31 pages • 1 hour read
On Fairy-Stories
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Summary: “On Fairy-stories”
The essay “On Fairy-stories” was originally delivered as the Andrew Lang Lecture at St. Andrews University by J. R. R. Tolkien in 1939. Andrew Lang (1844-1912) was a celebrated academic folklorist and graduate of St. Andrews. The lecture was first expanded and published in Essays Presented to Charles Williams in 1947 and has been reprinted many times: in Tree and Leaf in 1964, The Tolkien Reader in 1966, Poems and Stories in 1980, The Monsters and the Critics, and Other Essays in 1983, and most recently reprinted as its own volume in 2008.
This study guide references the version published in The Monsters and the Critics, and Other Essays in 1983 and citations refer to page numbers in that edition.
J. R. R. Tolkien (1892-1973) was Professor of English and Philology (the study of the history of language) at Oxford University for over 25 years. He is now best known as an author, especially for his children’s book, The Hobbit, and novel series, The Lord of the Rings, which Tolkien considered “fairy-stories,” and which are now widely seen as canonical works of the modern “fantasy” genre. The lecture “On Fairy-stories,” delivered just two years after the publication of The Hobbit, acts as Tolkien’s defense of the “fairy-story” genre and develops themes of the Relationship Between Myth, History, Folklore, and Fairy-story; The Value and Function of Unlock all 31 pages of this Study Guide Plus, gain access to 8,900+ more expert-written Study Guides. Including features:
Related Titles
By J. R. R. Tolkien
