The first prose piece by Lord of the Rings author J.R.R. Tolkien is due to be published in Britain today, a version of an epic Finnish poem that experts describe as “undeniably his darkest work.”
Written between1914 and 1915 when Tolkien was still a student at the University of Oxford, The Story of Kullervo shows the young author “finding his feet,” University Paris Est-Criteil professor of comparative literature Vincent Ferre told reporters.
Fascinated by ancient languages from a young age, Tolkien was taken by the 19th century work of epic poetry, Kalevala, a compilation of mythology and folklore which tells the story of Kullervo.
Photo: AFP
The story is “the first time that J.R.R. Tolkien, who had been a poet until then, began writing prose,” Ferre, a Tolkien expert, said. “We could say that Tolkien is finding his feet... He ultimately leaves the story to one side without finishing it, switching to write more personal and original works.”
Published by Harper Collins, the short story is to be released in Britian today and on Oct. 27 in the US.
The Story of Kullervo was first published in 2010 in the academic journal Tolkien Studies by English professor Verlyn Flieger.
Flieger had copied out a manuscript written by Tolkien in pencil held at the University of Oxford’s Bodleian Library.
“I began to think that it deserved a wider audience than subscribers to a scholarly journal,” Flieger said.
After some consideration, the Tolkien estate granted permission.
“It’s his earliest mythic story, and thus a precursor of all that is to come,” said Flieger, who edited the edition. “It is also undeniably his darkest work and thus foreshadows the darker and more somber aspects of his invented world.”
Kullervo is a precursor to Turin Turambar, an important character in Tolkien’s works who is the protagonist of the novel The Children of Hurin and appears in mythological saga The Simarillion. Both Kullervo and Turambar are cursed and have a father who was the tragic victim of a powerful figure with magical abilities, according to Ferre.
According to Flieger, much unpublished writing by Tolkien is kept at the Bodleian, mainly “lectures and lecture notes, as well as shorter writings.”
POLITICAL PRISONERS VS DEPORTEES: Venezuela’s prosecutor’s office slammed the call by El Salvador’s leader, accusing him of crimes against humanity Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Sunday proposed carrying out a prisoner swap with Venezuela, suggesting he would exchange Venezuelan deportees from the US his government has kept imprisoned for what he called “political prisoners” in Venezuela. In a post on X, directed at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Bukele listed off a number of family members of high-level opposition figures in Venezuela, journalists and activists detained during the South American government’s electoral crackdown last year. “The only reason they are imprisoned is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud,” he wrote to Maduro. “However, I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
Young women standing idly around a park in Tokyo’s west suggest that a giant statue of Godzilla is not the only attraction for a record number of foreign tourists. Their faces lit by the cold glow of their phones, the women lining Okubo Park are evidence that sex tourism has developed as a dark flipside to the bustling Kabukicho nightlife district. Increasing numbers of foreign men are flocking to the area after seeing videos on social media. One of the women said that the area near Kabukicho, where Godzilla rumbles and belches smoke atop a cinema, has become a “real
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
RSS