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KEYWORDS: fantasy; literary criticism; science fiction; SF; speculative fiction
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GeneralE-TextWestern TraditionChildren's LiteratureSpeculative Fiction
Thus in after days, what by the voyages of ships, what by lore and star-craft, the kings of Men knew that the world was indeed made round, and yet the Eldar were permitted still to depart... Therefore the loremasters of Men said that a Straight Road must still be, for those that were permitted to find it. And they taught that, while the new world fell away, the old road... still went on, as it were a mighty bridge invisible that passed through the air of breath and of flight (which were bent now as the world was bent), and traversed Ilmen which flesh unaided cannot endure... And tales and rumours arose along the shores of the sea concerning mariners and men forlorn upon the water who, by some fate or grace or favour of the Valar, had entered in upon the Straight Way and seen the face of the world sink below them...
From the "Akallabêth" (J. R. R. Tolkien, The Silmarillion, 1977)