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The story of Kullervo / J.R.R. Tolkien ; edited by Verlyn Flieger.

By: Contributor(s): Material type: TextTextPublisher: Boston : Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016Copyright date: ©2015Edition: First U.S. editionDescription: xxiii, 168 pages : illustrations ; 22 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9780544706262
  • 0544706269
Other title:
  • Kullervo
Uniform titles:
  • Based on (work): Kalevala.
Subject(s): Genre/Form:
Contents:
Introduction -- The story of Kullervo -- List of names -- Draft plot synopses. Notes and commentary -- Introduction to the essays -- On "The Kalevala" or Land of heroes. Notes and commentary -- The Kalevala. Notes and commentary -- Tolkien, Kalevala, and "The story of Kullervo" / by Verlyn Flieger.
Summary: "The first publication of a previously unknown work of fantasy by J.R.R. Tolkien. Kullervo, son of Kalervo, is perhaps the darkest and most tragic of all J.R.R. Tolkien's characters. "Hapless Kullervo," as Tolkien called him, is a luckless orphan boy with supernatural powers and a tragic destiny. Brought up in the homestead of the dark magician Untamo, who killed his father, kidnapped his mother, and tried three times to kill him when he was still a boy, Kullervo is alone save for the love of his twin sister, Wanona, and the magical powers of the black dog Musti, who guards him. When Kullervo is sold into slavery he swears revenge on the magician, but he will learn that even at the point of vengeance there is no escape from the cruelest of fates. Tolkien himself said that The Story of Kullervo was "the germ of my attempt to write legends of my own," and was "a major matter in the legends of the First Age." Tolkien's Kullervo is the clear ancestor of Turin Turambar, tragic incestuous hero of The Silmarillion. Published here for the first time with the author's drafts, notes, and lecture essays on its source work, the Kalevala, The Story of Kullervo is a foundation stone in the structure of Tolkien's invented world. "-- Provided by publisher.Summary: Brought up in the homestead of the dark magician Untamo, who killed his father, kidnapped his mother, and tried three times to kill him when he was still a boy, Kullervo is alone save for the love of his twin sister, Wanona, and the magical powers of the black dog Musti, who guards him. When Kullervo is sold into slavery he swears revenge on the magician, but he will learn that even at the point of vengeance there is no escape from the cruelest of fates. The story-- only forty pages long-- is followed by essays and commentaries on Tolkien's work, and on the source material.
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library Science Fiction/Fantasy Tolkien, J. R. R. Available 33111008389237
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

The first publication of a previously unknown work of fantasy by J.R.R. Tolkien



Kullervo, son of Kalervo, is perhaps the darkest and most tragic of all J.R.R. Tolkien's characters. "Hapless Kullervo," as Tolkien called him, is a luckless orphan boy with supernatural powers and a tragic destiny. Brought up in the homestead of the dark magician Untamo, who killed his father, kidnapped his mother, and tried three times to kill him when he was still a boy, Kullervo is alone save for the love of his twin sister, Wanona, and the magical powers of the black dog Musti, who guards him. When Kullervo is sold into slavery he swears revenge on the magician, but he will learn that even at the point of vengeance there is no escape from the cruelest of fates. Tolkien himself said that The Story of Kullervo was "the germ of my attempt to write legends of my own," and was "a major matter in the legends of the First Age." Tolkien's Kullervo is the clear ancestor of Túrin Turambar, tragic incestuous hero of The Silmarillion . Published here for the first time with the author's drafts, notes, and lecture essays on its source work, the Kalevala , The Story of Kullervo is a foundation stone in the structure of Tolkien's invented world.

Tolkien's Story is based on the Kullervo cycle in the Karelian and Finnish epic poem Kalevala. It first appeared in 2010 in Tolkien Studies (Volume VII / edited by Douglas A. Anderson, Michael D.C. Drout, Verlyn Flieger; Morgantown, W. Va. : West Virginia University Press) and was republished in August 2015 by HarperCollins (London).

"The first publication of a previously unknown work of fantasy by J.R.R. Tolkien. Kullervo, son of Kalervo, is perhaps the darkest and most tragic of all J.R.R. Tolkien's characters. "Hapless Kullervo," as Tolkien called him, is a luckless orphan boy with supernatural powers and a tragic destiny. Brought up in the homestead of the dark magician Untamo, who killed his father, kidnapped his mother, and tried three times to kill him when he was still a boy, Kullervo is alone save for the love of his twin sister, Wanona, and the magical powers of the black dog Musti, who guards him. When Kullervo is sold into slavery he swears revenge on the magician, but he will learn that even at the point of vengeance there is no escape from the cruelest of fates. Tolkien himself said that The Story of Kullervo was "the germ of my attempt to write legends of my own," and was "a major matter in the legends of the First Age." Tolkien's Kullervo is the clear ancestor of Turin Turambar, tragic incestuous hero of The Silmarillion. Published here for the first time with the author's drafts, notes, and lecture essays on its source work, the Kalevala, The Story of Kullervo is a foundation stone in the structure of Tolkien's invented world. "-- Provided by publisher.

Introduction -- The story of Kullervo -- List of names -- Draft plot synopses. Notes and commentary -- Introduction to the essays -- On "The Kalevala" or Land of heroes. Notes and commentary -- The Kalevala. Notes and commentary -- Tolkien, Kalevala, and "The story of Kullervo" / by Verlyn Flieger.

Brought up in the homestead of the dark magician Untamo, who killed his father, kidnapped his mother, and tried three times to kill him when he was still a boy, Kullervo is alone save for the love of his twin sister, Wanona, and the magical powers of the black dog Musti, who guards him. When Kullervo is sold into slavery he swears revenge on the magician, but he will learn that even at the point of vengeance there is no escape from the cruelest of fates. The story-- only forty pages long-- is followed by essays and commentaries on Tolkien's work, and on the source material.

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