Puanım 3/5 (%60/100)

Tolkien'in 6:45 tarafından yayımlanan kitaplarını yorumlamaya devam ediyorum. Bunu da 2016'da Kayıp Öyküler Kitabı 1'i okuduktan hemen sonra okumuştum. Çok devam kitabı olduğu söylenemez ama aynı zamandaki hikayelerden bahsettiği için böyle ayrılmış. Yine sevdiğim yerler de vardı sıkıldığım yerler de. Zaten bu devasa notlar koleksiyonlarını üç beş yeni bir şey öğrenirim diye okumuştum (birçok kişi gibi). Korkunç bir çevirisi olduğunu da söyleyeyim her incelememde söylediğim gibi.

En stjerne for hver gang æ sovna mens æ lest boka

(Same thoughts as for Part One, so copy/paste my review for that)

This book contains a collection of partially finished stories written by J.R.R. Tolkien that his son Christopher Tolkien does an excellent job of weaving together into an almost comprehensible history of Middle Earth. Like The Silmarillion, this prelude of sorts is tooth-grindingly boring; the web of names and variations is confusing and headache-inducing. Even so, I couldn't help but be awed by the individual stories and the work as a whole. J.R.R. Tolkien was an admirable scholar and writer; his desire to create an entire universe from scratch, his love for and dedication to his art is obvious in every sentence. It's also fascinating to see how his stories and his world evolved as he revised and continued to write.

2.67/5.00 based on the following:

I) The Tale of Tinuviel -- 5/5 Really enjoyed it

II) Turumbar and the Foaloke -- 3/5 It wasn't bad but having read the separate novel The Children of Húrin I felt like it didn't add anything

III) The Fall of Gondolin -- 2/5 Wasn't all my thing, as what I was expecting. I much more enjoyed the story of Tuor in Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth

IV) The Nauglafring -- 5/5 Another one I enjoyed

V) The Tale of Earendel -- 0/5 I had no idea what Christopher Tolkien was talking about or going at here

VI) The History of Eriol -- 1/5 Once again, just wasn't enjoying it. The last two chapters felt like I was missing some context.

Averaging out to 2.67 I round it up to 3/5 for the final review. After the first two books of HoME I am averaging a 3 solidly.

Forse ho aspettato troppo per rileggere questo volume, dalla prima volta sono trascorsi più di 25 anni e alcune cose le avevo proprio scordate mentre altre probabilmente non le avevo comprese a fondo.
Ho riscoperto con notevole gusto la versione di Beren e Luthien di questi racconti, con Tevildo (che verrà sostituito da Sauron nella versione del Silmarillion) come avversario (e io parteggio per i gatti e non per i cani) e quasi mi spiace che sia finita male per il miagoloso sire dei felini.
Turin nel complesso, pur se differente per episodi, aveva già gli stessi temi, e nel complesso è la storia che, tra quelle della Prima Era del Sole, mi attira meno. Non ho particolare simpatia per Turin figlio di Hurin o per il drago.
La Caduta di Gondolin è stata praticamente una riscoperta: non ricordavo nulla se non la versione del Silmarillion, stringata e priva di praticamente tutti i passaggi epici della battaglia. Credo che la differenza tra le due versioni sia dovuta al fatto che JRRT nel tempo ha profondamente cambiato la sua opinione sull'eroismo classico, come ben spiegò in Il ritorno di Beorhtnoth figlio di Beorhthelm e nella Caduta, seppur giustificato, ce n'è troppo di questo tipo di eroismo.
La Nauglafring è un altro pezzo che ricordavo poco, e salta agli occhi quanto diversi siano alcuni protagonisti, Thingol su tutti.
La storia di Earendil è curiosa: so da altri volumi che fu il nucleo originario della costruzione del suo subuniverso mitico, la pietra angolare della sua mitopoiesi. Eppure qui scopro che non è mai andato oltre quelle quattro poesie scritte addirittura, in un caso, prima della Grande Guerra. Quindi qui ci restano dei riassunti di trame mai sviluppate, ed anche la versione del Silmarillion è decisamente stringata.
Infine ci sono le storie di Eriol e AElfwine, che sono la stessa storia e, nel complesso, il fine originale di queste storie. JRRT avrebbe voluto ricostruire, ricreare, la mitologia anglosassone della quale effettivamente ci resta poco. Interessante, ma la mancanza di sviluppo di queste ultime parti rende la lettura un poco pesante.
Comunque mi è decisamente piaciuto.
4 stelle piene.

This review will go over both of the Lost Tales parts

This is for those who just can't get enough of Tolkien's works. If you have not read or did not enjoy The Silmarillion, do not even bother reading The Book of Lost Tales. I would actually recommend reading The Silmarillion a couple of times before reading these books. The Book of Lost Tales seems to be a first draft of The Silmarillion. Lost Tales is more convoluted and probably drier, and is full of Christopher Tolkien's commentary (about the last 3rd of each chapter) that you probably have to slog through. Also I felt the tale of Eriol and "The Cottage of Lost Play" was a bit irrelevant.

I kept The Silmarillion with me for reference as I read due to the name differences. Many of the names in Lost Tales are significantly different than those in The Silmarillion. Some of the stories that you may know and love are also different. If you want more details, you'll just have to read for yourself.

Overall, I did thoroughly enjoy these books. It was a cool spin on The Silmarillion. I will probably just stick with The Silmarillion though if I want to reread about the First Age of Middle Earth.

This was quite hard to get through. There are some interesting bits, but the stuff in between them is just a tough cookie. A must-read for die-hard Tolkien fans (the whole series is) but don't expect a compelling book that grips you from start to end.

Meglio della prima parte, sia a livello di linguaggio che per i temi presenti - ai 3 racconti classici Beren&Luthien, Gondolin, Tùrin - si aggiunge il bellissimo (anche se non come nella versione finale) Nauglafring e la storia (in fase embrionale e di difficile digestione) di Earendel.
La parte finale è una protologia di Tolkien, dove si vedono veramente temi norreni ed antico-inglesi (che saranno superati solo in seguito).

Il testo, come il primo volume, è estremamente specialistico. Lo consiglio solo agli amanti di Tolkien non solo agli "usufruitori".

I will give the same warning as Part One, The Book of Lost Tales is not for the casual Tolkien fan. These are early drafts of stories that later became the Silmarillion
Part Two of the Tales contains the more epic stories starting with the story of Beren & Luthien here called the Tale of Tinuviel. The earliest conception of the story is quite interesting; Beren is an Elf and Sauron (here known as Tevildo) is a giant evil cat!
The second tale is Turambar and the Foaloke and is the earliest version of the Turin saga, and again very interesting in its early conception.
The Fall of Gondolin is really the most interesting part of the Lost Tales as it is the only full length version of this story Tolkien ever wrote. It is also one of the first stories Tolkien ever wrote and it is astonishing and extremely unfortunate that he never was able to finish an updated full version in subsequent decades. He did begin a revised version that was subsequently published in Unfinished Tales, but this was only completed to the point where Tuor comes to Gondolin. So this early version is the only version telling in detail the marriage of Tuor and Idril, the treachery of Maeglin, the sacking of the city, the death of Turgon, and the flight of the Exiles.
The tale regarding the Necklace of the Dwarves is very fascinating for Tolkien’s initial conception of Dwarves. Here they are portrayed as somewhat more morally dubious than the gruff, yet lovable characters from The Hobbit. Although not actually completed even in this early version, it remains the fullest account of the Nauglamir and the Fall of Doriath.
The next tale is the Tale of Earendel, and this is very sad, for what should be the climactic story of the Silmarillion was never written in full, even here in the Lost Tales there is only alternate outlines and brief summaries
The final tale is the Tale of Aelfwine. This is the conclusion of the framing story (in this version explicitly tying the Tales to English history) that Tolkien, correctly in my opinion, was to abandon.
So a treasure for the Tolkien fan, interesting for the details it contains but oh so frustrating for the fact that there is so much here that was never completed, which will be a common refrain from me for my reviews of all the subsequent volumes of the History of Middle Earth

If this were just the stories, I'd probably give it four stars. Even bloody Turin is tolerable here (he's always bloody Turin to me, the least attractive character in all of Tolkien and yet the one we're all supposed to be obsessed with, apparently, given the mountain of appearances of his horrible self in the Tolkien money-making machine). Then there's "The Fall of Gondolin", and I was riveted at that one, the real stand-out piece of the collection; the image of Ecthelion, the Balrog, and the fountain will stay with me a long time.

Unfortunately, weighing down all these wonderful stories are the histories and explanations of the editor. And you know, perhaps from an academic point of view this might be valuable. But reading as a layperson, while parts of it were mildly interesting, most of it was deathly dull, and that largely due to the endless amount of repetition. It's not enough to explain at referential length how the Lost Tales version of story X differs from every other version ever, it all gets quoted, and quoted, and quoted, even if the difference was from a Lost Tales story right before that one and a flatworm could recall it. Interminable.

At about 250 pages in, I packed this one away in a box during a move and forgot about it... for 4 and a half years.

Only read this if you are a Tolkien addict with a yearning to become a middle earth scholar. Otherwise stick to the Silmarillion and you’ll be glad you did.

El Libro De Los Cuentos Perdidos 2.- J.R.R. Tolkien⁣
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"La canción que conozco son trozos de recuerdos⁣
 de ilusiones doradas que surgen desde el sueño,⁣
 un cuento susurrado junto a las brasas que se   ⁣
 extinguen de historias antiquísimas⁣
 que muy pocos recuerdan"⁣
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Segunda y última parte de El Libro De Los Cuentos Perdidos, la antología publicada por Christopher Tolkien, en donde compila y analiza los primeros escritos de su padre John y que luego sirvieron de base para el nacimiento de La Tierra Media.⁣
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En este segundo tomo, tenemos algunas de las historias más queridas por los fanáticos de El Silmarillion: El Cuento De Tinúviel (luego convertido en la Balada de Beren y Lúthien), Turambar y el Foalóke (Los Hijos De Hurin) y La Caída de Gondolin. El cuarto cuento del libro se llama Nauglafring y trata sobre un collar forjado con oro maldito, una gran historia que no tuvo (creo) casi participación en El Silmarillion y esto la convirtió en una de las sorpresas (para mí al menos) de esta segunda parte de los Cuentos Perdidos.⁣
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Otro gran trabajo por parte de Christopher (y van…), con un desarrollo muy detallista, ofreciéndonos después de cada cuento información sobre los cambios en los nombres que se hicieron (para darle coherencia a la historia "grande"), las distintas versiones de algunos fragmentos y hasta poemas escritos por John relativos al cuento.⁣
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Totalmente imprescindibles ambos volúmenes para los fanáticos de El Silmarillion y de la Alta Fantasía en general.⁣
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