[Kuruharan]

But once the reader has experienced it, and is therefore expecting it, isn't it diminished the second and third etc time round?

Well, actually, the two parts of my previous statement were intended to be taken separately. The first part referred to the reader and the second to characters in the story.

I suppose in re-reading the readers experience might diminish but the reader can obviously re-read a particular passage as often as possible.

The part about not happening the same way twice is specifically intended as a comment on the construction of the story itself.

And if, each time, a Gollum popped out of a crevice and somehow vanquished Grendel, Grendel's mom, and the dragon-- then it would be repetitive, going against Tolkien's "Never to be counted on to recur." Am I getting close...?

Repetitive and strange.

the horns of Rohan will never interrupt the Witch-King's speech at the gate again;

Sam will never see another star above the Ephel Duath that affects him quite like that one;

Aragorn will never unexpectedly unfurl his banner from a corsair ship again;

the Morannon will never fall again;

A wounded ringbearer-hobbit sailing west cannot be counted on to happen again;

...but we, in rereading these things, may still catch a glimpse of…evangelium

Yes, exactly.