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Interrupted Music: The Making Of Tolkien's Mythology by Verlyn Flieger
01/05/2006 . Source: Joules Taylor 
pub: Kent State University Press. 172 page enlarged paperback. Price: $18.00 (US). ISBN: 0-87338-824-0. Buy Interrupted Music: The Making Of Tolkien's Mythology in the USA - or Buy Interrupted Music: The Making Of Tolkien's Mythology in the UK  check out website: www.kentstateuniversitypress.com
'Interrupted Music' is, at heart, a book that brings together 'the motives, the methods, and the narrative strategies that went into the making of Tolkien's ongoing, frequently interrupted yet stubbornly persistent creation, conventionally referred to as his mythology for England' (p ix) - The Silmarillion.
As the author points out, Tolkien wasn't the only writer who assayed this grand feat. William Blake, Milton and Spenser also made the attempt. However, Tolkien succeeded in capturing the public imagination, as opposed to the academic, being considerably more widely read and widely known by the general populace than these other great writers. In a way that is more visceral and more convincing than simply telling stories. He created a mythology in the true meaning of the word, 'a gathering of song and story and lore that derived from and described a recognisable world' (p x) - recognisable and instantly attracting to a nation without its own unique history.
England is a land of mongrels. Celts, Romans, Saxons, Normans, the later invaders and immigrants all have left their mark and their myths on our actual and metaphysical landscape. Tolkien wanted to create something uniquely English, a body of myths and legends that reflected the English character and nature. He could, like many others, have based his mythology on Arthur Pendragon or the later Robin Hood. Instead, he chose to create an entirely new 'legendarium', a pre-Christian corpus of song and verse, tradition and tale, passed down through the millennia. First orally then, as happened with 'real' myths and legends, gathered together in books in whole or in fragmented, sometimes contradictory parts, to be made accessible to all who chose to read them. 'The Silmarillion' was 'conceive(d)... as a compilation, a compendious narrative... from sources of great diversity (poems and annals and oral tales) that had survived in age long tradition.' (p 144)
It's the fact that he managed to do so with such success and realism that shows the extraordinary intellect and genius of JRR Tolkien and how he managed to do it is the subject of this book. Flieger delves deeply into the mythologies with which Tolkien was familiar. The 'faerie stories' of Europe. The gory, brutal, nasty originals, not the sanitised and prettified pap that passes for 'fairy tales' that most people know. The Welsh Mabinogion, the Eddas, the Matter of Britain (the Arthur mythos) and, most particularly, the recently-published (at the time) Kalevala, the body of work that restored to the Finnish people a sense of national identity and history that had been destroyed through centuries of rule by Sweden and Russia.
Referring to Tolkien's own copious notes and letters and external documents, the author details the enormous amount of work that went into giving 'The Silmarillion' the appearance of venerable antiquity and authenticity. This can be seen in 'The Lord Of The Rings', even if the reader isn't too familiar with 'The Silmarillion' itself. Characters refer to old songs and tales, old legends and legendary characters, creating layers of depth and reality in what is, essentially, an ongoing story. The end of 'The Lord Of The Rings' is not really an ending, nor was Tolkien's legendarium ever finished, hence the title of this book, 'Interrupted Music'. There are 12 volumes in the History of Middle-Earth alone, without counting 'The Silmarillion', 'The Hobbit' and 'The Lord Of The Rings'.
Flieger also explores the development of the legendarium, From its first incarnation: the voyage of 'Eriol who sails west to the Lonely Isle of Tol Eressea, arrives at the Cottage of Lost Play, and there hears stories of the Eldar and Valar and the song of creation' (p 87). Through a Science Fiction, time-travel version: 'no Wellsian time machine, but the far more sophisticated concept of temporally regressive incarnations or the same two identities, arising out of their shared collective memory' (p 94) to the version we know and love.
It's a fascinating and scholarly book, intellectual without being too erudite. The author's obvious if muted love of and enthusiasm for the subject infusing it with a certain vigour. I wouldn't call it an essential work but if you're interested in knowing the deeper framework around which Tolkien wove his legendarium, this book, like the author's accompanying volume 'Splintered Light', is an excellent resource.
Joules Taylor
http://www.wordwrights.co.uk 
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