| Edition |
First U.S. edition. |
| Description |
xxiii, 168 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm |
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text txt rdacontent |
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unmediated n rdamedia |
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volume nc rdacarrier |
| Note |
Tolkien's Story is based on the Kullervo cycle in the Karelian and Finnish epic poem Kalevala. It first appeared in 2010 in Tolkien Studies (Volume VII / edited by Douglas A. Anderson, Michael D.C. Drout, Verlyn Flieger; Morgantown, W. Va. : West Virginia University Press) and was republished in August 2015 by HarperCollins (London). |
| Summary |
"The first publication of a previously unknown work of fantasy by J.R.R. Tolkien. Kullervo, son of Kalervo, is perhaps the darkest and most tragic of all J.R.R. Tolkien's characters. "Hapless Kullervo," as Tolkien called him, is a luckless orphan boy with supernatural powers and a tragic destiny. Brought up in the homestead of the dark magician Untamo, who killed his father, kidnapped his mother, and tried three times to kill him when he was still a boy, Kullervo is alone save for the love of his twin sister, Wanona, and the magical powers of the black dog Musti, who guards him. When Kullervo is sold into slavery he swears revenge on the magician, but he will learn that even at the point of vengeance there is no escape from the cruelest of fates. Tolkien himself said that The Story of Kullervo was "the germ of my attempt to write legends of my own," and was "a major matter in the legends of the First Age." Tolkien's Kullervo is the clear ancestor of Turin Turambar, tragic incestuous hero of The Silmarillion. Published here for the first time with the author's drafts, notes, and lecture essays on its source work, the Kalevala, The Story of Kullervo is a foundation stone in the structure of Tolkien's invented world. "-- Provided by publisher. |
| Contents |
Introduction -- The story of Kullervo -- List of names -- Draft plot synopses. Notes and commentary -- Introduction to the essays -- On "The Kalevala" or Land of heroes. Notes and commentary -- The Kalevala. Notes and commentary -- Tolkien, Kalevala, and "The story of Kullervo" / by Verlyn Flieger. |
| Summary |
Brought up in the homestead of the dark magician Untamo, who killed his father, kidnapped his mother, and tried three times to kill him when he was still a boy, Kullervo is alone save for the love of his twin sister, Wanona, and the magical powers of the black dog Musti, who guards him. When Kullervo is sold into slavery he swears revenge on the magician, but he will learn that even at the point of vengeance there is no escape from the cruelest of fates. The story-- only forty pages long-- is followed by essays and commentaries on Tolkien's work, and on the source material. |
| Subject |
Young men -- Fiction.
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Magicians -- Fiction.
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Slavery -- Fiction.
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Revenge -- Fiction.
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Kalevala.
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Epic poetry, Finnish -- History and criticism.
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| Genre |
Fantasy fiction.
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Fantasy fiction.
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Adaptations.
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| Added Author |
Flieger, Verlyn, 1933- editor.
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| Added Title |
Kullervo |
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Based on (work): Kalevala.
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| ISBN |
9780544706262 hardcover : $25.00 |
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0544706269 hardcover |
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