J. R. R. Tolkien, Unfinished Tales

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In 1980, following the publication of

The Silmarillion

which revealed Tolkien’s mythological vision informing the background of his much loved works

The Hobbit

and

The Lord of the Rings

, his son Christopher Tolkien edited and prepared for publication the volume

Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth

.

Unfinished Tales

provided additional glimpses into Tolkien’s imaginary world and enlarged readers’ understanding of the “mythology” of Middle-earth. It also marked the beginning of one of the most unusual publishing feats of twentieth-century literature: the publication of

The History of Middle-earth

, twelve volumes of Tolkien’s writings which were never finished or prepared for publication in his lifetime, presented in a roughly chronological order. With the addition of

1663 words

Citation: Fimi, Dimitra. "Unfinished Tales". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 28 January 2008 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=8558, accessed 19 March 2024.]

8558 Unfinished Tales 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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