What do
the following works have in common: M. John Harrison’s Viriconium Nights, Ursula Le Guin’s Tales from Earthsea, Ian McDonald’s Cyberabad Days, Kim Stanley Robinson’s The Martians, Robert Silverberg’s Majipoor Chronicles, and George Alec Effinger’s Budayeen Nights? They are not only all
collections, they are also collections featuring stories set in an established
world, binding the larger pieces together like cement. (In the case of
Harrison’s Viriconium, we must make that plural: worlds). Poring over the wealth of material available
for the posthumous publication of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Silmarillion (1977), Tolkien’s son, Christopher, tabbed,
compared, analyzed, and made extensive notes of it all, and three years later
published Unfinished Tales
(1980). Like the aforementioned author’s
collections, it fills in holes, covers backstory, and all around creates a
broader, rounder view of a world, in this case the inimitable (though often
attempted) Middle Earth. Therefore, those looking for The Lord of the Rings 2: Sauron Strikes Back should be aware: Unfinished Tales is most similar to the
mythic stylings of The Silmarillion
and the informational appendices of The Lord of the Rings than the novel itself.
Unfinished Tales is for the scholar, the connoisseur, the nerd of Middle Earth.
Frodo, Gandalf, Sam, Bilbo, Gimli, Aragorn—all get brief mention, but
are far, far from being the cornerstones of the collection. Unfinished
Tales can thus be broken into three essential parts: 1) the tales and
myths, legends and stories Tolkien had written in the background of the major
works that are confluent with Middle Earth history yet insular. For readers simply interested in reading more
from Tolkien’s imagination, they will satisfy. 2) bits of history, including
geographical descriptions, royal lineages, histories of friendships and
marriages, maps, etc. These are for the
reader who revels in worldbuilding. And
3) the foot notes. Covering a tremendous
range of side commentary, Tolkien includes his father’s scribblings in the
margin, alternate versions of the stories at hand, cross-indexing, analysis,
supposition, as well as explanations and descriptions how or why the
information is important to the larger scheme of Middle Earth. Though dad’s writings occupy the majority, the
foot notes occupy a significant portion of the book. (There are even a couple of occasions wherein
the foot notes are longer than the story itself.) These additional notes, analysis, and
commentary are for the reader with “Frodo
lives!” tattooed on their forehead.
