Per your prompts, I find “On Fairy-Stories” entirely refreshing, especially (akin to your English-major point) since I elected to be trained in the academy, which meant that my currency was deconstructing and tearing things apart with little emphasis on building anything. Analysis without synthesis. Tolkien’s discussion of the aspects and necessity of story, I’m discovering, informs so many of the writers I love of late. Martin Shaw and Pádraig Ó Tuama both reference Tolkien’s fiction and scholarship, and every time I find it in their memoirs and essays, it’s like being admitted to a secret club I didn’t realize I had been waiting to be allowed to join my entire life.
If I’m going to restrain myself for your second question, I’ll toss out the idea that Frodo’s (spiritual) death and subsequent (physical) recovery at the Field of Cormallen—especially under the gentle care and healing hands of the king—is the eucatastrophe I will be been waiting my entire life to experience for myself. Maybe I already have in many ways and in many places in my biography.
“I remember damage. Then escape. Then adrift in a strangers galaxy for a long time. But l'm safe now; I found it again. My home.” (from Station Eleven)
That bit about writing analysis in the present tense always threw me. I love how you talk about it here, though; it is comforting to think of the individualities we murder to dissect in literary analysis revivifying and carrying on like our petty words didn’t even touch them.
I think what he says rings true for a majority of fantasy readers, but I would push back against the totality of everyone wanting a happy ending. I think, sometimes, we want a more real message than that. Some fiction is like Lamentations. Yes, all will be well in the end, but for now, we sometimes we need to sit in the heartbreak. The stories that allow for that make the message more tangible.
Of course, there are ways to include these emotions in a story that still has a good ending. Character deaths are an effective way to accomplish this. Also, I acknowledge that I am not the average reader. I've got issues. Haha
Tolkien's take on why we are drawn to "fairy-stories" is interesting and compelling. I've met people who say they only read nonfiction because they only want to read in order to "learn something". Tolkien, and your essay here, help explain why humans are drawn to stories and how they do, in fact, teach us so much about ourselves and our world even when they are set in completely fictional places. I will be thinking about your quote " We tend to go to fiction because it shows us a glimpse of health, hope, and happiness." for a long time. Thank you!
Per your prompts, I find “On Fairy-Stories” entirely refreshing, especially (akin to your English-major point) since I elected to be trained in the academy, which meant that my currency was deconstructing and tearing things apart with little emphasis on building anything. Analysis without synthesis. Tolkien’s discussion of the aspects and necessity of story, I’m discovering, informs so many of the writers I love of late. Martin Shaw and Pádraig Ó Tuama both reference Tolkien’s fiction and scholarship, and every time I find it in their memoirs and essays, it’s like being admitted to a secret club I didn’t realize I had been waiting to be allowed to join my entire life.
If I’m going to restrain myself for your second question, I’ll toss out the idea that Frodo’s (spiritual) death and subsequent (physical) recovery at the Field of Cormallen—especially under the gentle care and healing hands of the king—is the eucatastrophe I will be been waiting my entire life to experience for myself. Maybe I already have in many ways and in many places in my biography.
“I remember damage. Then escape. Then adrift in a strangers galaxy for a long time. But l'm safe now; I found it again. My home.” (from Station Eleven)
That bit about writing analysis in the present tense always threw me. I love how you talk about it here, though; it is comforting to think of the individualities we murder to dissect in literary analysis revivifying and carrying on like our petty words didn’t even touch them.
Love this
I think what he says rings true for a majority of fantasy readers, but I would push back against the totality of everyone wanting a happy ending. I think, sometimes, we want a more real message than that. Some fiction is like Lamentations. Yes, all will be well in the end, but for now, we sometimes we need to sit in the heartbreak. The stories that allow for that make the message more tangible.
Of course, there are ways to include these emotions in a story that still has a good ending. Character deaths are an effective way to accomplish this. Also, I acknowledge that I am not the average reader. I've got issues. Haha
Tolkien's take on why we are drawn to "fairy-stories" is interesting and compelling. I've met people who say they only read nonfiction because they only want to read in order to "learn something". Tolkien, and your essay here, help explain why humans are drawn to stories and how they do, in fact, teach us so much about ourselves and our world even when they are set in completely fictional places. I will be thinking about your quote " We tend to go to fiction because it shows us a glimpse of health, hope, and happiness." for a long time. Thank you!