The silmarillion

The silmarillion

J. R. R. Tolkien, 1892-1973

Book - 2001

A number-one New York Times bestseller when it was originally published, The Silmarillion is the core of J.R.R. Tolkien's imaginative writing, a work whose origins stretch back to a time long before The Hobbit. Tolkien considered The Silmarillion his most important work, and, though it was published last and posthumously, this great collection of tales and legends clearly sets the stage for all his other writing. The story of the creation of the world and of the First Age, this is the ancient drama to which the characters in The Lord of the Rings look back and in whose events some of them, such as Elrond and Galadriel, took part. The three Silmarils were jewels created by Feanor, most gifted of the Elves. Within them was imprisoned the... Light of the Two Trees of Valinor before the Trees themselves were destroyed by Morgoth, the first Dark Lord. Thereafter, the unsullied Light of Valinor lived on only in the Silmarils, but they were seized by Morgoth and set in his crown, which was guarded in the impenetrable fortress of Angband in the north of Middle-earth. The Silmarillion is the history of the rebellion of Feanor and his kindred against the gods, their exile from Valinor and return to Middle-earth, and their war, hopeless despite all their heroism, against the great Enemy. This second edition features a letter written by J.R.R. Tolkien describing his intentions for the book, which serves as a brilliant exposition of his conception of the earlier Ages of Middle-earth.

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Subjects
Baggins, Bilbo (Fictitious character) > Fiction.
Middle Earth (Imaginary place) > Fiction.
Fantasy fiction.
Elves > Fiction.
Epic fiction.
Genres
Epic fiction
Published
Boston : Houghton Mifflin 2001.
Language
English
Main Author
J. R. R. Tolkien, 1892-1973 (-)
Other Authors
Christopher Tolkien (-)
Edition
2nd ed
Physical Description
xxiv, 365 p. : ill., map ; 21 cm
Bibliography
Includes index.
ISBN
9780544338012
9780345325815
9780618126989
9780618135042
  • Foreword
  • Preface to the second edition
  • Ainulindale
  • Valaquenta
  • Quenta Silmarillion : Of the beginning of days ; Of Aule and Yavanna ; Of the coming of the elves and the captivity of Melkor ; Of Thingol and Melian ; Of Eldamar and the princess of the Eldalie ; Of Feanor and the unchaining of Melkor ; Of the Silmarils and the unrest of the Noldor ; Of the darkening of Valinor ; Of the flight of the Noldor ; Of the Sindar ; Of the Sun and Moon and the hiding of Valinor ; Of men ; Of the return of the Noldor ; Of Beleriand and its realms ; Of the Noldor in Beleriand ; Of Maeglin ; Of the coming of men into the west ; Of the ruin of Beleriand and the fall of Fingolfin ; Of Beren and Luthien ; Of the fifth battle : Nirnaeth Arnoediad ; Of Turin Turambar ; Of the ruin of Doriath ; Of Tuor and the fall of Gondolin ; Of the voyage of Earendil and the war of wrath
  • Akallabeth
  • Of the rings of power and the third age
  • Tables
  • Genealogies : House of Finwe ; Descendants of Olwe and Elwe ; House of Beor ; House of Hador and the people of Haleth
  • Sundering of the elves.
Review by Library Journal Review

The action of this volume predates even the above History titles as it relates the creation of Middle-earth, its beings and the coming of evil. Tolkien's Paradise Lost. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by School Library Journal Review

Gr 5-8-The epic history of the elves, and the creation story of Tolkien's magical world. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review

The total volume of Tolkien's Middle-Earth manuscripts is vastly greater than that of the completed Lord of the Rings, but it seems to be a near-hopeless tangle of variants and unfinished reworkings in both prose and verse. From the great body of material dealing with the ""First Age"" of Middle-Earth, Tolkien's son Christopher has compiled a prose narrative of the events surrounding the making and eventual loss of the three jewels called the Silmarils, many centuries before the Wars of the Ring. The protagonists are chiefly Elves. They appear here not as the steadfast, transcendent figures of the Ring books, but in their youth as a fiery and much-divided race capable of uglier passions than any of the ""good"" characters in the trilogy. The telling is uniformly solemn and distanced, compressing a great range of events into a schematic summation that is a far cry from the varied, immediate narrative of the Ring story. Taking a negative view, one might say that this is not a book or even a fragment of one; it is a grandiose outline showing the Tolkien style at its most determinedly pseudo-biblical. But the alternative view is more to the point: even these truncated materials shed an astonishing amount of ""historical"" light on The Lord of the Rings. The Silmarillion proper is the largest single chunk of ""history,"" but it is accompanied by four shorter chronicles which first establish the foundations of Middle-Earth (an explicit Creation-myth) and then convey the great sweep of history from the Silmaril wars to the Wars of the Ring. Turning back to the trilogy from this new prologue, one finds the intrinsic grandeur of Tolkien's design re-illuminated at every stage. It is now sadly clear that we shall have no more Middle-Earth books--that is, books in their own right. But thanks to the efforts of Christopher Tolkien, we may be privileged in coming years to follow a progressive and dazzling enrichment of the book we all thought we knew. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

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