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The Nature Of Middle-Earth
Posted: Fri Jan 21, 2022 6:26 pm
by Romeran
From the description
the first ever publication of J.R.R. Tolkien’s final writings on Middle-earth, covering a wide range of subjects and perfect for those who have read and enjoyed The Silmarillion, The Lord of the Rings, Unfinished Tales, and The History of Middle-earth, and want to learn more about Tolkien’s magnificent world.
Is this actually new unpublished material and not simply a collection of works from HoME etc? As-in it's worth getting? I didn't pick up Fall of Gondolin since it seemed like a collection of already published material (am I wrong here?) but based on the description above it seems like there actually is unpublished material in Nature. Has anyone read it? Thoughts?
Re: The Nature Of Middle-Earth
Posted: Fri Jan 21, 2022 10:41 pm
by Eldy Dunami
Some of the material in NoMe has appeared in scholarly Tolkien periodicals before, but some of those are hard to find—Parma Eldalamberon 17 is out of print,* but fortunately there are several chapters in NoMe consisting of material also found there—so I consider that a valuable contribution. Some of chapters are recognizable as the longer, full versions of texts excerpted or paraphrased by Christopher Tolkien in Unfinished Tales and The History of Middle-earth, but many are wholly new to the vast majority of readers.
That said, whether or not NoMe is worth buying depends on what you're hoping for from it. If you enjoyed the really nitty gritty philosophical and anthropological bits of the last three volumes of the History, and if you want an entire volume of that, you will probably love NoMe. If you want a collection of narrative fiction, this ain't it.
*EDIT: Apparently, it's available via print on demand as of last October.
Re: The Nature Of Middle-Earth
Posted: Fri Jan 21, 2022 10:57 pm
by Romeran
If you enjoyed the really nitty gritty philosophical and anthropological bits of the last three volumes of the History, and if you want an entire volume of that, you will probably love NoMe.
Well now I definitely need to order it. Thanks for the info! The reviews of the book (that I could find) weren't particularly clear and I wasn't sure whether or not I trusted the brief description.
Re: The Nature Of Middle-Earth
Posted: Sat Jan 22, 2022 7:48 pm
by Eldy Dunami
I hope you enjoy it! 
Re: The Nature Of Middle-Earth
Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2022 11:31 am
by Saranna
I loved it, truly!
Re: The Nature Of Middle-Earth
Posted: Mon Jan 31, 2022 3:50 pm
by Chrysophylax Dives
Yeah, I think it has enough new material to justify. Also, I'm impressed with Carl Hostetter as editor. (He has a useful appendix on the Thomist Catholic theology or philosophy that Tolkien takes as given - and causes all sorts of problems in understanding for the rest of us.)
Re: The Nature Of Middle-Earth
Posted: Mon Jan 31, 2022 4:18 pm
by Romeran
Chrysophylax Dives wrote: ↑Mon Jan 31, 2022 3:50 pm
Yeah, I think it has enough new material to justify. Also, I'm impressed with Carl Hostetter as editor. (He has a useful appendix on the Thomist Catholic theology or philosophy that Tolkien takes as given - and causes all sorts of problems in understanding for the rest of us.)
I'm excited to give it a read, my copy arrived the other day. I have to finish the current book I'm reading, probably in the next couple of days and then I'm going to pick it up.
I did eventually find a couple of other threads here about it:
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=809
and
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=331
When I finish reading it I may add some of my thoughts. So far the table of contents seems fascinating!