The Book of Lost Tales Part One (1984)

Here's another retro-review. It appeared in the Baltimore Sun on March 25, 1984. I'm particularly fond of this one. The publisher quoted from this review on the back cover of The Book of Lost Tales Part Two and many of the subsequent volumes of the History of Middle-Earth series. If you own any of the mid-1980s editions of those books, take a look on the back cover and you'll see my words staring back at you.

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The Book of Lost Tales Part One, J.R.R. Tolkien, Houghton Mifflin, 297 pages, $14.95.

The appearance of a new book by J.R.R. Tolkien, author of The Lord of the Rings, is news indeed. Tolkien's son Christopher has spent the years since his father's death editing the vast stacks of handwritten manuscripts that Tolkien left behind. This latest volume is the start of a projected series ambitiously called "The History of Middle-Earth."

The Book of Lost Tales relates the earliest legends that would later develop into The Silmarillion. The manuscripts date from 1916 and 1917, when Tolkien had never dreamed of Hobbits, Rings of Power, or the Dark Lord Sauron. At that time the Elves were called Gnomes, the Dwarves were evil creatures, and even the geography of Middle-Earth was somewhat hazy.

There is a great gulf between The Book of Lost Tales and the more familiar parts of Tolkien's world. Nearly fifty years elapsed between these first scribblings and the publication of The Lord of the Rings; but the larger distance is in the development of the world, its myths, its theology and philosophy. Tolkien was 25 years old when he wrote the Lost Tales -- as he grew older the structure of the tales evolved until they came to be the basis of Middle Earth as we know it.

The Book of Lost Tales is not another Lord of the Rings. Christopher Tolkien has done an admirable job of editing the rough manuscripts, but still the tales are at times as distant and silted as The Silmarillion. Readers looking for another story like that of Frodo and Samwise will be disappointed by this new book.

For the true devotee of Tolkien, however, The Book of Lost Tales is a treasure trove to match the hoard of the dragon Smaug himself. Many of the conceptions in the Lost Tales were dropped out of the late mythology; in many cases what was lost has a power and depth of imagination that was missing in later versions.

Here we read of Eriol the Mariner and his visit to the Lonely Isle of Tol Eressea, where the alst of the Elves still live. In the magnificent Cottage of Lost Play, Eriol is entertained by the stories of the Elves, their vanished cities, and the lost days of happiness in Valinor by the light of the Two Trees.

And as the tales unfold for us an Eriol, the surprises start. In the origincal conception, we learn, Tol Eressea was England itself. In the Lost Tales we learn of the Path of Dreams, whereby human children journey in their sleep to the forgotten shores of Valinor and folic with the Elves.

The structure of the Tales roughly follows that of The Silmarillion, beginning with creation myths and describing the advent of evil in the world and the flight of the Elves from Valinor. To a reader familiar with the "official" version of the legend, there are many delightful differences. From the goddess Palurien's creation of the light-producing Two Trees to the lengthy account of the making of the Sun and Moon, the Lost Tales proceed with a sort of primitive vigor usually associated with pagan myths.

The Book of Lost Tales will probably make some enemies among Tolkien's fans. The prose is unpolished, ranging from high poetic style to quickly dashed-off outlines; at times it is even turgid. Christopher Tolkien's notes at the end of each chapter speculate learnedly upon the sources of his father's inspiration, and upon the differences between this version and the previously-published works. The entire approach of the book is more that of a college literature text than a book of tales.

And yet, despite these problems, the pure imaginative power of J.R.R. Tolkien shines through with a light just as dazzling as that of the Two Trees, and so far transcends the nature of the book that the faults become minuscule in comparison.

The serious student of Tolkien will find much delight in this book, and it serves as an excellent example of the creative imagination at work. The casual reader can easily skip the notes and introductions and derive great pleasure from just the Lost Tales themselves.

This is not another Lord of the Rings. Tolkien himself knew that he would never produce another work to match his famous trilogy: the goddess Yavanna spoke for Tolkien when she said, "Even for those who are mightiest...there is some work that they may accomplish once, and once only." Yet the Lost Tales have virtues of their own, and not just for those of academic bent.