Tolkien & The Silmarillion by Clyde S. Kilby
Format/source: Hardcover/Purchased secondhand
Published: 1976
Publisher: Harold Shaw Publishers
Length: 89 pages
Genre: Biography
★★★★
Yes, this delightful little volume is ‘outdated’, having been published in
1976, a year before The Silmarillion. But it remains a valuable read as author Clyde S. Kilby, an Inklings scholar and creator of the Marion E. Wade Center, knew Tolkien personally and shares intimate recollections of the summer he spent working with Tolkien in 1966 to prepare The Silmarillion for publication – though Kilby immediately realized “that The Silmarillion would never be completed” (20). Kilby describes conversations with Tolkien on all sorts of topics, offering wonderful vignettes into the life and mind of Tolkien. Much of the information in this book can be found elsewhere – it is the personal tone and perspective that make it enjoyable to read.
Tolkien & the Silmarillion functions as historical snapshot for readers like me, who have come to Tolkien’s works in the past two decades. Kilby does his best to offer a “chronology of composition” regarding Tolkien’s mythology (49-50), which I imagine is one of the first to be shared publicly, as Kilby had access to much material that was not then publicly available. I smiled as Kilby comments “In the future, we shall no doubt have a much better record of the chronology of the conception and composition of Tolkien’s mythology, but for the present this would appear to be roughly correct” (50). No doubt indeed! This book shows just how lucky contemporary readers are to have the access that we now do to so much of Tolkien’s work, along with extensive secondary scholarship.
Another unique aspect of this book is that it was written shortly after Tolkien’s death and speaks of him in that context. In most texts I read, the authors never knew Tolkien and he has long since passed. I found it moving to read the thoughts of one who was recently mourning Tolkien.
Whether Tolkien will survive as a significant literary figure is a question no man can presently answer. What many of us know with great assurance is that he survives deeply and joyously in us.
Clyde S. Kilby, Tolkien & The Silmarillion, pg. 81
The Bottom Line
If you can get your hands on this little book, it’s still worth a read for any contemporary fan of Tolkien.
Further Reading
- Author biography
- Read an excerpt
- Not much else! I fyou review this book, let me know and I will link it here.
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