Tolkien and the Great Eucatastrophe
Those familiar with C. S. Lewis's conversion and his finding of Joy are familiar with his lifelong interest in myth and imagination. That there could be (or might be) a real, wider, magical world out there, a true Myth, was something he longed for, but as a materialist, could not personally accept. At least, at first. Lewis was not looking for personal salvation; he was looking for a reality that the myths and his imagination were hinting at: "It is more important that Heaven should exist than that any of us should reach it." (C. S. Lewis, Surprised by Joy , p. 211) (Harcourt, Brace, and World, 1955) Thus, Christianity, he discovered, is the True Myth which inspires -- or properly, should inspire -- all true wonder and joy in its adherents. His close friend, J. R. R. Tolkien, had a very similar approach to the Gospel account. He called it "a eucatastrophic tale" -- a term he coins -- meaning a good catastrophe , much like a fairy-tale or ancient legend which ha...