Did Tolkien want silmarillion published?

[SilvaRanger]

Talking about Silmarillion on another board, someone said that Tolkien didn't want silmarillion published, true or not? Also that Silmarillion was only found by Tolkiens children after his death. I'm sure this applies to Unfinished Tales,not Silmarillion, am I right?

[Eruve]

He wanted Sil. to be published, but he wouldn't have wanted it published in the state in which he left it when he died. Originally, he wanted Sil. to be published along with LOTR, but he had trouble convincing his publishers to do this. He even sought out a couple of different publishers to see if he could work out a deal to get both works published. That fell through, but when LOTR came out, his publisher was willing to publish Sil., but Tolkien decided he needed to re-work it. Basically, he never got around to completing it in such a way that all the texts agreed with each other. Also there were gaps that needed filled in (ex. the "Ruin od Doriath" chapter, which Christopher basically wrote himself).

Many people knew of the existence of Sil. before Tolkien died: his publishers, Christopher, his wife, Edith (who helped type early drafts), C. S. Lewis and the other Inklings, to whom Tolkien had read stories form the Sil. at various times... There were, however, some papers and drafts from Sil. that Christopher didn't have access to, and indeed didn't even know existed, at the time he was putting Sil. together, so there are some things in the published Sil. that aren't "right", ie. that aren't as Tolkien intended them to be.

[lindil]

I have never seen anything in the letters or JRRT's many notes included in HoME that would suggest NOT publishing it. As Eruve was saying he act5ually delayed having LotR published because he wanted it out w/ the LotR, not seperate.
As it turns out this is probably the only way it would ever have been finished as he seemed to need deadlines .
The state things were left in after his death and Christopher's admittedly less than ideal handling of the 1977 version of the Silmarillion has given rise to various efforts of trying to decide what the best possible Silmarillion could be . Within the confines of the 10 published books on the Silm material [some would leave CRRT's version out all together] making it 9.

[Finduilas]

C.S. Lewis has references to the Silm in his Cosmic Trilogy.

[SilvaRanger]

Thanks:) Are there differences between more recent versions and older versioons? I was going to buy the illustrated version to replace my old 70s ,80s version, would it be different, better, worse?

[Finduilas]

As far as I know there are no textual variations. Having an ilustrated version of his books is always nice though.

[lindil]

If you want differences aplenty see the History of Middle-earth Series.

[Finduilas]

No arguement there! Sometimes there are so many variations it's hard to keep them straight (especially when you want to find one particular one).

[Michael Martinez]

Some day, somewhere, someone is going to publish a new Silmarillion.

And then we'll see. Those of us who are still around to see, that is.

[lindil]

Create and distiribute in an underground way -almost certainly.
Publish ? I don't know . Michael I have seen somewhere you mention the copyright factors involved, perhaps you could give a brief explanation of them here?

[wwsnyder]

On some forum or other I saw an entry which quoted from JRRT's letter #131. I thought
it was very enlightening so I will also quote it here:

From Letter #131, in which JRRT explains the scope of his attempted legendarium
to Milton Waldman:

"Do not laugh! But once upon a time (my crest has long since fallen) I had a
mind to make a body of more or less connected legend, ranging from the large and
cosmogonic, to the level of romantic fairy-story--the larger founded on the
lesser in contact with the earth, the lesser drawing splendour from the vast
backcloths--which I would dedicate simply to: to England; to my country. It
should possess the tone and quality that I desired, somewhat cool and clear, be
redolent of our 'air' (the clime and soil of the North West, meaning Britain and
the hither parts of Europe: not Italy or the Aegean, still less the East), and,
while possessing (if I could achieve it) the fair elusive beauty that some call
Celtic (though it is rarely found in genuine ancient Celtic things), it should
be 'high', purged of the gross, and fit for the more adult mind of a land long
now steeped in poetry. I would draw some of the great tales in fullness, and
leave many only placed in the scheme, and sketched. The cycles should be linked
to a majestic whole, and yet leave scope for other minds and hands, wielding
paint and music and drama. Absurd."

--

When I read this I realized that Tolkien had in fact achieved his goal.
Considering all of his writings about Middle-Earth, either published before or
after his passing, they represent the remnants of an ancient history or
tradition which has transitioned on to legend. Some of it is more clear, some
misty and vague, and some even contradictory, not unlike accounts of true
history written at different times by different people. The absolute accuracy of
any given text is not as important as the general idea or feeling presented by
the entire body of work, with, as I believe, the LOTR as the central jewel.

I believe I read somewhere that JRRT approached his writings as somewhat of a
fictitious translator, transcribing ancient manuscripts and legends much like he
might do with an authentic history.

Even those stories from BOLT that try to place various legends in England make
more sense in that these ancient memories, after being retold for centuries,
would tend to mold the details of the stories to known locales.

Tolkien did work at rewriting various accounts to achieve more consistency but
I think he eventually accepted that he would never finish. He was in a way,
imitating how real histories are developed. Over time, sometimes details are
revealed and sometimes lost.

Regardless of their exact state of completeness, I believe Tolkien's writings
convey precisely the concept he wished which was much more than a novel or a
series could present. In this work, he has proven himself the master.

[Finduilas]

I agree, and you found exactly the words to express why I like his work so much.
That might make a better intro to my website than I have already.