Definitions
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A
catastrophe (dramatic event leading to plot resolution) that results in theprotagonist 'swell-being .
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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The sudden, improbable turn for the better -- what mythopoeic types would call a "eucatastrophe" -- rings false to many contemporary readers.
Another Shelter Review Susan Palwick 2007
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The sudden, improbable turn for the better -- what mythopoeic types would call a "eucatastrophe" -- rings false to many contemporary readers.
Archive 2007-07-01 Susan Palwick 2007
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Thus the master wordsmith Tolkien coined the word "eucatastrophe" to describe just such an ending: "I coined 'eucatastrophe': the sudden happy turn in a story which pierces you with a joy that brings tears (which I argued it is the highest function of fairy-stories to produce)."
Clovis News Journal : News By Curtis K. Shelburne: Religion columnist 2010
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Thus the master wordsmith Tolkien coined the word "eucatastrophe" to describe just such an ending: "I coined 'eucatastrophe': the sudden happy turn in a story which pierces you with a joy that brings tears (which I argued it is the highest function of fairy-stories to produce)."
Clovis News Journal : News By Curtis K. Shelburne: Religion columnist 2010
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The late J.R.R. Tolkien coined the term "eucatastrophe" in his essay entitled "On Fairy-Stories."
George Elerick: What Is the Eucatastrophe and Why Should It Matter to Christianity? 2010
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Tolkien used the term "eucatastrophe" to explain the "turn" of events in the story that gives hope to the hopeless.
George Elerick: What Is the Eucatastrophe and Why Should It Matter to Christianity? 2010
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The wanderings mean as much as ever they did; the great moment of "eucatastrophe" (as 'Professor Tolkien would call it) when Odysseus strips off his rags and bends the bow, means more; and perhaps what now pleases me best of all is those exquisite, Charlotte M. Yonge families at Pylos and elsewhere.
Surprised by Joy Lewis, C. S. 1955
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He speaks deep truth when he says that "the Resurrection was the greatest 'eucatastrophe' possible."
Clovis News Journal : News By Curtis K. Shelburne: Religion columnist 2010
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He speaks deep truth when he says that "the Resurrection was the greatest 'eucatastrophe' possible."
Clovis News Journal : News By Curtis K. Shelburne: Religion columnist 2010
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Perhaps the word that best describes it is one coined by Tolkien: eucatastrophe, meaning the complete reversal of catastrophe, idealized as the triumph of the Cross made available to all of us in the Eucharist.
Mary Victrix 2009
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J.R.R. Tolkien invented a term, eucatastrophe, for “the joy of the happy ending: or more correctly of the good catastrophe, the sudden joyous ‘turn.’”
Books Recommended With Uncommon Wisdom and Tender Care By 2023
manilamac commented on the word eucatastrophe
I encountered this word in a recent piece of genre fiction; I have been unable to find any mainstream (dictionary)definitions for it. I did find the following:
From The Urban Dictionary:
eucatastrophe
"The sudden joyous turn, not an ending, but the moment we get a glimpse of joy. A moment that passes outside the frame rends indeed the very web of story and lets a gleam come through, a gleam of revelation from outside the narrative."
Word created by J.R.R Tolkien and first used in his fantasy saga, 'the Lord of the Rings'.
Citation:
The arrival of Him in her life turned out to be a eucatastrophic event
From Wikipedia:
Eucatastrophe is a term coined by J. R. R. Tolkien which refers to the sudden turn of events at the end of a story which result in the protagonist's well-being. He formed the word by affixing the Greek prefix eu, meaning good, to catastrophe, the word traditionally used in classically-inspired literary criticism to refer to the "unraveling" or conclusion of a drama's plot. For Tolkien, the term appears to have had a thematic meaning that went beyond its implied meaning in terms of form. In his definition as outlined in his 1947 essay On Fairy-Stories, eucatastrophe is a fundamental part of his conception of mythopoeia. Though Tolkien's interest is in myth, it is also connected to the gospels; Tolkien calls the Incarnation the eucatastrophe of "human history" and the Resurrection the eucatastrophe of the Incarnation.
June 16, 2009