The History of The Lord of the Rings
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| The History of Middle-earth |
|---|
| Volumes I and II |
| Volume III |
| Volume IV |
| Volume V |
| Volumes VI-IX |
| Volume X |
| Volume XI |
| Volume XII |
The History of The Lord of the Rings is a 4-volume work by Christopher Tolkien that documents the process of J. R. R. Tolkien's writing of The Lord of the Rings. The History is also numbered as volumes 6 to 9 of The History of Middle-earth. Some information concerning the appendices and a soon-abandoned sequel to the novel can also be found in volume 12, The Peoples of Middle-earth.
Contents |
[edit] Contents
The volumes include:
- (HoME 6) The Return of the Shadow (1988) begins with the initial composition, and goes through to the episode in the Mines of Moria.
- (HoME 7) The Treason of Isengard (1989) continues to the meeting with Théoden king of Rohan.
- (HoME 8) The War of the Ring (1990) continues to the opening of the Black Gate.
- (HoME 9) Sauron Defeated (1992) finishes the story, which only takes about one third of the volume. The remainder consists of The Notion Club Papers, and another draft of the Drowning of Anadûnê. (Note that the paperback edition of this volume includes only the Lord of the Rings material, and not the rest.)
In general, the books are organized as chapters corresponding to the chapters in the final Lord of the Rings, with additional chapters describing the "First Map", the "Second Map", and other matters - particularly summaries, outlines, plot notes, and speculation about the story (which often reveal directions which were not taken). Each chapter begins with some context, then the text of a first or second draft, possibly some alternate drafts if there were especially large changes, and interspersed with extended discussion of confusing or contradictory situations. The end of each chapter includes a set of notes about points of interest, such as words that were used originally and then partially erased or struck out.
While much of the plot of early drafts is familiar, the characters are often quite different. For instance, Aragorn in his "Strider" guise is called "Trotter" instead — and he is a hobbit instead of a man — and he has wooden shoes — because he had once been to Mordor and been tortured there. The hobbits travel east initially because that was the part of the world that had been mapped out, because of The Hobbit, and that the areas to the south were literally being mapped out only a few miles ahead of the fellowship.
These books show the creative process as it unfolded, and provide a glimpse into the creation of the work (and, practically an entire genre) that is rare.
The most salient theme is Tolkien's early preoccupation by minor matters that seem (looking back) to be unimportant. He expends much effort on fixing up matters that don't seem to warrant it. The story, until the arrival at Rivendell, is filled with dithering over the trivia of minor characters, how letters were exchanged, and so forth. (Tolkien interestingly presaged the whole choose-your-own-adventure genre by creating alternate versions of some chapters which could be read different ways by the choice of different riders and versions!) Tolkien, even after writing the departure from Rivendell and trip to Moria (which was abandoned by Tolkien starting over in Hobbiton with yet another round of revision), simply didn't see the rest of the framework of the story - the central quest - clearly. Once he saw the end clearly, the draft chapters take on a significantly different tone and the false starts and different story elements are much fewer. What is not written in these early chapters is as important as what was written; the dithering over unimportant matters is much like a great artist doodling while waiting for inspiration for a masterpiece.
Most items of interest are in the early draft chapters, such as the time when Frodo was 'Bingo' (with Frodo and Odo as companions), and the central character shifts between Bingo and Bilbo. Treebeard is originally perceived as an enemy, and his final role takes some time to emerge. The original appearance of a horse on the road behind the Hobbits who left Bag End was Gandalf, changed immediately to the black rider. Farmer Maggot switched his role several times. Strider/Trotter was a hobbit until very late, and the whole character of Aragorn is largely absent from drafts. Even when Strider emerged as a man, little was changed in early chapters, and the whole story with Arwen is largely absent until the very end when that sub-plot was retrofitted into the book.
Perhaps the single most surprising element in the entire four volumes of this history is that Tolkien had Trotter the Hobbit tell the tale of Tinúviel to the Hobbits right before the arrival at Rivendel. When this was written, the story of Aragorn and Arwen had not even been imagined, and there was absolutely no reason for the particular story of Beren and Lúthien to be told, other than it was a piece Tolkien had already written. Later, when it was Aragorn coming back to Rivendell after some 40 years (per the timeline) to see Arwen again, the same element took on an entirely different and deeper significance, but without Tolkien consciously intending it. This is the most startling example in the history of this effect, but the "deepening effect" is seen over and over. In the case of the Black Riders, they start out with no real significance, and the meaning of their appearing in the Shire takes on a deeper and deeper meaning as more is revealed about them.
The books also explain many oddities of the published text, such as why the miller uses the word 'cracked' in an early chapter (due to a change that omitted a key phrase which explains it). Many times a turn of phrase, or something that happens, made more sense in an earlier draft before revision, elision, or so forth happened. Christopher Tolkien also provides translations for all the foreign words and phrases which are opaque in the original text.
The original conception for the hobbits' return to the Shire at the end was significantly different than the published form.
Of particular interest to fans is the dropped Epilogue to The Lord of the Rings, in which a middle-aged Sam is reading the story to his children.
[edit] Method of composition
These books demonstrate that Tolkien used a method of composition that can best be described as composing in "waves". This style exists on several levels. On the highest level, the composition of the entire work occurs in wave after wave, beginning at a specific point (usually back at the very beginning) and continuing to a point where the wave's impetus diminishes and Tolkien returns to another previous point, and picks up by rewriting. Sometimes chapters are changed radically, but most of the time previous chapters are changed only in minor ways. Within an individual section of the composition, Tolkien would also start a new wave with a strong beginning, and gradually descend into outlining what was to come. In successive waves, the outlines would be expanded into narrative.
The editor, Christopher Tolkien, attempts to reconstruct each layer as closely as possible, whenever possible. In some places, as he freely admits, the exact order of the layers is impossible to reconstruct, but these are rare. Typically, each layer has some identifying characteristic (such as the one written on the back of an examination paper during the World War Two paper shortages). He almost always limits his discussions to the current layer, reserving later changes for a later discussion.
Composition in waves is used with other writing he did, and is his trademark style of composition, but it is most evident in this particular work on account of the sustained narrative.
Often, when a wave began, Tolkien himself had no idea where the wave would take him, and what seems "obvious" to those familiar with the finished work would have been by no means obvious to him as he was composing.
It is worthwhile to contrast Tolkien's style of composition with that of Charles Dickens who plotted out his novels with practically complete outlines before he began writing. Tolkien's style of composition is one reason the world in The Lord of the Rings feels so immense and like it is being explored for the first time.
Tolkien's revisions are so extreme that there are numerous times he can be found working on a later part of a chapter in draft form, while copying an earlier part of the original draft to a fair copy or typescript and revising as he went. To compound the texts, often the much-edited early chapters were edited in waves as new material was written, leaving them worked over with layer after layer of changes. This textual tangle is unraveled by the editor, Christopher Tolkien, with much labor. Often, only the constantly shifting names offer a clue as to which layer of a text belongs to which phase of the work. In the extreme case of the early chapters, Tolkien compounded a pencil draft on top of an ink draft, followed by revisions, followed by a fair copy, followed by more revisions. Christopher Tolkien usually picks one early draft and one later draft as representative samples of the textual history, and complements these with unusual passages from the other texts. Because the history follows the chronological composition through the various waves, the textual history is shown one layer at a time, and later revisions are shown when they were made.
[edit] The canonical text
The most recent, computer typeset edition of The Lord of the Rings uses a text which incorporates some material from these volumes of history, particularly when this history points out obvious errors and incorrect typesetting. The history is not the only source, but is one major source, for establishing the canonical text of The Lord of the Rings. (See the textual introduction in most recent editions for more information.)
Three of the titles of the volumes of The History of The Lord of the Rings were also used as book titles for the 7-volume edition of The Lord of the Rings - The Return of the Shadow for Book I, The Treason of Isengard for Book III and The War of the Ring for Book V.
[edit] External links
| J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium | |
|---|---|
| Published during his lifetime: | The Hobbit • The Lord of the Rings • The Adventures of Tom Bombadil • The Road Goes Ever On |
| Posthumous publications: | The Silmarillion • Unfinished Tales • The History of Middle-earth (12 volumes) • Bilbo's Last Song • The Children of Húrin • The History of The Hobbit |
| Lists of articles: | By category • By name • Writings • Characters • Peoples • Rivers • Realms • Ages |
