Editing J. R. R. Tolkien (section)

==== ''The Silmarillion'' ====

{{Main|The Silmarillion}}

Tolkien wrote a brief "Sketch of the Mythology", which included the tales of Beren and Lúthien and of Túrin; and that sketch eventually evolved into the ''[[Quenta Silmarillion]]'', an epic history that Tolkien started three times but never published. Tolkien desperately hoped to publish it along with ''The Lord of the Rings'', but publishers (both [[Allen & Unwin]] and [[HarperCollins|Collins]]) declined. Moreover, printing costs were very high in 1950s Britain, requiring ''The Lord of the Rings'' to be published in three volumes.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hammond |first=Wayne G. |title=J.R.R. Tolkien: a descriptive bibliography |date=1993 |others=Douglas A. Anderson |publisher=Oak Knoll Books |isbn=1-873040-11-3 |location=Winchester |oclc=27013976}}</ref> The story of this continuous redrafting is told in the posthumous series ''[[The History of Middle-earth]]'', edited by Tolkien's son, Christopher Tolkien. From around 1936, Tolkien began to extend this framework to include the tale of ''[[The Fall of Númenor]]'', which was inspired by the legend of [[Atlantis]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Nagy |first=Gergely |title=A Companion to J. R. R. Tolkien |date=2020 |publisher=[[Wiley Blackwell]] |isbn=978-1-119-65602-9 |editor-last=Lee |editor-first=Stuart D. |editor-link=Stuart D. Lee |pages=107–118 |chapter='The Silmarillion': Tolkien's Theory of Myth, Text, and Culture |author-link=Gergely Nagy (scholar) |orig-date=2014}}</ref>

Tolkien appointed his son Christopher to be his [[literary executor]], and he (with assistance from [[Guy Gavriel Kay]], later a well-known fantasy author in his own right) organized some of this material into a single coherent volume, published as ''[[The Silmarillion]]'' in 1977. It received the Locus Award for Best Fantasy novel in 1978.<ref name="WWE-1978">{{cite web |title=1978 Award Winners & Nominees |url=http://www.worldswithoutend.com/books_year_index.asp?year=1978 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090709212409/http://www.worldswithoutend.com/books_year_index.asp?year=1978 |archive-date=9 July 2009 |website=Worlds Without End}}</ref>