{"id":393,"date":"2022-01-12T00:48:23","date_gmt":"2022-01-12T00:48:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/elffriendyt.com\/?p=393"},"modified":"2024-12-18T20:46:50","modified_gmt":"2024-12-18T20:46:50","slug":"the-meaning-of-eucatastrophe-and-why-tolkien-created-the-term","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/elffriendyt.com\/index.php\/2022\/01\/12\/the-meaning-of-eucatastrophe-and-why-tolkien-created-the-term\/","title":{"rendered":"The meaning of Eucatastrophe and why Tolkien created the term"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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eucatastrophe eu\u2022ca\u2022tas\u2022tro\u2022phe | \u0113u-k\u0259-t\u0103s\u2032tr\u0259-f\u0113\u00a0noun<\/em>\u00a0the sudden happy turn in a story which pierces you with a joy that brings tears. (J.R.R. Tolkien, Letter # 89)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This term was coined during a letter, Letter #89, that Tolkien wrote to his son Christopher. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tolkien starts out by describing an experience he had at St. Gregory\u2019s chapel, after Christopher Tolkien mentioned the care of his guardian angel.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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He spent a half an hour there before the Blessed Sacrament \u2013 when the Quarant\u2019 Ore, as known as the Forty Hours Devotion<\/a>, was there. So he definitely had a spiritual reason to coin the term. But it doesn\u2019t come out for a while \u2013 yet \u2013 the description of how he coined the term eucatastrophe comes shortly after that. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the reader\u2019s perspective, it\u2019s like the calm before the storm. He wasn\u2019t sure, but it was the time when he was about to describe something, like the finite being relative to the infinite. This was something that he thought about especially during the devotion. The ray was the Guardian Angel that Christopher mentioned, and he received comfort from the vision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He was there at a service with his daughter Priscilla when she wasn\u2019t feeling well, and they had a very good sermon there \u2013 talking about how Jesus healed<\/a> the woman and Jairus\u2019 daughter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then, the priest compares this to three evangelists, one included the part where a woman in their area was similarly afflicted with a tumor, cured instantly at Lourdes as the tumor couldn\u2019t be found. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In another scene, the little boy with tubercular peritonitis in 1927, who wasn\u2019t healed and going to the hospital via train \u2013 looking like he was already dying. In the same train there was a little girl who had been healed. However, on the way there he wanted to talk to a little girl at the Grotto. Then after playing with her for a while, he came back to say he was hungry, so they gave him some cake! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, there was another scene of a Franciscan Friar who was mortally ill, and couldn\u2019t eat anything for years. However, he was cured and had two dinners, as he was so happy about it he was jumping for joy! (Or eating in joy?)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He later talks about the biblical passage, and how these scenarios relate to it. In those cases, they weren\u2019t feeling well and were worried about the state of their health. However, he was deeply moved by the stories, especially the one about the little boy in 1927, that he coined the term, eucatastrophe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He later calls it also a sudden glimpse of truth, and a sudden relief after \u201cyour whole nature is [chained in a] cause and effect.\u201d It\u2019s like when you have a tight limb that snaps \u2013 and everything is suddenly going great.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since he holds Christian beliefs<\/a>, he concludes that the Resurrection is the most important eucatastrophe in the greatest Fairy Story (the Bible). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We can look at it and think that if he thinks the Bible is the greatest Fairy Story, this means that he doesn\u2019t believe in God. However, he clarifies this shortly after, saying that he doesn\u2019t mean the Gospels were only a fairy story, but they do tell one. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s clear that when Tolkien refers to something as a Fairy Story, it doesn\u2019t exactly mean it\u2019s a lie. It can be a true story \u2013 and one that provides the greatest eucatastrophe of all, with a moving story in a manner consonant with his nature. But he couldn\u2019t reproduce an argument which led to this, since there wasn\u2019t one. But there was a reason, or what he calls a direct appreciation of the mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He recognizes later that he wrote one in The Hobbit<\/em>, a eucatastrophic action when Bilbo exclaims, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cThe Eagles! The Eagles are coming!\u201d<\/p>\nJ.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

He also mentions that the term \u2018eucatastrophe\u2019 applies in the last chapter of Lord of the Rings<\/em> when Sam was convinced that Frodo was dead. At the time, he hadn\u2019t published LOTR yet, so he could only vaguely describe the situation, though there was a really moving part where Sam was convinced that it was the end of Frodo\u2019s journey, after he was caught by Shelob in The Two Towers<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then, finally he brings up a vision he had with a man and his daughter, who wore rags, but he seemed to remind him of St. Joseph. While he was worried it was becoming a very peculiar letter, he\u2019d hoped it wasn\u2019t incomprehensible. After that, he starts listing and describing things in his daily life, such as a performance, his friends, and apple trees he had to protect from moth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Analysis<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

 it definitely provides a lot of context on \u201ceucatastrophic moments.\u201d So there were three scenes: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. When a woman they knew was in a similar situation as she dealt with a tumor, and cured instantly at Lourdes.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. A little boy with tubercular peritonitis who wanted to talk to a little girl at the Grotto.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. A Franciscan Friar who was mortally ill. <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    So in these three cases, they had situations where they were gravely ill. While it\u2019s unknown how they were cured, they all had things in common: that it led to a sense of hope, where a sudden turn of happy events which brings you joy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    This is what he later calls eucatastrophe. It could bring anyone \u2013 the reader, the person experiencing the eucatastrophic moment \u2013 joy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Through those three moments that were described by the priest, Tolkien coined a term for it \u2013 which was eucatastrophe, coming from eu- (\u2018good\u2019) and -catastrophe (\u2018sudden turn of events\u2019). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    When we normally think of catastrophe, it usually involves in a destruction. When we discuss something as \u201ccatastrophic,\u201d it usually has a negative context, as if everything is going into turmoil. However, Tolkien penned the term, eucatastrophe, in order to provide one for a positive turn of events. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    And later, he makes a very important point, that it doesn\u2019t have to be these agonizing events. It can also be the little things that happen in our lives. Such as the part where \u201cThe Eagles are Coming!\u201d in The Hobbit<\/em>, which (when compared to the three mentioned eucatastrophic moments he mentions earlier, or even the destruction of the Ring or the time when Sam was wondering if Frodo was still alive) don\u2019t seem as life-changing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    But they can still provide the same sense of life-changing joy, when things seemed to be wearing you down before, but a sudden turn of events bring you joy. This means that anything that creates this joyful moment that is often unexpected, is, as we now know it as eucatastrophe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    This is wonderful \u2013 as it claims that catastrophic events don\u2019t always have to be negative. They could lead to positive moments!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    eucatastrophe eu\u2022ca\u2022tas\u2022tro\u2022phe | \u0113u-k\u0259-t\u0103s\u2032tr\u0259-f\u0113\u00a0noun\u00a0the sudden happy turn in a story which pierces you with a joy that brings tears. (J.R.R. Tolkien, Letter # 89) This term was coined during a letter, Letter #89, that Tolkien wrote to his son Christopher. Tolkien starts out by describing an experience he had at St. Gregory\u2019s chapel, after ChristopherRead More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":201,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[36,4,11,12,33],"class_list":{"0":"post-393","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-posts-and-scripts","8":"tag-eucatastrophe","9":"tag-jrr-tolkien","10":"tag-lord-of-the-rings","11":"tag-the-hobbit","12":"tag-the-silmarillion","13":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/elffriendyt.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/elffriendyt.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/elffriendyt.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elffriendyt.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elffriendyt.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=393"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/elffriendyt.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":403,"href":"https:\/\/elffriendyt.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393\/revisions\/403"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elffriendyt.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/201"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/elffriendyt.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elffriendyt.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elffriendyt.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}