The Fall of Gondolin next week!

Posted on August 27, 2018 by Brenton Dickieson

I’m quite excited about this. See also John Garth’s review in Times (behind a registration wall). I am also pleased by Alan Lee’s illustrations, but I would love in 10 or 20 years to see a new edition of these great pieces come out with other superb artwork. Looking up for the Fall of Gondolin!

About Brenton Dickieson

“A Pilgrim in Narnia” is a blog project in reading and talking about the work of C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, the Inklings, L.M. Montgomery, and the worlds they created. As a "Faith, Fantasy, and Fiction" blog, we cover topics like children’s literature, myths and mythology, fantasy, science fiction, speculative fiction, poetry, theology, cultural criticism, art and writing. This blog includes my thoughts as I read through my favourite writings and reflect on my own life and culture. In this sense, I am a Pilgrim in Narnia--or Middle Earth, or Fairyland, or Avonlea. I am often peeking inside of wardrobes, looking for magic bricks in urban alleys, or rooting through yard sale boxes for old rings. If something here captures your imagination, leave a comment, “like” a post, share with your friends, or sign up to receive Narnian Pilgrim posts in your email box. Brenton Dickieson (PhD, Chester) is a father, husband, friend, university lecturer, and freelance writer from Prince Edward Island, Canada. You can follow him: www.aPilgrimInNarnia.com Twitter (X) @BrentonDana Instagram @bdickieson Facebook @aPilgrimInNarnia
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6 Responses to The Fall of Gondolin next week!

  1. David Llewellyn Dodds says:
    August 27, 2018 at 10:08 am

    Thanks for this! How this year has flown – it felt to me like this was a long way off, yet!

    Meanwhile, tangentially, someone just reminded me (with a link to a Tolkien Society post) that a complete audio recording of Paul Corfield Godfrey’s opera of The Fall of Gondolin will be released on 1 September “with the permission of the Tolkien Estate”. Some of his Tolkien music can be sampled on what I assume is his own YouTube account.

    Reply
  2. Matthew Wright says:
    August 28, 2018 at 7:20 am

    It’s intriguing to me that this is coming out in August 2018 – the centenary of the month when the military campaign that essentially pushed the First World War to its political end occurred, and given that this story was apparently the origin of the Middle Earth legendarium that Tolkien conceived in the trenches and began writing in 1917. To me, given the way his evolved thinking then (inadvertently) engaged with the ‘baby boomer’ reaction to the World Wars period, it underscores the social impact of these developments on western society since – in which Tolkien’s work has become socially widespread, iconic, and, arguably, important for more than one generation.

    Reply
    • Brenton Dickieson says:
      August 28, 2018 at 8:08 am

      That’s an interesting link. Though perhaps accidental on this particular book release, Tolkien work has certainly energized in this 100 year anniversary of WWI. I have no doubt that he was formed by war, but responded differently than the war poets (and their death of Tennyson).

      Reply
      • David Llewellyn Dodds says:
        August 28, 2018 at 11:01 am

        I think the stylistically very different David Jones makes an interesting comparison: paying attention to heroism as well as horrors, and to spiritual and mythic depth, and the peculiarities of ‘technological warfare’ (if that’s a possible description).

        Re. the latter, John Garth’s post “Tanks at Gondolin” (9 December 2016) is well worth (re)reading!

        Reply
  3. ireadthatinabook says:
    August 28, 2018 at 5:25 pm

    Have you seen Tove Jansson’s artwork for The Hobbit?

    Reply

  4. Pingback: The Last Letter of J.R.R. Tolkien, on the 45th Anniversary of His Death | A Pilgrim in Narnia

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