Kullervo

So, this week saw the release of J. R. R. Tolkien's latest book, THE STORY OF KULLERVO, edited by Verlyn Flieger. This piece has actually been published before, in volume VII of TOLKIEN STUDIES (2010), p. 211-278. But the new edition, presented on its own as a slender, attractive little book (with Tolkien's own Kalevala painting as its cover)  marks its moving beyond a specialty venue to the notice of a wider audience.

For those who have not seen it yet* this presumably includes everything that appeared in the TOLKIEN STUDIES edition:  (1) the text of the unfinished story, (2) Tolkien's brief notes and outline, (3) Flieger's introduction and explanatory notes, and (4) both versions of Tolkien's essay/lecture about THE KALEVALA -- which is just as good as the story.

As if this were not good news enough, there's a very well done video clip of Verlyn Flieger, the editor, talking about the book on the BBC (thanks to Troels on the MythSoc list for the link):

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-34063157


-John R.
current reading: IDYLLS OF THE KING
current anime: SNOW WHITE WITH RED HAIR

*this includes me, since I didn't realize there's a time-lag between the UK release (August 27th) and the US one to follow (April of next year) and foolishly didn't pre-order the former. Ah well. 

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today's quote: They say that the blues went out of style ('Poor Jenny')


UPDATE
And thanks also to Jessica Yates for the following link to a Radio BBC Oxford piece which replays some of the audio from Verlyn's interview and adds to it an interview with Dimitra Fimi about issues arising from the publication. The Tolkien content starts around the 1 hr 22 m point and runs about six minutes.
Here's the link:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02z7gms#play

--JDR, who just bought the book -- in the sense of ordering myself a copy from Across the Waters. Along with the forthcoming A SECRET VICE (ed. Fimi and Higgins), and THE ART OF THE LORD OF THE RINGS by Hammond & Scull. Good times coming.