With Tolkien on everybody’s minds, I thought it was a good time to bring up one of the most brilliant pieces he ever wrote: an essay titled On Fairy-Stories. (It is also a companion to the heartbreaking and beautiful story Leaf by Niggle, which makes me cry and feel powerful hope every time I read it.) In his passionate discourse, Tolkien defends the mythical and the fantastic as essential parts of adult life.
“Fairy-stories,” or tales of the world of Faërie and how it collides with our own, are not falsehoods or child’s play: they are essential elements of the way we interpret our lives, understand our reality, and face the brutality of our present world. Fairy-stories are not factual, but they are truthful. They are, in a sense, the story of the world.
If you want to read the whole essay (it’s long, but well worth the ride), here is the manuscript in full. In the next couple days I’ll post a few excerpts that jumped out at me.
~~~
No comments:
Post a Comment