More than a century after he first penned the story, one of J.R.R. Tolkien's first works is now scheduled to be released to the public for the first time.
The Story of Kullervo is set years before the Lord of The Rings trilogy or even The Hobbit, but it is one of Tolkien's first attempts at world- and language-building. It formed the basis of The Silmarillion and all his other works set in Middle-earth.
The story, according to Tolkien, was based on the Finnish folk tale of Kalevala. It follows the orphan, Kullervo, who is cursed with supernatural powers, as he seeks vengeance against a dark magician who killed his family and sold him into slavery.
Kullervo also happens to be the ancestor of Túrin Turambar from The Silmarillion, so this previously unpublished tale fits nicely into the LOTR canon.
"The germ of my attempt to write legends of my own to fit my private languages was the tragic tale of the hapless Kullervo in the Finnish Kalevala. It remains a major matter in the legends of the First Age (which I hope to publish as The Silmarillion)," said Tolkien of this work, which he had originally begun writing when he was 22 years old and still studying in Oxford in 1914.
Although he was unable to finish this first novel, it formed the basis for his now well-loved and classic pieces.
Kullervo was included in a compilation by Verlyn Flieger in 2010, called Tolkien Studies: Volume 7.
The Tolkien estate is now allowing the story to be published by HarperCollins, with Flieger as the editor. Tolkien's original draft will be included as well as some non-fiction about Tolkien's source material.
The Story of Kullervo will begin selling in UK bookstores and on Amazon on Aug. 27 and in U.S. bookstores on Oct. 27 this year.
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