"J.R.R. Tolkien - The History of Middle-Earth - 07" - читать интересную книгу автора (Tolkien J.R.R)

Bingo's last words, 'I am leaving after dinner', were
corrected on the manuscript to 'I am leaving now.'




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I.
GANDALF'S DELAY.

In The Return of the Shadow, after citing and discussing the remark-
able notes and plot-outlines bearing the date August 1939 (Chapter
XXII: 'New Uncertainties and New Projections'), I turned to the
continuation of the story at Rivendell and after, as far as Moria. But at
this time (towards the end of 1939) my father was also engaged in
substantial further revision to what ultimately became Book I of The
Fellowship of the Ring (FR), arising primarily from a changed story of
Gandalf's movements, and an explanation of his delay. I doubt that it
would be possible to deduce a perfectly clear and coherent, step-by-
step chronology of this period in the narrative evolution, or to relate
precisely the development of the early chapters of what became Book
II to the new work on Book I; for my father moved back and forth,
trying out new conceptions and then perhaps abandoning them, and
producing such a tangle of change as cannot always be untied: and
even if it could be, it would require a vast amount of space to make
it all remotely comprehensible without the manuscripts. However,
granting that many uncertainties remain, I do not think that they
constitute a real impediment to understanding the development in all
essentials.
Most of this new work on the story as far as Rivendell can be
treated in terms of the individual chapters, but some outlines,
time-schemes, and notes are best collected together, though I cannot
certainly determine the order in which they were set down. These are
the subject of this chapter.

(1). This slip of paper begins 'State of Plot assumed after XI. (Much of
explanation in XII and of incident in Bree chapter will have to be
rewritten.)' The reference is clearly to Chapter XII 'The Council of
Elrond', which at this stage included the narrative afterwards separ-
ated off as 'Many Meetings' (see VI.399-400). Then follows:

Bilbo gives Party and goes off. At that time he does not know
anything about the ring's powers or origin (other than invisibility).
Motive writing book (bring in his wry expression about 'living