R. Ovenden & C. McIlwaine (dir.), The Great Tales Never End, Essays in Memory of Christopher Tolkien

Over more than four decades J.R.R. Tolkien’s son and literary executor, Christopher Tolkien, published some twenty-four volumes of his father’s work, much more than his father had succeeded in publishing during his own lifetime. Standing on the mountain of his son’s colossal publishing effort and extraordinary scholarship, readers today are therefore able to survey and understand the vastness of the landscape of Tolkien’s legendarium.

This collection of essays by world-renowned scholars, together with family reminiscences, sheds new light on J.R.R. Tolkien’s work, his son Christopher’s unique gifts in communicating and interpreting that work and the debt owed to Christopher by the many Tolkien scholars who were privileged to work with him. What was Tolkien’s intended ending for The Lord of the Rings? Did it leave echoes in the stripped-down version that was actually published?  What was the audience’s response to the first ever adaptation of The Lord of the Rings – a radio dramatization that has now been deleted forever from the BBC’s archives? What was the significance of the extraordinary array of doorways which confronted the hobbits as they journeyed through Middle-earth?

The book is illustrated with colour reproductions of J.R.R. Tolkien’s manuscripts, maps, drawings and letters and, with the kind permission of his estate, photographs of Christopher Tolkien and extracts from his works, some of which have never been seen before, making this volume essential reading for Tolkien scholars, readers and fans.

Richard Ovenden OBE is Bodley’s Librarian. Catherine McIlwaine is the Tolkien Archivist at the Bodleian Library, University of Oxford.

Includes essays by: Maxime H. Pascal; Priscilla Tolkien; Vincent Ferré; Verlyn Flieger; John Garth; Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull;  Carl F. Hostetter; Stuart D. Lee; Tom Shippey; Brian Sibley

Premiers comptes rendus : Vivien Stocker, tolkiendil.com, 22 juin 2022 ; Christian Kriticos, winteriscoming.net, 26 juin 202

CONTENTS

1             Catherine McIlwaine      INTRODUCTION

6             Timeline

26          Maxime H. Pascal            EULOGY delivered at Christopher Tolkien’s funeral

28          Priscilla Tolkien                A PERSONAL MEMORY

46          Vincent Ferré                    THE SON BEHIND THE FATHER. Christopher Tolkien as a Writer

52          Verlyn Flieger                   LISTENING TO THE MUSIC

70          John Garth                        THE CHRONOLOGY OF CREATION. How J.R.R. Tolkien Misremembered the Beginnings of his Mythology

88          Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull               ‘I WISELY STARTED WITH A MAP’. J.R.R. Tolkien as Cartographer

106        Carl F. Hostetter              EDITING THE TOLKIENIAN MANUSCRIPT

129        Stuart D. Lee                    A MILESTONE IN BBC HISTORY? The 1955-56 Radio Dramatization of The Lord of the Rings

145        Tom Shippey                     ‘KING SHEAVE’ AND 'THE LOST ROAD’

166        Brian Sibley                       ‘DOWN FROM THE DOOR WHERE IT BEGAN…’ Portal images in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings

181        BIBLIOGRAPHY FOR CHRISTOPHER TOLKIEN

206        NOTES

210        ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTORS

218        FURTHER READING

222        INDEX