So, the day before yesterday the new Tolkien book arrived from amazon.co.uk, eight days before I'd expected it.
I've been waiting for this one with more curiosity than most. Usually when a new Tolkien book is coming out I've already been hearing about it and its contents for months. This one could take one of two paths, and I cdn't find out beforehand which it wd be:
(1) a belated publication of the unfinished Tolkien/Gordon edition of Chaucer, sans THE CANTERBURY TALES: introduction, text, glossary, and the partial notes, with a modern-day introduction explaining the circumstances under which the edition was undertaken and why the project collapsed (K. Sisam, I'm looking at you).
(2) a book about the Chaucer project, with extensive quoting (the more the better), along the lines of RING OF WORDS, the book about Tolkien's time at the OED.
As it turns out, John M. Bowers, the author, followed the second track with what looks, at first glance, like great success.
So, speculation is over. Now for the fun part: reading it.
--John R.
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