“On Fairy-Stories” Epilogue: Evangelium

“The Gospels contain a fairy-story, or a story of a larger kind which embraces all the essence of fairy-stories” (155).

Remember how I told you that we’d be looking at the glorious intersection between fairy-stories and the Gospel? Today, my friends, that’s just what we’ll do. It’s our last installment in this mega-series, so buckle up for the last lap; it’s gonna be awesome!

A Realistic Fantasy World

Last week we saw that Tolkien coined the word eucatastrophe to describe the “good turning” of a plot from hopeless sorrow to inconceivable joy. This joy, he asserts, is the mark of a true fairy-story. This week he goes further. As he concludes his lengthy essay about fairy-stories in general, he focuses his epilogue on the way that the story of Christ is “the greatest and most complete conceivable eucatastrophe” (156). What makes this news even better is that “this story has entered History and the primary world [that is, the world in which we live as opposed to a merely literary world]; the desire and aspiration of sub-creation has been raised to the fulfillment of Creation” (156).

Allow me to explain. Authors of fantasy worlds strive to make them as “realistic” as possible, not in the sense that the setting or plot should seem familiar but that they should feel authentic and believable in that context. Even the unlikeliest storyline can bring joy to our hearts when the eucatastrophe strikes a note for which we’ve been longing. We want the Beast to transform and marry Belle. We want the Ring of Power to be destroyed in Mt. Doom. We want Princess Buttercup and Westley to live happily ever after. When these far-fetched desires finally come true, our longings are consoled and satisfied.

But unless we are a little bit silly, we don’t really think they happened in the same sense that VE Day happened in 1945.

The Story That Came True

However, Tolkien’s point here is not just that well-orchestrated eucatastrophies are, in one sense, believable; his greater point is that the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the story we would most desire to be true, “has entered History and the primary world” where it really did take place (156)! Consider the idea that God Himself—the only Creator—would choose to take on a human body and then be slaughtered so that He could mend the broken relationship with his rebellious creatures. Preposterous! Sacrilegious! Absurd! But also completely and utterly true.

“The Birth of Christ is the eucatastrophe of Man’s history. The Resurrection is the eucatastrophe of the story of the Incarnation. This story begins and ends in joy…. There is no tale ever told that men would rather find was true, and none which so many skeptical men have accepted as true on its own merits. For the Art of it has the supremely convincing tone of Primary Art, that is, of Creation. To reject it leads either to sadness or to wrath” (156). If you read the Gospels honestly, the only explanation for their structuring is that they actually happened. Hallelujah! What a eucatastrophe!

The Divine “Legend”

So why is the story of Christ “infinitely…high and joyous[?] Because this story is supreme; and it is true. Art has been verified. God is the Lord, of angels, and of men—and of elves. Legend and History have met and fused” (156). What does he mean by saying that the story of Christ is a “Legend” that became History? Doesn’t that degrade divine reality to the level of a made-up story? In this case, not at all. Consider this: what is a legend? It’s a story that someone constructed. Sure, some legends may have roots in a real story, and many legends have been tweaked by various tellers throughout the ages. But ultimately, a legend is a story that someone wrote.

The Divine Author

So who wrote the story of Jesus? I don’t mean who recorded the eyewitness details of His life on earth; Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John did that under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. I mean, who wrote the script for this most eucatastrophic of all stories? God did! Follow with me here: you and I don’t write the script for our own lives. Sure, we make our choices and live our lives accordingly, but we weren’t sitting around before birth thinking of how we’d direct the narrative of our lives. We simply show up and live.

But Christ’s story was written before the world was even created. The Trinity wrote the story of mankind’s redemption by means of the birth, death, and resurrection of the Son of God. That’s why He constantly reminded people that He wasn’t here to do whatever He wanted; He was here to do the will of the Father. In other words, He was sticking to the script. From His conception to His ascension, He was causing the Legend (or pre-written story) to become History in actual fact. Now that is infinitely high and joyous!

A Takeaway for Authors

So what does this mean for those of us who aspire to be Christian authors? Should we fill every book with a re-telling of the story of Jesus in order to tap into the greatest Story ever told? No, not in Tolkien’s opinion. Rather, he affirms that “the Evangelium [aka, the story of Christ in the Gospels] has not abrogated [or nullified] legends; it has hallowed them, especially the ‘happy ending’” (156). When we write stories that reflect the hope and joy that we’ve found in the Gospel, we point our readers to the Greatest Author. Our stories aren’t cheapened by not stating the Gospel verbatim; rather, they are enriched by their resemblance to the story of Jesus.

This style of storytelling has very little in common with the “modernism” that Tolkien so dislikes. That’s why a well-written, modern story with true hope will certainly catch the attention of today’s readers. So is it worthwhile to pursue the life of a Christian author? Absolutely. “The Christian has still to work, with mind as well as body, to suffer, hope, and die; but he may now perceive that all his bents and faculties have a purpose, which can be redeemed” (156). Writing well is hard work, but it is well worth it.

A Takeaway for Everyone

And, finally, what does this mean for all of us, even those who aren’t interested in being authors? What’s our takeaway? Simply this: choose entertainment that reflects the evangelium. We saw in earlier weeks that there are many kinds of entertainment available—depressing, agnostic, nihilistic, sordid, and crazy. There are movies that scramble your brain and crush your hopes. There are books that drag your mind through the mud. There are songs that glorify the trite, temporary, and sensual.

But there are other options, too.

Rather than jumping like lemmings into the sea of pop culture, decide to be different. Choose movies that, while admitting the world isn’t always a happy place, provide the possibility of hope and redemption. Choose books that display a higher standard of style and content. Choose music that actually means something. We aren’t just mindless creatures; we are educated consumers. Consume that which is beautiful, and watch your thirsty soul drink it in. Show today’s entertainment industry that we don’t always want something edgy or dismal. Sometimes we want a good fairy-story. There is art out there that does a lovely job of this, so celebrate it, and then use it as a way to celebrate the Greatest Story.

Today’s Question: What movies, books, and music have you enjoyed that display hope rather than modernism?

Source:
Tolkien, J.R.R. The Monsters and the Critics and Other Essays. London, Harper Collins, 2006.