Good Catastrophes, Part 3: Recovering a Clear View

 Good Catastrophes, Part 3: Recovering a Clear View | Holly Ordway | IPNovels.com

I’ve been arguing for the importance of a revitalized Catholic literature that is eucatastrophic, grounded in confidence of the truth of the Christian faith and nourished by the reality of the sacraments. I’ve repeatedly referenced Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings as an example of what we need to do. But how are we to do it? Simply mimicking The Lord of the Rings on a surface level is most certainly not the answer. If it were, then the sheer quantity of Tolkien-derivative fantasy novels, not to mention Middle-earth film-tie-in merchandise, would have already put us into a full-fledged Catholic revival. This has observably not been the case. There is a lot to unpack about the influence of Tolkien (and that’s a large part of the academic writing I’m doing now), far more than I can even hint at in a blog series, but we can gain some valuable insight into the potential of Catholic writing from Tolkien’s essay “On Fairy-stories.”

In “On Fairy-stories,” Tolkien addresses fantasy literature specifically, but the conclusions that he draws can be applied to literature more broadly as well. He finds three particular functions of Fantasy: Recovery, Escape, and Consolation.

Recovery, Tolkien writes, “is a re-gaining—regaining of a clear view.” 

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