Customer Reviews

Tolkien & the Silmarillion

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(actually, 3 and 1/2 stars)

A somewhat dated book. This is much more a portrait of the man than a critical assessment of the then unpublished Silmarillion. Kilby states he didn't believe it will be completed. That turned out to be true. There was a chapter Kilby wrote for the book, but it was cut because Christopher Tolkien thought it gave away to much plot of the book, and Kilby, wanting to maintain cordial relations with the family, abided by Christopher's wishes. This book probably had a short publication life, mainly because it was published in 1976, and The Silmarillion was published in 1977. This was mainly cashing in on the anticipation of The Silmarillion. So if you buy this expecting a critical work of The Silmarillion, don't buy it. If you are looking for a charming, thin book on Tolkien, buy it.

Not, by any means, that it is a bad book. A very notable feature is it also talked about the then unpublished C. S. Lewis short story about a man born blind and then getting his eyesight back by surgery, he doesn't understand the concept of light, thinking it a solid substance. It sounds something of a tribute to MacDonald's musing on lights as emphasized in his faerie tales. Or perhaps it was insipiered by that (I just reread his short tale of Nysteris and Photogen in The Day Boy and the Night Girl). It is different than the story in some respects, and Hooper felt that Tolkien probably was told a version and had not read the story. The story is "The Man Born Blind" in THE DARK TOWER AND OTHER STORIES. This book also has contains comments on Smith of Wootten Major. It is a good source of information, and a charming book in its own right. It provides a "distant glimpse of that promised work", referring to The Silmarillion, as the blurb would put it. If you are a Tolkien admirer, it is worth a read