Page "On Fairy-Stories" Paragraph 7

In conclusion and as expanded upon in an epilogue, Tolkien asserts that a truly good and representative fairy story is marked by joy: " Far more powerful and poignant is the effect joy in a serious tale of Faerie.

In such stories, when the sudden turn comes, we get a piercing glimpse of joy, and heart's desire, that for a moment passes outside the frame, rends indeed the very web of story, and lets a gleam come through.

" Tolkien sees Christianity as partaking in and fulfilling the overarching mythological nature of the cosmos: " I would venture to say that approaching the Christian story from this perspective, it has long been my feeling ( a joyous feeling ) that God redeemed the corrupt making-creatures, men, in a way fitting to this aspect, as to others, of their strange nature.

The Gospels contain a fairy-story, or a story of a larger kind which embraces all the essence of fairy-stories.

... and among its marvels is the greatest and most complete conceivable eucatastrophe.

The Birth of Christ is the eucatastrophe of Man's history.

The Resurrection is the eucatastrophe of the story of the Incarnation.