of continuity as well as a beginning and an end by its creator writer. Sadly the same cannot be said of The Children of Húrin. Since the work was never finished and takes place over a shorter period of time, it is not as well-developed as its predecessor novels and perhaps only serves the role of filling in a few lacunae in the history of Middle Earth for the Tolkien fan.
What is most important is the connection between The Children of Húrin and its predecessor trilogy. The links can be found in The Lord of the Rings when Treebeard strode through the forest of Fangorn carrying Merry and Pippin and sang to them of places he had known in remote times. These places date back to the time of The Children of Húrin.
Tolkien began writing a collection of stories The Book of Lost Tales before The Hobbit or Lord of the Rings. It is in here that the narrative of the Gods, Valar, Elves and Men first appeared as the children of Ilúvatar as well as that of the Balrogs and the Orcs which readers will be familiar with from The Lord of the Rings. An explanation of how Túrin was born under a curse of hatred which had been cast on his parents by Morgoth because Húrin had defied him (6,500 years before the council of Elrond).
Tolkien seems to have had more of an affection for the hobbits: He abandons his work on The Silmarillion for the work on "a new story about hobbits". And it is the hobbits to which we, the readers, also are drawn.
Although the tale of Túrin is one of immense sadness and suffering, perhaps the degree of fragmentation is not conducive to the reader being as gripped by the narrative as with the completed The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. These latter two tales allow for Bilbo's and Frodo's characters to be developed enough for the reader to fall in love with the brave hairy-toed creatures, for our interest in Gandalf to be fermented, for our scepticism of Gollum darkened and our scorn for Saruman further embittered.
Of course The Children of Húrin is not void of any emotions, for instance the narration of the Battle of Unnumbered Tears, also known as The Nirnaeth Arnoediad, is that of the great battle in the late First Age where Fingon, one of the princes of the Noldor was slain and in which the last hope of Elves and Men for the defeat of Morgoth was swept away. However, Tolkien's affection for the stories of the hobbits is evident. He obviously spent more time in refining and giving cogency, as well as a definite beginning and end, to his story of the hobbits in The Hobbit and later in Lord of the Rings, which, admittedly, form a small part in the history of the vast world of Middle Earth which he created. But as anyone who reads stories will tell you, the ingredients of a story such as plot and characters are not enough; the quality of a good story rests on the way it is told.
Christopher Tolkien explains how his father set out on a task to write stories of various families - but this task was on too large a scale and was never fulfilled.
Although The Children of Húrin was the dominant story of the Elder days and is perhaps the most complete, Christopher Tolkien says that even in this story, JRR Tolkien "found it hard to impose a firm narrative structure as the tale grew in complexity of character and event" which is perhaps what makes the book more of a reference book than a new story.
• Ms Stivala is currently fighting battles of her own up north. She is about to finish her MSc in Comparative Literature at the University of Edinburgh.
• A review copy of this title was provided by Agenda Bookshops.