"J.R.R. Tolkien - The Unfinished Tales Of Middle-Earth And Nu" - читать интересную книгу автора (Tolkien J.R.R)

But whatever view may be taken of this question, for some, as for myself, there is a value greater than the mere
uncovering of curious detail in learning that V├лantur the N├║men├│rean brought his ship Entuless├л, the "Return", into the
Grey Havens on the spring winds of the six hundredth year of the Second Age, that the tomb of Elendil the Tall was set
by Isildur his son on the summit of the beacon-hill Halifirien, that the Black Rider whom the Hobbits saw in the foggy
darkness on the far side of Bucklebury Ferry was Kham├╗l, chief of the Ringwraiths of Dol Guldur тАУ or even that the
childlessness of Tarannon twelfth King of Gondor (a fact recorded in an Appendix to The Lord of the Rings) was
associated with the hitherto wholly mysterious cats of Queen Ber├║thiel.
The construction of the book has been difficult, and in the result is somewhat complex. The narratives are all
"unfinished," but to a greater or lesser degree, and in different senses of the word, and have required different
treatment; I shall say something below about each one in turn, and here only call attention to some general features.
The most important is the question of "consistency," best illustrated from the section entitled "The History of
Galadriel and Celeborn." This is an "Unfinished Tale" in a larger sense: not a narrative that comes to an abrupt halt, as
in "Of Tuor and his Coming to Gondolin," nor a series of fragments, as in "Cirion and Eorl," but a primary strand in the
history of Middle-earth that never received a settled definition, let alone a final written form. The inclusion of the
unpublished narratives and sketches of narrative on this subject therefore entails at once the acceptance of the history
not as a fixed, independently-existing reality which the author "reports" (in his "persona" as translator and redactor),
but as a growing and shifting conception in his mind. When the author has ceased to publish his works himself, after
subjecting them to his own detailed criticism and comparison, the further knowledge of Middle-earth to be found in his
unpublished writings will often conflict with what is already "known"; and new elements set into the existing edifice
will in such cases tend to contribute less to the history of the invented world itself than to the history of its invention. In
this book I have accepted from the outset that this must be so; and except in minor details such as shifts in
nomenclature (where retention of the manuscript form would lead to disproportionate confusion or disproportionate
space in elucidation) I have made no alterations for the sake of consistency with published works, but rather drawn
attention throughout to conflicts and variations. In this respect therefore "Unfinished Tales" is essentially different from
The Silmarillion, where a primary though not exclusive objective in the editing was to achieve cohesion both internal
and external; and except in a few specified cases I have indeed treated the published form of The Silmarillion as a fixed
point of reference of the same order as the writings published by my father himself, without taking into account the
innumerable "unauthorised" decisions between variants and rival versions that went into its making.
In content the book is entirely narrative (or descriptive): I have excluded all writings about Middle-earth and
Aman that are of a primarily philosophic or speculative nature, and where such matters from time to time arise I have
not pursued them. I have imposed a simple structure of convenience by dividing the texts into Parts corresponding to
the first Three Ages of the World, there being in this inevitably some overlap, as with the legend of Amroth and its
discussion in "The History of Galadriel and Celeborn." The fourth part is an appendage, and may require some excuse
in a book called "Unfinished Tales," since the pieces it contains are generalised and discursive essays with little or no
element of "story." The section on the Dr├║edain did indeed owe its original inclusion to the story of "The Faithful
Stone" which forms a small part of it; and this section led me to introduce those on the Istari and the Palant├нri, since
they (especially the former) are matters about which many people have expressed curiosity, and this book seemed a
convenient place to expound what there is to tell.
The notes may seem to be in some places rather thick on the ground, but it will be seen that where clustered
most densely (as in "The Disaster of the Gladden Fields") they are due less to the editor than to the author, who in his
later work tended to compose in this way, driving several subjects abreast by means of interlaced notes. I have
throughout tried to make it clear what is editorial and what is not. And because of this abundance of original material
appearing in the notes and appendices I have thought it best not to restrict the page-references in the Index to the texts
themselves but to cover all parts of the book except the Introduction.
I have throughout assumed on the reader's part a fair knowledge of the published works of my father (more
especially The Lord of the Rings), for to have done otherwise would have greatly enlarged the editorial element, which
may well be thought quite sufficient already. I have, however, included short defining statements with almost all the
primary entries in the Index, in the hope of saving the reader from constant reference elsewhere. If I have been
inadequate in explanation or unintentionally obscure, Mr. Robert Foster's Complete Guide to Middle-earth supplies, as I