Kristin wrotes: A review of The Legend of Siguard & Gudrún by Tom Shippey has been posted on the Times Online website. Long, analytical, and very insightful and informative, it reveals just how important Tolkien’s poems are as literature. Tom Shippey Reviews Siguard & Gudrún
J.R.R. Tolkien’s newest posthumous work lands in retail today. The body of the non Middle-earth tale is told in two narrative poems told in the form of Norse mythology with a Tolkien lecture and an introduction from his son Christopher. Tolkien was a master of the forms of Old Norse and Old Englsih poetry while for most of us, that brilliance is likely to go unappreciated, there is still treasure to be gleaned in understanding the author and the traditions that led him to construct his own cosmology.
The Guardian in the UK published a faxed interview while while reviews are popping up like mushrooms. Read some here, here, and here.
The folks from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt send this bit of coolness to us! They want to whet your appetites for the May 5th release of ‘The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún’, take a look at the foreword written by Christopher Tolkien!
In his essay On Fairy-Stories (1947) my father wrote of books that he read in his childhood, and in the course of this he said:
I had very little desire to look for buried treasure or fight pirates, and Treasure Island left me cool. Red Indians were better: there were bows and arrows (I had and have a wholly unsatisfied desire to shoot well with a bow), and strange languages, and glimpses of an archaic mode of life, and above all, forests in such stories. But the land of Merlin and Arthur were better than these, and best of all the nameless North of Sigurd and the Völsungs, and the prince of all dragons. Such lands were pre-eminently desirable. Read the rest of this entry »
From thebookseller.com: J R R Tolkien will move into the digital age as HarperCollins begins selling his Lord of the Rings series as enhanced e-books.
As The Bookseller went to press, the publisher said it was planning to issue Tolkien’s entire back catalogue as e-books, beginning with the Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Hobbit and The Children of Húrin from today [20th April]. The e-books will include the maps and runes contained in the traditional print books and will be on sale at waterstones.com, harpercollinsebooks.co.uk and tolkien.co.uk. Waterstone’s will have a dedicated author page featuring the e-books from today.
David Roth-Ey, director of digital business development, said that the launch was the “most significant e-book initiative” the publisher has done so far. He said: “This is something that the fans so clearly wanted. Releasing Tolkien in e-books is something that has long been a goal of ours and we wanted to create high-quality legal versions of these books. It was a long -process—with the maps and runes, it’s slightly more complicated than [digitising] your average thriller.” HC turns Middle Earth digital
Claire writes: Amazon UK are offering the standard edition of ‘Sigurd and Gudrun’ at half price for pre-order – that’s £9.49 instead of £18.99 (though there’s postage in addition, of course, unless you qualify for one of their free postage deals). The special edition is also being offered at a considerable discount, £34.99 instead of £60.00.
The folks at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt have allowed us to make the official Facebook page for ‘The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún’! Click on over to get updates and eventually see videos, pictures and other goodies leading up to the books release on May 5th! Sigurd and Gudrún on Facebook
Claire writes: I subscribe to HarperCollins’ Tolkien newsletter, and have been sent notice of a collector’s edition of ‘The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun’ by J.R.R. Tolkien, signed by Christopher Tolkien. tolkien.co.uk
J.R.R. Tolkien’s newest posthumous work lands in retail today. The body of the non Middle-earth tale is told in two narrative poems told in the form of Norse mythology with a Tolkien lecture and an introduction from his son Christopher. Tolkien was a master of the forms of Old Norse and Old Englsih poetry while for most of us, that brilliance is likely to go unappreciated, there is still treasure to be gleaned in understanding the author and the traditions that led him to construct his own cosmology.
