I too found myself frustrated by what Christopher left out of his father's published Commentary. It would be nice to think someday we'll see a release of all the notes.
Thanks. I'm sure you can appreciate the argument that the killing of the retainer may be hypothetical, since there is a similar passage in fitt X of Andreas where the Mermedonians are about to kill a youth for food (but don't end up succeeding).
I think Christopher Tolkien very much underestimated the interest of some of his audience in these things. The commentary in Tolkien's Beowulf is invaluable, but very incomplete (you need "Finn and Hengest" to supplement part of it, then it just peters out well before the end of the poem), and I daresay there is more out there that has not been released.
Great read & translations, as always!
I too found myself frustrated by what Christopher left out of his father's published Commentary. It would be nice to think someday we'll see a release of all the notes.
Thanks. I'm sure you can appreciate the argument that the killing of the retainer may be hypothetical, since there is a similar passage in fitt X of Andreas where the Mermedonians are about to kill a youth for food (but don't end up succeeding).
I think Christopher Tolkien very much underestimated the interest of some of his audience in these things. The commentary in Tolkien's Beowulf is invaluable, but very incomplete (you need "Finn and Hengest" to supplement part of it, then it just peters out well before the end of the poem), and I daresay there is more out there that has not been released.