This is my first experience reading your newsletter, and your writing is beautiful, as is the subject matter, though certainly sad as well. I recently lost a dear friend who had been ill but went downhill unexpectedly. He was pretty young and the grief is still fresh. I am sorry for your loss and glad you have Faith and Hope!
Isn't it wonderful to have such tales for times like this? Grief has become a tolerated guest in my life as of late. But I think, like you said, it'll be a wound that will never truly heal--whether we are Sam or Frodo.
Beautifully written and insightful, showing deep understanding of both Tolkien and the human condition. It’s been a while since I’ve read something on Tolkien that is not academically dry or mimetically superficial. Thanks - should be widely read... Tinfang.
Oof. This was a rough read for me. Not just because of what I said over on Notes, but because my older brother was a HUGE Lord of the Rings fan and I lost him to cancer about 5 years ago. It's been a while since I've read the books, but damn, does that ending really align with how it feels to lose someone.
Love this! Thank you for sharing! I love what Tolkien writes about hope in his essay “On Fairy Stories”: “The consolation of fairy-stories, the joy of the happy ending; or more correctly of the good catastrophe, the sudden joyous "turn" (for there is no true end to any fairy-tale): this joy, which is one of the things which fairy-stories can produce supremely well, is not essentially "escapist," nor "fugitive." In its fairy-tale -- or otherworld -- setting, it is a sudden and miraculous grace: never to be counted on to recur. It does not deny the existence of dyscatastrophe, of sorrow and failure: the possibility of these is necessary to the joy of deliverance; it denies (in the face of much evidence, if you will) universal final defeat and in so far is evangelium, giving a fleeting glimpse of Joy, Joy beyond the walls of the world, poignant as grief.”
I really appreciate this reflection. It speaks to the power of Tolkien's faith and his skill as a writer that he is able to depict the heartbreak and loss we endure in life with such clarity, and a story that helps us make sense of it for ourselves. It reminds me a lot of the end of the Psalm 23 paraphrase by Isaac Watts:
"Here would I find a settled rest,
while others go and come;
no more a stranger, nor a guest,
but like a child at home."
Thanks for sharing it, and may the Holy Spirit continue to comfort you as you grieve your brother.
Excellent. Truly excellent. This is why Tolkien’s legendarium is, for me, a supreme Christian story like Pilgrim’s Progress, but far deeper and richer even than that one. When I was young, I cheered for Lord of the Rings, but now I wipe tears from my eyes, because I have walked more of the journey, and I have counted the cost. May you experience comfort, friend. For myself, it is not just the loss of loved ones to death that I mourn, but the losses to discord. Fellowship broken is a grievous thing, and that too can only be fully healed on the other side.
I'm late coming to this beautifully written essay; I'm so sorry for your loss. My father passed suddenly in June of last year, and in many ways the wound hasn't healed, it's helped, as you wrote, to have the remaining members of the Fellowship.
I came back to this after reading your note about your brother’s birthday, and again I give my most solemn condolences to you and your family. I just wanted to say that I recently completed a short story about a man who lost everything and thought he could somehow get it back by killing himself, and since he could not handle the guilt of the enormous loss he had suffered. In the end he somewhat recovers, but he is never fully able to heal from the event that claimed all until his death, similar to Frodo never being able to find true peace until he sailed for Valinor. I hope that you manage to find some peace in such times as these, and although the wound will be there always, hiding under the surface of your daily life and then reappearing to hurt and haunt when you least expect it, remember that life is a gift that varies not in value and that your brother wants you to be happy and live it to the fullest in his honor.
Wounds That Cannot Be Wholly Cured
This is my first experience reading your newsletter, and your writing is beautiful, as is the subject matter, though certainly sad as well. I recently lost a dear friend who had been ill but went downhill unexpectedly. He was pretty young and the grief is still fresh. I am sorry for your loss and glad you have Faith and Hope!
Isn't it wonderful to have such tales for times like this? Grief has become a tolerated guest in my life as of late. But I think, like you said, it'll be a wound that will never truly heal--whether we are Sam or Frodo.
Beautifully written and insightful, showing deep understanding of both Tolkien and the human condition. It’s been a while since I’ve read something on Tolkien that is not academically dry or mimetically superficial. Thanks - should be widely read... Tinfang.
So very sorry for the loss you and your family have experienced. This piece was one of the most beautifully stated things I have ever read.
Oof. This was a rough read for me. Not just because of what I said over on Notes, but because my older brother was a HUGE Lord of the Rings fan and I lost him to cancer about 5 years ago. It's been a while since I've read the books, but damn, does that ending really align with how it feels to lose someone.
Thank you for sharing this with us. I’m so very sorry for your terrible loss.
Love this! Thank you for sharing! I love what Tolkien writes about hope in his essay “On Fairy Stories”: “The consolation of fairy-stories, the joy of the happy ending; or more correctly of the good catastrophe, the sudden joyous "turn" (for there is no true end to any fairy-tale): this joy, which is one of the things which fairy-stories can produce supremely well, is not essentially "escapist," nor "fugitive." In its fairy-tale -- or otherworld -- setting, it is a sudden and miraculous grace: never to be counted on to recur. It does not deny the existence of dyscatastrophe, of sorrow and failure: the possibility of these is necessary to the joy of deliverance; it denies (in the face of much evidence, if you will) universal final defeat and in so far is evangelium, giving a fleeting glimpse of Joy, Joy beyond the walls of the world, poignant as grief.”
beautiful. im sorry for your loss.
I really appreciate this reflection. It speaks to the power of Tolkien's faith and his skill as a writer that he is able to depict the heartbreak and loss we endure in life with such clarity, and a story that helps us make sense of it for ourselves. It reminds me a lot of the end of the Psalm 23 paraphrase by Isaac Watts:
"Here would I find a settled rest,
while others go and come;
no more a stranger, nor a guest,
but like a child at home."
Thanks for sharing it, and may the Holy Spirit continue to comfort you as you grieve your brother.
Excellent. Truly excellent. This is why Tolkien’s legendarium is, for me, a supreme Christian story like Pilgrim’s Progress, but far deeper and richer even than that one. When I was young, I cheered for Lord of the Rings, but now I wipe tears from my eyes, because I have walked more of the journey, and I have counted the cost. May you experience comfort, friend. For myself, it is not just the loss of loved ones to death that I mourn, but the losses to discord. Fellowship broken is a grievous thing, and that too can only be fully healed on the other side.
I'm late coming to this beautifully written essay; I'm so sorry for your loss. My father passed suddenly in June of last year, and in many ways the wound hasn't healed, it's helped, as you wrote, to have the remaining members of the Fellowship.
Praying for you Jolkien. As a fellow Tolkien enthusiast, I love your newsletter and your insights. Keep up the good work and God bless!
I came back to this after reading your note about your brother’s birthday, and again I give my most solemn condolences to you and your family. I just wanted to say that I recently completed a short story about a man who lost everything and thought he could somehow get it back by killing himself, and since he could not handle the guilt of the enormous loss he had suffered. In the end he somewhat recovers, but he is never fully able to heal from the event that claimed all until his death, similar to Frodo never being able to find true peace until he sailed for Valinor. I hope that you manage to find some peace in such times as these, and although the wound will be there always, hiding under the surface of your daily life and then reappearing to hurt and haunt when you least expect it, remember that life is a gift that varies not in value and that your brother wants you to be happy and live it to the fullest in his honor.