It’s not the Tolkien book that I’m looking forward to. I really want to read Of Tuor and the Fall of Gondolin, but sadly, not much of that ever got written, so I’m not extraordinarily hopeful that that will ever come out.
A novelization of the Lay of Leithian is coming out. Beren and Luthien Tinuviel, the great-grandparents of Elrond Half-Elven, are star-crossed lovers: she is elven and immortal, and he is a mere human, enraptured by the voice of Tinuviel, the fair nightingale.
To win the blessing of Luthien’s father, Beren must complete an impossible task, and prove himself worthy of the undying love of his Tinuviel.
It’s one of Tolkien’s oldest stories, and one of such personal significance that Tolkien and his wife were buried with the names “Beren” and “Luthien” below their own on their tombstones.
Again, it’s not the one I’m most looking forward to, but it’s definitely a Tolkien story that I would love to buy and read.
A compilation of Tolkien’s tales of Beren and Lúthien will be published next year, HarperCollins has announced.
Edited by Christopher Tolkien and illustrated by Alan Lee, Beren and Lúthien will bring together material scattered throughout the 12-volume History of Middle-earth series.
The earliest version of the tale of Beren and Lúthien was written in 1917, when Beren was an Elf not a Man and the equivalent of Sauron was a large evil cat.
The story underwent considerable revision throughout Tolkien’s life, and was reworked in both prose and poetry. The new book will demonstrate this evolution.
Beren and Lúthien will be published 100 years since Tolkien’s wife Edith danced for him in a small woodland glade filled with hemlocks in East Yorkshire, an event he later acknowledged was the inspiration for the meeting of the immortal Lúthien Tinúviel and the mortal Beren in the glades beside Esgalduin.
J.R.R. Tolkien’s Beren and Lúthien will be published on 4 May 2017.
