【eroticism and other literary conventions in chinese literature: intertextuality】

The eroticism and other literary conventions in chinese literature: intertextualitytime has come, friends, to re-enter the magical realm of Middle-earth once again.

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There's a new J.R.R. Tolkien tale on sale today, and it's about the fate of two lovers, a mortal man and an immortal elf, which became part of The Silmarillion, the myths and legends of the First Age of the World.

Beren and Lúthien is published by HarperCollins on the tenth anniversary of the last Middle-earth book, The Children of Húrin, with illustrations by Alan Lee, who won an Academy Award for his work on Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings film trilogy.

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Tolkien's son Christopher, now aged 92, adapted the story from text found in The History of Middle-earth, a 12-volume compilation of material relating to the fiction of Tolkien which he edited.

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In the book, Christopher told the story in his father's own words but also showed how the narrative changed to become part of The Silmarillion.

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Tolkien wrote the tale of the two lovers at the end of 1916, upon returning from the horrors of World War I and the battle of the Somme.

A portrait on March 31, 1982, of Tolkien. Credit: Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images

Tolkien specialist John Garth told the BBCthat the writer took inspiration for the story after a walk in an East Yorkshire wood with his wife Edith.

During the walk, Edith danced in a glade filled with white flowers, which became the key scene in the book.

"Mr Tolkien felt the kind of joy he must have felt at times he would never feel again," Garth said.

The names Beren and Lúthien are carved on the gravestone Tolkien and his wife share in Wolvercote cemetery in Oxford.

The grave of ''Lord of the Rings'' author J.R.R. Tolkien and his wife Edith December. Credit: Getty Images

The book is about a love story between Beren, a mortal man, and Lúthien, an immortal elf.

Her father, a great Elvish lord, opposed Beren and therefore forced him to take an impossible task to perform in order to wed Lúthien: steal a Silmaril from the greatest of all evil beings, Melkor, called Morgoth, the Black Enemy.

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