Has anyone seen this book? I'd be very curious to hear any opinions anyone might have.Table of Contents:
Introduction
Conventions and Abbreviations
The History
Early Days of Elder Days by Rayner Unwin
The Development of Tolkien's Legendarium: Some Threads in the Tapestry of Middle-earth by Christina Scull
"A Continuing and Evolving Creation": Distractions in the Later History of Middle-earth by Wayne G. Hammond
On the Construction of "The Silmarillion" by Charles E. Noad
The Literary Value of The History of Middle-earth by David Bratman
The Languages
Gnomish Is Sindarin: The Conceptual Evolution of an Elvish Language by Christopher Gilson
Certhas, Skirditaila, Fupark: A Feigned History of Runic Origins by Arden R. Smith
Three Elvish Verse Modes Ann-thennath, Minlamad thent/estent, and Linnod by Patrick Wynne and Carl F. Hostetter
The Cauldron and the Cook
Tolkien's Lyric Poetry by Joe R. Christopher
Some of Tolkien's Narrators by Paul Edmund Thomas
The Footsteps of AElfwine by Verlyn Flieger
The Lost Road, The Dark Tower and The Notion Club Papers: Tolkien and Lewis's Time Travel Triad by John D. Rateliff
Gandalf and Odin by Marjorie Burns
Túrin's Ofermod: An Old English Theme in the Development of Túrin by Richard C. West
Appendix
:Christopher Tolkien: A Bibliography by Douglas A. Anderson
Suggested Further Reading
Index
About the Contributors
I am particularly freaked out about this essay: On the Construction of "The Silmarillion" by Charles E. Noad, for obvious reasons. From the descriptions I have read, it's not really all that similar to what I have been doing (and at 38 pages, its obviously not nearly as comprehensive as my work). Still, it was a shock to find that there has been something published called On the Construction of the "The Silmarillion". I can't help but think that it means that there will be even less likelihood of my being able to publish my opus when it is finished.
At a cool $94.95 (after a five dollar discount ) I don't know if I am going to rush out to buy this. On the other hand, I think I probably am going to have to get it eventually, just to see what Noad has to say. Some of the other essay do look interesting as well, particularly the other ones in the first section. But I don't know about that price.
Here is the Amazon page: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/031330 ... 55&s=books