Christopher Tolkien interview

So, I've now seen the new Tolkien book (at the Border's, in the mall), and it looks v. good indeed. It's more substantial than I expected, at about 350 pages. In addition to the two poems (the main event), the commentary, both by CT and excerpted from various notes and lectures by JRRT himself, promises to reveal a good deal about Tolkien's ideas about the Eddas.

In the meantime, if like me you're waiting for your copy to arrive, here's an interesting interview with Christopher about the book, his father's popularity, and other related matters. Thanks to Shelly for the link; I advise clicking on the follow-up button for the full length version.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/may/04/jrr-tolkien-sigurd-gudrun-poem

--John R.

SIGURD AND GUDRUN Preview

So, if like me you're waiting with bated breath for the release of the new Tolkien book tomorrow, here are two v. nice snippets to enjoy in the meantime.


(I)
The first lets you read Christopher's Foreword (or at least a part therefrom), which tells a lot about what's in the book.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/feature.html/ref=amb_link_83561953_1?ie=UTF8&docId=1000290703&pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=special-offers-2&pf_rd_r=1QM645X4Q14JAVKRTMWG&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_p=467264653&pf_rd_i=0007317239


(II)
The second lets you hear some of Brian Cox's reading from the forthcoming audiobook, which sounds v. nice, as well as shows some of the folks at HarperCollins who work on their Tolkien books, which is also nice. If you watch closely, at one point you can see Tolkien's original manuscript for two stanzas (sixteen lines) of the work.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Legend-Sigurd-Gudrún-J-Tolkien/dp/0007317239/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1241486297&sr=1-1
[scroll down the page and click on the "Watch a Related Video" bit. I've given the link for the amazon.co.uk entry on the book, because the amazon.com video teaser is about one-third shorter.]


This is going to be a good one. Only one day to go . . .

--John R.