Finished Tolkiens Beowulf and was (as expected) quite satisfied. Tolkiens commentary on the poem alone is worth the price of the book, but thankfully we also get his own translation, his Sellic Spell (which is a fascinating what could have been fairly tale rendering of Beowulf), and a couple of songs (!) based on the tale. Reading the translation notes cobbled together by his son, it was a happy surprise to see C.S. Lewis hand at work during Tolkiens translation. We are not told, but It appears Tolkien had lent his manuscript to Lewis and Lewis freely gave suggestions in a few places on how the modern English should be rendered. (ie. Tolkien used Lewis suggestion slayer of souls instead of his own destroyer of souls). Im also finding a trend or an insight into Tolkiens creativity. It seems Tolkiens creativity was fueled most by the lack of information. Or rather, he was quick to walk down the unknown paths and not afraid to make his own (highly educated and imaginative) path from the suggested starting point. Beowulf, Arthur, and Sigurd have all revealed this to be the case. For instance, Tolkien wrote Sellic Spell because all evidence suggested that before the poem was written down, it must have existed as oral tradition, and that at the composition elements of legend, history, and fairy story combined. The history and historic legends can be more or less grasped. The fairy element on the other hand is lost to us. It only is heard as an echo in the Beowulf poem. As a result of this, Tolkien looks to fill the gap so to speak and offers a fairy story that might have been in Sellic Spell. And beyond that, his creativity runneth over and he steps into the role of minstrel and writes a song based on the tale that might be sung in the mead hall for the king. And if thats not enough, it is fascinating to see all of the little glimpses in this early work of his later creations. This book (and the others) is evidence of Tolkiens leaf-mould. All of the unknown paths that he walks down to fill in the empty histories or words or tales, eventually fall like leaves from trees, gathering into his mind, out of which is born something amazing like Middle-earth. For instance, before Tolkien had the dwarves sing about what is beyond the Misty Mountains, he has Beowulf go Far over the misty moorlands cold. So, yeah...I recommend it. #Tolkien #Beowulf #CSLewis #WayTooLongForFacebook
Posted on: Tue, 17 Jun 2014 20:15:15 +0000
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