From the Bookshelf of J.R.R. Tolkien…

The Story of Kullervo

J.R.R. Tolkien,

Verlyn Flieger (Editor),

Luca Manini (Translator),

Stefania Marinoni (Translator)

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* Group Read September 2021-January 2022 (No Spoilers)
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last updated Jan 31, 2022 11:38AM

Group Read January-March 2015: The Silmarillion
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What Members Thought

Aug 11, 2015 Michael rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: poetry, mythology-and-folklore, criticism

I guess there's not much I can say in my review that editor Verlyn Flieger doesn't say in her very interesting commentary. To be repetitious, this volume contains Tolkien's 41 page unfinished short story adaptation of an episode from the Finnish poem, The Kalevala; his draft notes and more polished notes for a presentation on the poem to a university society; Flieger's commentary and notes on those presentations; and finally her own essay on Tolkien's story and its significance for his legendari ...more

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Apr 14, 2019 Nenda rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mythology, 2019-reading-challenge

2019 Reading Challenge
Published Posthumously

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Jan 04, 2017 Ebster Davis rated it really liked it

It's Tolkien's reworking of a Scandinavian folk myth. The story is incomplete, and it leaves us at a plot twist. Fortunately though, there is an outline for how the rest of the story would have went.

If you like tragedy, this one is good. I particularly liked Kullervo's character: he's like a humanized grumpy cat: it seems like everything he does is out of spite (not that he doesn't have a reason to be spiteful).

The story is also accompanied by Commentaries: by both Tolkien and the editor of thi ...more

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Apr 22, 2016 Roman Colombo rated it liked it

I hate that I have to give a Tolkien book less than 4 stars, but despite having this text for half a century, this really does feel like the Tolkien Estate exploiting his readers. He story itself, harrowing and violent, and yes, very dark, is barely edited. And it needed to be. Tolkien would be ashamed if he saw what was printed. It's confusing, and the style reads like a rough draft. I get the "this is what he had" notion, but that can be used in notes later. Christopher Tolkien was obviously a ...more

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Apr 22, 2016 Jesse Booth rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2016

This book gives us some insight to some of Tolkien's earlier writing. He obviously used a lot of the themes from this story in The Children of Hurin, which is by far a lot better and a lot more fleshed out.

I'm not entirely sure JRR Tolkien wanted this bit of writing to get out into the general public. While it was entertaining and a worthwhile read, it still felt unpolished. Most of the book is actually notes and commentary, and other bits about how the story came about/pieced together, etc.

This ...more

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Aug 10, 2019 Rossrn Nunamaker rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: history, middle-earth

This is an early work of Tolkien's that is regarded as the basis for his myth-making and the character Kullervo a pre-cursor of Turin.

I definitely need to revisit this one. The style and period Tolkien was writing for is not familiar to me and while I got a lot out of this story, I think I will get more with additional readings of the book. ...more

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