The Children of Hurin
 

I got my copy last night - SWOON!!!!

Anyone else getting this?
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'New' Tolkien splendidly rewarding

Story Highlights
• "The Children of Hurin" worthy part of Middle-earth mythology
• Book, compiled from Tolkien pieces, edited by son
• Work concerns a leader and curse on his children

By Bruce DeSilva
Associated Press

(AP) -- Six thousand years before the Fellowship of the Ring, long before anyone had even seen a Hobbit, the elves and men of Middle-earth quaked at the power of the dark lord Morgoth.

Hunted by easterlings and orcs, they fled to the fastness of Nargothrond and to the deep forests of Brethil and Doriath. Among them, a hero emerged. Strong and courageous he was, but foolhardy and impetuous. His name was Turin, son of Hurin.

His story, released today by Houghton Mifflin, is a publishing event: It is the first new book by the creator of "The Lord of the Rings" in 30 years. The publisher calls it the culmination of an effort to bring to the public the vast body of work J.R.R. Tolkien had left unpublished, and largely unfinished, when he died in 1973.

Tolkien began writing "The Children of Hurin" 99 years ago, abandoning it and taking it up again repeatedly throughout his life. Versions of the tale already have appeared in "The Silmarillion," "Unfinished Tales" and as narrative poems or prose sections of the "History of Middle-earth" series.

But they were truncated and contradictory. Outside of Tolkien scholars and Middle-earth fanatics, few read them.

These works were, after all, largely unreadable -- dense, hard to follow histories and legends of Tolkien's vast, imaginary world, crammed with complicated genealogies, unfamiliar geography and hard-to-pronounce names. Readers who took up such books hoping for another Rings saga or charming yarn such as "The Hobbit" abandoned them after a few pages.

"The Children of Hurin" is the book for which these readers have been longing.

It is the fruit of 30 years labor by Christopher Tolkien, the author's son, who has devoted much of his life to editing and publishing the work his father left behind. By meticulously combining and editing the many published and unpublished versions of the tale, he has produced at last a coherent, vivid and readable narrative.

Houghton-Mifflin has treated the work well, hiring Alan Lee, who won an Academy Award for art direction for "The Lord of The Rings: The Return of the King," to create stunning color illustrations.

The story unfolds in a region far to the west of where Frodo and Samwise would later roam, in a land destined to be swallowed by the sea in the cataclysm that would end the first age of Middle-earth. But even then, it was an ancient land, filled with legends and half-remembered histories.

As the tale begins, Morgoth has destroyed a vast army of elves and men and taken one of its leaders, Hurin, prisoner. The dark lord tries to bend Hurin to his will, but the great man defies him. So Morgoth pronounces a curse on Hurin's children, Turin and his sister Nienor.

The first chapter resembles "The Silmarillion," dense and confusing enough to discourage casual readers. But stick with it and the story soon becomes readable and engaging.

Don't expect an uplifting ending like the one to "The Lord of the Rings," however. This is a gloomy tale -- Hurin's children doomed to failure by Turin's hubris and, of course, the curse.

The story is told in the archaic style to which Tolkien fans are accustomed, from a man who admired old Anglo-Saxon and Norse sagas. A sample:

"In this way, before the summer had passed, the following of Turin had swelled to a great force, and the power of Angband was thrown back. Word of this came even to Nargothrond, and many there grew restless."

The story is short by the standards of "The Lord of the Ring," covering just 259 pages, the rest of the book consisting of an introduction and appendix in which Christopher Tolkien explains how he went about his work. The details are unlikely to be of interest to the casual reader, but the bottom line is this:

Christopher Tolkien says that in reconciling the various versions of his father's story, he added no new material, save for an occasional transition. The words, he says, are virtually all his father's.

Find this article at:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/book....ap/index.html

When I saw this thread, I thought you were going to tell us that you just donated money to these kids, or adopted one - I was like "where the hell is Hurin?" :laugh: I had no clue it was a book title. :o I love to read, but Tolkien never really appealled to me for some reason. Of course I saw the movies, and I love them. But I've never read any of the books.

^^

LOL - no, they are ficticious.

Besides, do you think I am ever going to describe again on this site any of my charity work as an example of how I formulate my opinons when I've already been branded an a$$hole and braggart for doing that :laugh:

Also, Tolkein is not for everyone. His dry and at times dense style of writing turns many away. I find it fascinating though.

Yeah I'll be picking it up shortly...I LOVE the Silmarillion so, yeah.

I have read a good bit of it already. He really goes into it on the introduction. Just a bit of Heaven on this Earth for me. I hate to sound silly, but when the space shuttle disintergrated in reentry, we went to The Two Towers that day and saw it twice because it was escapism. Now, this comes out when the poor kids were killed.

Thank goodness for JRRT!

I'm ordering it from amazon.com, can't wait to read it! "Lord of the Rings" is my favorite book.

Studios are already in a battle for the rights. So in your opinion, can it translate well in a movie?

Romy

Well, yes. If they can extablish the whole backstory of the development of the Valar, etc. I think this can be done in a 15 minute summary at the beginning of the movie or through a series of flashbacks throughout the movie.

I liked what they did with the LOTR. I think for a body of work that originally was 7 stories, they summarized as best they could. I would have focused less on the battle scenes because they are not the sole focus of the books, but that drama is what sold it. I also would have make it four instead of three movies. But, I think they did the beast they could.

God what a disaster. I dont see a way to adapt the "Silmarillion" in any way into a film. It is too all-encompassing...let alone this new story. I can see them doing a nice 3 hr version of The Hobbit though. But if Pete Jackson doesnt do it, forget it.

It would take 10 films at least and at 40, I would likely be 70 + or dead by the time the 10th one came out :laugh: I think it would be interesting to see it though.