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First ever standalone edition of one of J.R.R. Tolkien’s most important poetic dramas, that explores timely themes such as the nature of heroism and chivalry during war, and which features unpublished and never-before-seen texts and drafts.
In 991 AD, vikings attacked an Anglo-Saxon defence-force led by their duke, Beorhtnoth, resulting in brutal fighting along the banks of the river Blackwater, near Maldon in Essex. The attack is widely considered one of the defining conflicts of tenth-century England, due to it being immortalised in the poem, The Battle of Maldon.
Written shortly after the battle, the poem now survives only as a 325-line fragment, but its value to today is incalculable, not just as an heroic tale but in vividly expressing the lost language of our ancestors and celebrating ideals of loyalty and friendship.
J.R.R. Tolkien considered The Battle of Maldon ‘the last surviving fragment of ancient English heroic minstrelsy’. It would inspire him to compose, during the 1930s, his own dramatic verse-dialogue, The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm’s Son, which imagines the aftermath of the great battle when two of Beorhtnoth’s retainers come to retrieve their duke’s body.
Leading Tolkien scholar, Peter Grybauskas, presents for the very first time J.R.R. Tolkien’s own prose translation of The Battle of Maldon together with the definitive treatment of The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth and its accompanying essays; also included and never before published is Tolkien’s bravura lecture, ‘The Tradition of Versification in Old English’, a wide-ranging essay on the nature of poetic tradition. Illuminated with insightful notes and commentary, he has produced a definitive critical edition of these works, and argues compellingly that, Beowulf excepted, The Battle of Maldon may well have been ‘the Old English poem that most influenced Tolkien’s fiction’, most dramatically within the pages of The Lord of the Rings.
J.R.R. Tolkien’s book ‘The Fall of Númenor’ was a Sunday Times bestseller w/c 2022-11-07.
Editore : HarperCollins (30 marzo 2023)
Lingua : Inglese
Copertina rigida : 208 pagine
ISBN-10 : 0008465827
ISBN-13 : 978-0008465827
Peso articolo : 380 g
Dimensioni : 14.9 x 3 x 22.8 cm
Nathan R –
The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm’s Son is one of the few fictional works by Tolkien released in his lifetime. Essentially a play in alliterative verse (complete with stage direction), it was originally published in an academic journal, accompanied by two essays, and has since become a regular in compilations of Tolkien’s shorter fiction and poetry. Despite its ubiquity, the work hasn’t enjoyed general popularity and often feels overshadowed. Rayner Unwin questioned its placement in The Tolkien Reader. One could take it as telling that despite editor Peter Grybauskas calling The Battle of Maldon “the first standalone publication” of The Homecoming, this volume is called “The Battle of Maldon” (granted that “Beorhtnoth” won’t roll off most tongues).This volume contains previously unpublished Tolkien works, his own translation of the Old English poem The Battle of Maldon and a long essay “The Tradition of Versification in Old English.” While I bought this volume primarily for the unpublished material, I was thrilled to see the new light that was shed upon The Homecoming and the new appreciation I subsequently gained for it.The Homecoming is mostly a dialogue between two contrasting figures, an old practical man and a young, romantic poet, servants of the lord Beorhtnoth who were sent to retrieve his body after the disastrous battle. The work cleverly acts as a sequel to the battle itself and a prequel to the Old English poem that would make it famous. The dialogue explores the “northern heroic spirit” and what Tolkien sees as a central theme of the Old English poem, the “overconfident chivalry” of Beorhtnoth that leads to disaster for himself and consequently his brave and honorable men, who in their deaths displayed chivalry more rightly ordered. It’s subtly handled and belies old stereotypes of Tolkien as a writer who only dealt in sharply contrasted black and white. One basic problem has always been that Tolkien’s play worked in concert with the Old English poem. In retrospect it feels obvious that The Homecoming would lose some of its effect if you aren’t also reading The Battle of Maldon immediately before or after. Having Tolkien’s translation of the poem included here, along with strong editorial notes and direction by Peter Grybauskas, really adds a great deal to Tolkien’s play. The Old English poem is itself highly enjoyable. Tolkien’s essay is an often technical one that adds insight into his thought process on alliterative verse and Old English writings. The included appendices showcase, among other things, the development of Homecoming and the relevance of The Battle of Maldon to The Lord of the Rings. In total, this volume is highly valuable in both its presentation of new Tolkien material and the new light it sheds on the old.There are a few drawbacks to this volume that should be mentioned. First, the paper quality isn’t very high. Second, despite the volume’s slim size, the material doesn’t necessarily mesh together well. Tolkien’s translation of The Battle of Maldon is very literal and not concerned with its poetry, while the long essay that follows is all about alliteration, rhyming, and other poetic devices within Maldon and other Old English material. The audience for the essay was obviously not originally intended to be a popular audience; I could glean some insight, but some of the discussion of Old English words went right over my head, at least. On rereads I could see myself occasionally reading through The Battle of Maldon (which is about halfway through the volume) and then skipping to the appendices. Finally, many notes don’t have page references, as another review mentions, and there are a few such elements missing that would make detailed study a little more complicated and time-consuming than it should be.The Battle of Maldon is enjoyable on its own, and connections to Tolkien’s legendarium are clearer than ever. One might read the words Tolkien puts in the mouths of Old English servants and think of Rohan, or reconsider the connection between Turin and Beorhtnoth. Whether on its own merit or as a window of insight into Tolkien’s legendarium, this is another very worthwhile release.
sandro macmartin –
Great book. I waited a long time for this edition, now there are few works by Tolkien not yet published by Harper Collins.
Guclu Demircioglu –
Tolkien Legendariumâunun son eseri. Okumak için sabırsızlandıÄım bu hard cover gerçekten harika. Kesinlikle tavsiye ederim. Kaliteli ürün.
Michael Cooper –
Read and enjoyed it
Aratirion –
Das Buch selbst ist super, kam aber leider beschädigt an. Leider gibt es keine Möglichkeit der Preisreduktion, nur Rückversand und Erstattung. Ãrgerlich, da in letzter Zeit immer häufiger vorgekommen.