From Library Journal
This is the third volume culled from Tolkien's unpublished manuscripts. Two tales from the Silmarillion the tragedy of Turin Turambar and the epic quest of Beren and Luthienappear in early versions. Turin's story is told in alliterative verse, the other in rhymed couplets. The multiple extant versions of each poem have been painstakingly arranged and synthesized by Tolkien's son Christopher, who has also provided elaborate notes on their relation to previously published works. While the power of Tolkien's central characterstragic, cursed Turin; the lovers Beren and Luthienshines through these poems, they are of interest chiefly in showing the development of a writer's ideas. For comprehensive literature and fantasy collections. Beth Ann Mills, New Rochelle P.L., N.Y.Copyright 1985 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Book Description
"The power of Tolkien's central characters . . . shines through." Library Journal.
A treasure trove of lore for old and new friends of Middle-earth. Enter now, reader, and learn of the hero of the Lay of Leithian. Hear as well of the early years of Turin the Tall, as he journeys through darkness on his quest to find his father. Read of his rescue by Beleg the Brave, and of the dark destiny that haunts their friendship! Only the genius of Tolkien could create a fantasy more real than reality, a reality more fantastic than fantasy!


From the Inside Flap
"The power of Tolkien's central characters . . . shines through." Library Journal.
A treasure trove of lore for old and new friends of Middle-earth. Enter now, reader, and learn of the hero of the Lay of Leithian. Hear as well of the early years of Turin the Tall, as he journeys through darkness on his quest to find his father. Read of his rescue by Beleg the Brave, and of the dark destiny that haunts their friendship! Only the genius of Tolkien could create a fantasy more real than reality, a reality more fantastic than fantasy!

ANNOTATION

Christopher Tolkien continues to mine his father's wealth of previously unpublished material--to the delight of J.R.R. Tolkien's legion of readers. The Lays of Beleriand presents a crucial early prelude to the classic Lord of the Rings saga. Accompanied by the analysis of C.S. Lewis.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

This is the third volume of the History of Middle-earth, which comprises here-tofore unpublished manuscripts that were written over a period of many years before Tolkien's Simlarillion was published. Volumes 1 and 2 were the Book of Lost Tales, Part One and The Book of Lost Tales, Part Two. Together, these volumes encompass an extraordinarily extensive body of material ornamenting and buttressing what must be the most fully realized world ever to spring from a single author's imagination."I write alliterative verse with pleasure," wrote J.R.R. Tolkien in 1955, "though I have published little beyond the fragments in The Lord of the Rings, except The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth." The first of the poems in The Lays of Beleriand is the previously unpublished Lay of the Children of Hurin, his early but most sustained work in the ancient English meter, intended to narrate on a grand scale the tragedy of Turin Turambar. It was account of the killing by Turin of his friend Beleg, as well as a unique description of the great redoubt of Nargothrond. The Lay of the Children of Hurin was supplanted by the Lay of Leithian, "Release from Bondage", in which another major legend of the Elder Days received poetic form, in this case in rhyme. The chief source of the short prose tale of Beren and Luthien is The Silmarillion. This, too, was not completed, but the whole Quest of the Silmaril is told, and the poem breaks off only after the encounter with Morgoth in his subterranean fortress. Many years later, when The Lord of the rings was finished, J.R.R. Tolkien returned to the Lay of Leithian and started on a new version, which is also given in this book.Accompanying the poems are commentaries on the evolution of the history of the Elder Days, which was much developed during the years of the composition of the two Lays. Also included is the notable criticism in detail of the Lay of Lethian by C.S. Lewis, Tolkien's friend and colleague, who read the poem in 1929. By assuming that this poem is actually a fragment from a past lost in history, Lewis underlined the remarkable power of its author's imaginative talents and academic competence.

FROM THE CRITICS

Library Journal