What breaks the enchantment?

[HerenIstarion]

Is the nature of fantasy/enchantment completely dependent upon this idea of "the strange"? Can fantasy only be about the 'not-yet known and experienced'?

If it is Tolkien we are talking about, and not, say, Sword of Shannara series, than, no. Assuming you love the work you read, there will always be things to discover.

One may be struck by strangeness at first sight, falling in love. One may than grow to know one's wife/husband, but there always will remain uncertainty and chance of discovering something new. One may grow tired at times, and go play bowling for a change in the evening, but the morning will bring new delight.

The issue we've been discussing is how to maintain the enchantment of the fantasy world, either through the first reading, or on subsequent readings

The answer may sound crude, but is nevertheless that simple: Stop bothering about maintaining the enchantment, her (enchantment is She for me ) being elusive little devil. She will delude the hunter once pursued, but will get offended if not pursued at all and will show up inevitably if not paid heed to or sought after. She is like a teakettle of Jerome's Three Men in a Boat - you should convince it you want tea not at all, otherwise it would not start to boil.

EDIT:

Just cross posted with davem. Let his words give more weight to my 'stop bothering' appeal:

The one thing likely to prevent that happening is if we are too weighed down with all the theories, beliefs & conceptions we've built up around the story, so that the experience becomes little more than looking into a mirror.

Or, the recipe is simple: put the mental pencil aside and read on

END OF EDIT