30 years after his death, Tolkien's The
Children of Hurin, has been retrieved by his son Christopher from his father's notes and assorted writings. Tolkien began writing it in 1918 but never created it as a novel because he was not primarily a novelist, primarily, he set out to create Middle-earth, a land that preceeded our time. He did so through through maps, elves and orcs and intricate genealogies, the books emerged though sheer invention. Tolkien's approach was derived from English narrative poetry or epic tales such as Beowulf, Norse sagas and possibly Wagner. Tolkien developed his own style this is the very reason why people started reading The Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit ( In a hole in the ground there lived a Hobbit) and promptly gave up. Hurin is captured by Morgoth west of Middle Earth, an area soon to be inundated by floodwaters. Morgoth tries to break Hurin, he fails and places a curse on Hurin's children, Turin and Nienor. The story reads in complex middle English almost as a Norse Saga similar to The Silmarillon. The story is short but readers of The Lord of the Rings wil appreciate a good read.The
films depicted a grimy haunted and menacing world. Tolkien served in the trenches of WW1 a serious and intense time, his orcs, half men, half
earth could have been inspired from his dealings with death. Middle-earth was created in the dismal days of WW1, The Lord of the Rings was written during and after WWII. Tolkien's surreal creation of ancient epic struggles between good and evil make sense of the slaughter of the 20th Century. Tolkien provided pure escapism, there is a demand for the extravagant and magical - a chance to escape the films and return to reading the very English
fairy tale. Tolkien supplied the
missing English mythology, a prime symptom missing from modern life. Wild
mythology raises the human spirit above and beyond the mundane. The Children of Hurin is inspiring.
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