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Evenstar1 · 06-12-2002, 10:02 PM

I have read (a very few) other authors who have had the incredible ability to create their own world and totally pull me into it. JK Rowling did it with Harry Potter, Anne Rice did it with Vampires, and Tolkien did it with Middle Earth.

But the thing that Tolkien did that no other author could do was something that he, himself, coined a term for: the "eucatastrophe." The eucatastrophe is to fairy tales what the tragedy is to drama: it is the Highest Art of that, particular form. In the eucatastrophe you have the "ending moment" of sheer joy, of utter bliss. The Lord of the Rings is full of eucatastrophic "ending moments."

For all the other reasons others have already listed, but mostly for the highest of heights that Tolkien has taken me to in his noble, valient and pure world, that is the reason I love and believe in Middle Earth!

06-12-2002, 10:02 PM	#29
Evenstar1 Wight Join Date: May 2002 Location: Colorado (just east of the Misty Mts.) Posts: 111	I have read (a very few) other authors who have had the incredible ability to create their own world and totally pull me into it. JK Rowling did it with Harry Potter, Anne Rice did it with Vampires, and Tolkien did it with Middle Earth. But the thing that Tolkien did that no other author could do was something that he, himself, coined a term for: the "eucatastrophe." The eucatastrophe is to fairy tales what the tragedy is to drama: it is the Highest Art of that, particular form. In the eucatastrophe you have the "ending moment" of sheer joy, of utter bliss. The Lord of the Rings is full of eucatastrophic "ending moments." For all the other reasons others have already listed, but mostly for the highest of heights that Tolkien has taken me to in his noble, valient and pure world, that is the reason I love and believe in Middle Earth! __________________ - Eve