重返Middle-earth：倒數２１日

我實在太後知後覺了，今天看報紙，才知道J.R.R. Tolkien的新書The Children of Hurin將於下個月出版。

猶記得當年看Lord of the Rings小說看到結尾時，很心酸，因為捨不得那故事完結，捨不得從中土世界抽離。

後來看了The Hobbit，但始終無法延續那份情懷。接著又買了The Silmarillion、Unfinished Tales of Numenor and Middle-Earth，以及四大本History of Middle Earth，但一直都未有時間細看。

但今天發現Tolkien有新書時，依然感動。發現此書由他兒子Christopher Tolkien所編，Alan Lee 繪畫插圖時，一股久違了的興奮直湧上心頭。

於是我仿如回到當年沉迷Lord of the Rings的歲月，懷著興奮的心情上網搜尋資料。

Over the past 30 years, several volumes of Hurin segments have been published, but to read through them was an ordeal that rivaled the heroes' own epic quest. "There were all these pieces and different versions of the story that didn't agree with each other," says Michael Drout, Prentice associate professor of English at Wheaton College in Norton, Massachusetts.

This version, however, is a definitive, coherent text. Credited as the book's editor, the force behind the volume is Tolkien's son Christopher, who spent the last 30 years collecting and synthesizing the fragments and binding them into a seamless narrative, one that will make Hurin accessible both to casual readers and to those who speak Elvish in their sleep. Christopher Tolkien has long been a caretaker and editor of his father's work. Exceedingly close to his father growing up, he became the keeper of all things hobbit upon J.R.R.'s death in 1973.

單看成書過程的簡介，已教人動容。


根據Amazon的資料，這本The Children of Hurin由Houghton Mifflin出版，分硬皮版(上圖)及豪華版(右圖)，售價分別是15.60美元及44.99美元。

Amazon說，此書會由四月十七日起發售，不知道香港會否同步推出？那豪華版美得令我眼泛淚光！但我連買硬皮版也很肉赤～


The Children of Hurin的資料：
Harper Collins's Book Description

TIME: The Return of the King

The Independent: Tolkien's son completes father's unfinished epic

Wikipedia: The Children of Húrin