The
first of two companion volumes which documents the later writing of
The Silmarillion, Tolkien's epic tale of war. After the The Lord of the
Rings was at last achieved, J R R Tolkien turned his attention once
again to 'the Matter of the Elder Days'. The text of the Annals of Aman,
the 'Blessed Land' in the far West, is given in full; while in
writings hitherto unknown is seen the nature of the problems that
Tolkien explored in his later years, as new and radical ideas,
portending upheaval in the old narratives, emerged at the heart of the
mythology, and as the destinies of Men and Elves, mortals and
immortals, ecame of central significance, together with a vastly
enlarged perception of the evil of Melkor, the Shadow upon Arda. The
second part of this history of the later Silmarillion is concerned with
developments in the legends of Beleriand after the completion of The
Lord of the Rings.
