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Old 10-29-2004, 01:12 PM   #4
Son of Númenor
A Shade of Westernesse
 
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The heart of the matter

If Imladris in her reading did not feel something that she can (honestly, based on her knowledge of Tolkien's intended meaning of the word) describe as eucatastrophe, then the Quenta Silmarillion was 'eucatastrophe-less' for her.

But...

I, on the other hand, had a profound emotional experience during my first reading of the Silm - I was overwhelmed by the depth of the tragedy and beauty in the tale of Arda's Marring and the War of the Jewels. I experienced in the completion of my reading, right down to and summed up in the last sentence, what I can only describe as eucatastrophe.

Reading a work of fiction is inherently a very subjective thing, and one cannot simply say in universal terms that something is or isn't eucatastrophic.
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