The Fall of Arthur -by J R R Tolkien (inc. Notes on the Text; the Poem in Arthurian Tradition; The Unwritten Poem and Its Relation to The Silmarillion; Evolution of the Poem; Appendix: Old English Verse )( King Arthur )

Tolkien, J R R ( John Ronald Reuel ); Edited By Christopher Tolkien

ISBN 10: 0007489943 / ISBN 13: 9780007489947

Published by London, UK: HarperCollins / Harper Collins, 2013, 1st Edition, First Printing, London, England, 2013

About this Item

-----------( 1st printing of the First UK Edition ) ---hardcover, a Fine example in a Fine dustjacket, colour photo frontispiece of a page of manuscript text by Tolkien, ---233 pages, ---"The world first publication of a previously unknown work by J.R.R. Tolkien, which tells the extraordinary story of the final days of England s legendary hero, King Arthur. --The Fall of Arthur, the only venture by J.R.R. Tolkien into the legends of Arthur King of Britain, may well be regarded as his finest and most skillful achievement in the use of the Old English alliterative metre, in which he brought to his transforming perceptions of the old narratives a pervasive sense of the grave and fateful nature of all that is told: of Arthur s expedition overseas into distant heathen lands, of Guinevere s flight from Camelot, of the great sea-battle on Arthur s return to Britain, in the portrait of the traitor Mordred, in the tormented doubts of Lancelot in his French castle. --Unhappily, The Fall of Arthur was one of several long narrative poems that he abandoned in that period. In this case he evidently began it in the earlier nineteen-thirties, and it was sufficiently advanced for him to send it to a very perceptive friend who read it with great enthusiasm at the end of 1934 and urgently pressed him You simply must finish it! But in vain: he abandoned it, at some date unknown, though there is some evidence that it may have been in 1937, the year of the publication of The Hobbit and the first stirrings of The Lord of the Rings. Years later, in a letter of 1955, he said that he hoped to finish a long poem on The Fall of Arthur ; but that day never came. Associated with the text of the poem, however, are many manuscript pages: a great quantity of drafting and experimentation in verse, in which the strange evolution of the poem s structure is revealed, together with narrative synopses and very significant if tantalising notes. In these latter can be discerned clear if mysterious associations of the Arthurian conclusion with The Silmarillion, and the bitter ending of the love of Lancelot and Guinevere, which was never written."---, any image directly beside this listing is the actual book and not a generic photo ///NOT SIGNED ---GUARANTEED to be AVAILABLE /// ---sizes are approximate (generally within 1/8 inch) --- Size: 5.75w x 9h Inches.

Seller Inventory # 171175

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Fall of Arthur -by J R R Tolkien (inc. Notes on the Text; the Poem in Arthurian Tradition; The Unwritten Poem and Its Relation to The Silmarillion; Evolution of the Poem; Appendix: Old English Verse )( King Arthur )
• Publisher: London, UK: HarperCollins / Harper Collins, 2013, 1st Edition, First Printing, London, England
• Publication Date: 2013
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0007489943
• ISBN 13: 9780007489947
• Binding: Hard Cover
• Illustrator: Photo Cover
• Edition: First Edition.
• Condition: Fine (see description)
• Dust Jacket Condition: Fine (see description)
• Signed: Not Signed
• Book Type: NOT Price Clipped
• Seller catalogs:
  • J R R Tolkien

About this title

Synopsis

The world first publication of a previously unknown work by J.R.R. Tolkien, which tells the extraordinary story of the final days of England’s legendary hero, King Arthur.

The Fall of Arthur, the only venture by J.R.R. Tolkien into the legends of Arthur King of Britain, may well be regarded as his finest and most skilful achievement in the use of the Old English alliterative metre, in which he brought to his transforming perceptions of the old narratives a pervasive sense of the grave and fateful nature of all that is told: of Arthur’s expedition overseas into distant heathen lands, of Guinevere’s flight from Camelot, of the great sea-battle on Arthur’s return to Britain, in the portrait of the traitor Mordred, in the tormented doubts of Lancelot in his French castle.
Unhappily, The Fall of Arthur was one of several long narrative poems that he abandoned in that period. In this case he evidently began it in the earlier nineteen-thirties, and it was sufficiently advanced for him to send it to a very perceptive friend who read it with great enthusiasm at the end of 1934 and urgently pressed him ‘You simply must finish it!’ But in vain: he abandoned it, at some date unknown, though there is some evidence that it may have been in 1937, the year of the publication of The Hobbit and the first stirrings of The Lord of the Rings. Years later, in a letter of 1955, he said that ‘he hoped to finish a long poem on The Fall of Arthur’; but that day never came.
Associated with the text of the poem, however, are many manuscript pages: a great quantity of drafting and experimentation in verse, in which the strange evolution of the poem’s structure is revealed, together with narrative synopses and very significant if tantalising notes. In these latter can be discerned clear if mysterious associations of the Arthurian conclusion with The Silmarillion, and the bitter ending of the love of Lancelot and Guinevere, which was never written.

J.R.R. Tolkien's book 'The Fall of Númenor' was a Sunday Times bestseller w/c 2022-11-07.

About the Authors

J.R.R.Tolkien (1892-1973) was a distinguished academic, though he is best known for writing The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion, plus other stories and essays. His books have been translated into over 80 languages and have sold many millions of copies worldwide.

Christopher Tolkien, born on 24 November 1924, was the third son of J.R.R. Tolkien. As his father’s literary executor, he devoted over forty years to the publication of his father’s unpublished works, from The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales to Beren and Lúthien and The Fall of Gondolin, and within 'The History of Middle-earth' series, and was awarded the Bodley Medal for his services to literature in 2016. He died in January 2020 at the age of 95.