In the midst of my series on the Magic of Medieval Fiction, which is currently focusing on the Arthurian age of the late Fifth Century, a treasure falls into my lap – The Fall of Arthur by J.R.R. Tolkien is being released tomorrow! I purchased an advanced copy on Amazon last night. Here’s an excerpt from a Tolkien Society press release after this image of the book’s cover.
A brand new J.R.R. Tolkien epic, The Fall of Arthur, will be released this Thursday. This never-before-seen story starts with the legendary King Arthur going to war in “Saxon lands” before returning home to confront Mordred’s treachery.
J.R.R. Tolkien, well-known as the author of international best-selling books The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, wrote The Fall of Arthur in the 1930s before he started work on The Hobbit. Its existence was revealed in the 1970s, and its publication has been rumoured for some years, but it had been overtaken by other new posthumous releases such as The Children of Húrin and The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún.
Mark Alford
August 11, 2013 - 7:28 am ·Wow! I've never heard of this! I have got to get to Barnes an Noble right away to check this one out.
I know Tolkien has a prose translation of Beowulf that I am dying to get my hands on, but they can't seem to get their act together to get it published. Frustrating.
Joseph Finley
August 11, 2013 - 8:28 am ·Mark – glad this helped. There is a lot of good material in the book in addition to the poem.