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The Story of Kullervo

Hardback

Main Details

Title The Story of Kullervo
Authors and Contributors      By (author) J. R. R. Tolkien
Edited by Verlyn Flieger
Physical Properties
Format:Hardback
Pages:192
Dimensions(mm): Height 228,Width 149
Category/GenreFantasy
Myth and legend told as fiction
ISBN/Barcode 9780008131364
ClassificationsDewey:823.912
Audience
General
Illustrations 5 b/w, 1 col plates

Publishing Details

Publisher HarperCollins Publishers
Imprint HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
Publication Date 27 August 2015
Publication Country United Kingdom

Description

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 wrote 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'; his Kullervo was the ancestor of Turin Turambar, tragic incestuous hero of The Silmarillion. In addition to 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.

Author Biography

J.R.R.Tolkien (1892-1973) was a distinguished academic, though he is best known for writing The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion, plus other stories and essays. His books have been translated into over 60 languages and have sold many millions of copies worldwide.

Reviews

Praise for J.R.R. Tolkien: 'One marvels anew at the depth, breadth and persistence of J.R.R. Tolkien's labour. No one sympathetic to his aims - the invention of a secondary universe - will want to miss this chance to be present at the creation.' Publishers Weekly