The story of Kullervo
By: by J.R.R. Tolkien ; edited by Verlyn Flieger
Contributors: Flieger, Verlyn, 1933- editor
Edition: First U.S. edition.
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Published: 2016
Language: eng
Number of pages: 168
ISBN-13: 9780544706262
Copyright date: 2015
Subjects: Magicians; Finnish Epic poetry; Adaptations; History and criticism; Criticism and interpretation; Revenge; Slavery; Kalevala; Young men; Fiction
Other titles: Kullervo; Kalevala. Selections. English.
Description: Brought up in the homestead of the dark magician Untamo, who killed his father, kidnapped his mother, and tried three times to kill him when he was still a boy, Kullervo is alone save for the love of his twin sister, Wanona, and the magical powers of the black dog Musti, who guards him. When Kullervo is sold into slavery he swears revenge on the magician, but he will learn that even at the point of vengeance there is no escape from the cruelest of fates. The story-- only forty pages long-- is followed by essays and commentaries on Tolkien's work, and on the source material.
Notes: Tolkien's story is based on the Kullervo cycle in the Karelian and Finnish epic poem Kalevala. It first appeared in 2010 in Tolkien studies (volume VII / edited by Douglas A. Anderson, Michael D.C. Drout, Verlyn Flieger : Morgantown, W. Va. : West Virginia University Press) and was republished in August 2015 by HarperCollins (London).

Includes bibliographical references (pages 165-168).
Table of contents: title: Introduction; title: The story of Kullervo; title: List of names; title: Draft plot synopses. Notes and commentary; title: Introduction to the essays; title: On "The Kalevala" or Land of heroes. Notes and commentary; title: The Kalevala. Notes and commentary; title: Tolkien, Kalevala, and "The story of Kullervo" / by Verlyn Flieger.