"The Book of Lost Tales" : from oral to written myth

The article is devoted to the genesis of the characteristics of the style of J.R.R. Tolkien. The mythopoeic activity of Tolkien had its roots in his first efforts to deal with mythical beliefs, and his assumption that the true mythical narrative should be a story. His first full expression of such a belief may be found in the form and content of "The Book of Lost Tales". However, before Tolkien began to create his own "private" mythology, he first tried to convert the mythology of Kalevala according to his mythopoeic taste. "The Story of Kullervo", as his first mythical narrative, is an attempt to convert to prose one of the mythical threads of Kalevala, the one dedicated to the tragedy of Kullervo. When drafting it, Tolkien had formed the first characteristics of his style. One can easily find almost the same style in the chapters of "The Book of Lost Tales". The author shaped the stories on the canvas of past events, in which the narrators refer to the "historical" memories in their perspective. The tension between history, myth, written text and poetic impressions produces the base of Tolkien’s "early" characteristics in style.