The Story of Kullervo

by J. R. R. Tolkien

On Sale: 10/20/2016

The Story of Kullervo

Enlarge Book Cover

The Story of Kullervo

by J. R. R. Tolkien

On Sale: 10/20/2016

Format:

About the Book

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 Túrin 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.

Critical Praise



-

Resources

Product Details

  • ISBN: 9780008166724
  • ISBN 10: 0008166722
  • Imprint: HarperCollins
  • On Sale: 10/20/2016
  • Pages: 192
  • List Price:135.99 CAD
  • BISAC1 : FICTION / Fantasy / Epic
  • BISAC2 : FICTION / Fantasy / Dark Fantasy
  • BISAC3 : FICTION / Fantasy / Dragons & Mythical Creatures
  • BISAC4 : FICTION / Action & Adventure
  • BISAC5 : FICTION / Fairy Tales, Folk Tales, Legends & Mythology

The Story of Kullervo by J. R. R. Tolkien, Verlyn Flieger

The broadest selection of online bookstores. The links will take you to the web site's home page.

Other Booksellers

The broadest selection of online bookstores. The links will take you to the Web site's home page.

SELECT:

Specialty Booksellers

Interest-specific online venues and gift accounts that offer books for purchase. The links will take you to the store’s home page.

International Customers

If you are located outside Canada, the best way to order online is to choose from the following bookstores listed by region and country.