Eucatastrophe: Where Joy and Sorrow are at one
It has been a while since I've posted anything about J. R. R. Tolkien. So here is an excerpt from letter 89 by Tolkien to Christopher Tolkien (pp. 99-100):
"... I coined the word 'eucatastrophe': the sudden happy turn in a story which pierces you with a joy that brings tears (which I argued it is the highest function of fairy stories to produce). And I was there led to the view that it produces its peculiar effect because it is a sudden glimpse of truth.... It percieves-- if the story has literary 'truth'...--that this is indeed how things really do work in the Great World for which our nature is made. And I concluded by saying that the Resurrection was the greatest 'eucatastrophe' possible in the greatest fairy story-- and produces that essential emotion: Christian joy which produces tears because it is qualitatively so like sorrow, because it comes from those places where Joy and Sorrow are at one, reconciled, as selfishness and altruism are lost in Love..."
--Letter 89
Also, note my new Tolkien link section to the right.
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So...do you think Tolkien understood the Gospel and is there any evidence that he accepted it, and was transformed by its truth? Our eldest is fascinated by this man and his creativity...and so, he rented a video about JRRT from the public library and watched it...he asked the same question, as it presents the fact that JRRT was a strong Catholic. Just curious if you stumbled upon anything that clearly conveys that he was a born again believer...have you?
we do so miss those lotr illustrations. =)
so, are you guys coming down for the marathon @ dave's place?
I agree with amt, we miss your lotr illustrations. Two weeks ago Pastor Brooks was explaining what "fellowship" meant. And I was thinking, ah, that is why they called it the "fellowship of the ring" Of course Brooks was speaking about our fellowship with Christ in I John 1:1-3, but the light came on in the ole brain of how we have fellowship with believers because we commit ourselves to one another because of our common share in Christ, just like the "fellowship" in lotr had a common interest in protecting Frodo.
barb s
Reminds me of the scene in the last of the lotr trilogy...it's a little fuzzy, but...where Frodo, Sam, and the other hobbit are standing before the triumphant crowd of people on top the castle. The climax--when the hobbits begin to bow? and one character says, 'You bow to no one.' At last, triumph! And the hobbits are honored. To me, that is the sweetest picture of sorrow mingled with joy, because they can reflect on loss, but the triumph far outweighs the cost.