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The Story of Kullervo
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BOTM MARCH — The story of Kullervo by J.R.R Tolkien
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I have picked up my library loan. But I have reservations. Much to everyone's chagrin I am not a Tolkien fan and this being an unfinished book, along with also being a translated story, has a number of hits against it for me personally. However, never let it be said that I was a quitter. I have the book now, and can hopefully read it, all the way through, AND maybe I will even like it. 🤷 But I will give it the old college try...lol!
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skipped most of the introduction as it felt like it's circling over the same thing for several pages straight. I've never read any Tolkien piece before so what's fascinating to me is the fact people have written thesis about his work. this instance seems especially wild because story of kullervo is essentially fanfiction.
Cpt. Disco wrote: "skipped most of the introduction as it felt like it's circling over the same thing for several pages straight. I've never read any Tolkien piece before so what's fascinating to me is the fact peopl..."I always feel worn out after reading these long Intro's, and rarely feel like they informed me of much. I haven't started this book yet, but did notice a lengthy Intro. My preference is usually the Author Notes after reading the book - they are to me the pages that give the added information worthy of reading.
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Sandy. Never a quitter. I feel the same way. Captain Disco, I too have never read Tolkien and am looking forward to the challenge, a number of my geeky friends LOVE his books. If I didn’t belong to this group I would never have attempted a Tolkien. So thank you book group for the idea.I’ve got a free download from archive.org gonna read this next week.
So…. I have finished the intro and the story itself and the transcript of the talk Tolkien planned. Is it okay to skip the Notes and Commentary ? Is that cheating?
Ugh! Toni I haven't started it yet. Sounds like there is more "extra" to the book than story!
I am not sure what I was expecting when I read this. It turned out to be an academic work sandwiching the story. The story was written in oldy worldy English and because I had read the essay that was the first piece of bread in the sandwich I knew Tolkien was turning the Finnish poems into a short story. The story was like a legend and I had to work hard to read it, which is probably what an undergraduate poet at the turn of the last century would have been happy with. Excellent filling, bread very dry, hard work in the eating.
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real. it's quite boring. skipping through it reading bits here and there.
This one just did not gel with me. I tried to start it three times over the month and could never get interested or enthused about it. Tolkien is not someone who I have read, so his work is not familiar or on point with me. I will say for a short 40 page story there was three times the notes and introductions, etc, etc with this one. Not very appealing.
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Readers who have read the book already can also discuss the book but keep away from spoilers or use the spoiler tab.
A little about the Book
The world first publication of a previously unknown work of fantasy by J.R.R. Tolkien, which tells the powerful story of a doomed young man who is sold into slavery and who swears revenge on the magician who killed his father.
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 who tries three times to kill him when still a boy, Kullervo is alone save for the love of his twin sister, Wanona, and guarded by the magical powers of the black dog, Musti. 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 cruellest 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. In addition to it being a powerful story in its own right, The Story of Kullervo – published here for the first time with the author’s drafts, notes and lecture-essays on its source-work, The Kalevala – is a foundation stone in the structure of Tolkien’s invented world.
Pages: 192(depending on the edition)
Looking forward to everyone’s active participation and fun discussion.
HAPPY READING!📚📚