"On Fairy-Stories" (Introduction and Part 1)
On the Brothers of Gondor board, we've been having a group reading of Tolkien's essay "On Fairy-Stories." I'd been meaning to read it for ages, and I'm glad that I've finally gotten around to it. The board discussion thread is here, but I'm also going to cross-post my thoughts in this journal, section by section. I'd really love to discuss this, so please, feel free to respond either here or at the board!
Thoughts on the Introduction and Part 1 ("Fairy-Story")
* I wonder how Tolkien, who was a professor of philology, was invited to speak at this lecture! Could it have had something to do with the success of The Hobbit, which had been published recently?
* Tolkien's story of the poplar tree made me smile. His irascible yet self-deprecating tone just comes through so well in passages like this: "It is cut down now, a less barbarous punishment for any crimes it may have been accused of, such as being large and alive. I do not think it had any friends, or any mourners, except myself and a couple of owls."
* It's interesting that he mentions "dungeons for the overbold," since just before Tree and Leaf in my Tolkien Reader is a short essay on ofermod, or overmastering pride. I've often thought, since reading LOTR and especially The Silmarillion, that pride was a flaw which interested Tolkien deeply. This may be another echo of it.
* Why does he refer to Faërie as "the perilous realm"? It might be mostly because in these stories, humans who get mixed up with fairies rarely come out unscathed. It also makes me think of Faramir's comment to Frodo about how it is dangerous to seek out the Elves, now that their paths have become sundered from those of Men. I've always found that statement interesting too. (I've seen it used to argue that Faramir's view is narrow, but I get the feeling, from this essay among other things, that it's a sentiment Tolkien shared.)
* Again, simply gorgeous language in the introduction, especially that bit about "both joy and sorrow as sharp as swords." That could easily have come from one of the more lyrical passages of LOTR. Reading this really made me wish I could have heard JRRT speak.
* Someone on the board asked about the difference between fairies and elves. The terms seem rather fluid to me; I don't think there's a hard-and-fast distinction between them. The best I can think of is that, in the books I remember reading as a child, fairies generally had wings, and elves didn't.
* I remember thinking, even as a child, how interesting it was that so few "fairy tales" had actual fairies in them!
* I recognized the first quotation as a bit of "Thomas the Rhymer." It's a pretty fair example of how fairies in folklore tend to treat human beings--as pets at best and as playthings at worst. Tangent: this is why I've never understood the squeeing over Terry Pratchett's Lords and Ladies as being a bold, revolutionary view of Elves and a slap in the face to Tolkien. He just used folklore elves; it seems to me that Tolkien was the revolutionary, for re-imagining them, even if his version has been over-copied by his imitators.
* Given the way Tolkien treats Elves in his own work, it's not surprising that he should have despised the cute little winged sorts of fairies that populate a lot of children's literature. I think guiltily of Cicely Mary Barker's "Flower Fairy" books, which I loved as a child sample of the artwork), and I wonder if Tolkien would have despised me for liking them! (Or perhaps it would have been all right for me because I was a girl.)
* He wonders where the idea comes from that fairies are tiny. I think I've seen speculation that fairies of the type found in "Thomas the Rhymer" (very beautiful, inhuman but human-sized) got mixed up with the "little people" in parallel folklore traditions.
* I approve of Tolkien's stipulation that magic itself cannot be mocked in a fairy-story.
* It's interesting, although perhaps not surprising, that the first major collection of fairy-stories in English was a translation of stories of French origin. I suppose that was the major fairy tale book for English-speaking children, perhaps along with translations of the "Arabian Nights," until Andrew Lang came along.
* Also interesting is Tolkien pointing out that The Time Machine shares some elements with fairy tales. I must say that I laughed when he added, "This enchantment ... is weakened only by the preposterous and incredible Time Machine itself." That's it, just dismiss one of the classics of modern science fiction with an airy wave of the hand! But it's very like him. I find myself feeling a surprising amount of affection for the old curmudgeon as I read this.
* I think Tolkien is right to distinguish "true" fairy stories from traveler's tales, beast-fables, and dream-stories. In that sense, it's unfortunate that "fairy story" became the generic name for all of them.
* I have heard people complain about the "it was all a dream" ending of Alice in Wonderland being a cheat, and I always thought they were missing the point. I think JRRT clarifies why that is: "Alice" is supposed to be a dream-story and succeeds well at it, so it's not cheating to have it end that way. (Actually, I always preferred Through the Looking-Glass, and while the writing in that book is more obviously dreamlike, with the sudden shifts of setting and so on, it also has a more ambiguous ending. I wonder what Tolkien thought of that.)
* He also mentions The Tailor of Gloucester, which is my favorite Beatrix Potter book! And of course, it seems like a version of "The Shoemaker and the Elves," with the elves replaced by mice.
Useful Links
Overview" at Tolkien Online
Overview at Wikipedia
Andrew Lang (Wikipedia)
Andrew Lang lectures (Wikipedia)
Text of "Thomas the Rhymer"
Michael Drayton (Wikipedia)
Etext of Drayton's "Nymphidia
John Gower (Wikipedia)
Synopsis of "The Tale of Two Brothers"
Text of "The Tale of Two Brothers"
Thoughts on the Introduction and Part 1 ("Fairy-Story")
* I wonder how Tolkien, who was a professor of philology, was invited to speak at this lecture! Could it have had something to do with the success of The Hobbit, which had been published recently?
* Tolkien's story of the poplar tree made me smile. His irascible yet self-deprecating tone just comes through so well in passages like this: "It is cut down now, a less barbarous punishment for any crimes it may have been accused of, such as being large and alive. I do not think it had any friends, or any mourners, except myself and a couple of owls."
* It's interesting that he mentions "dungeons for the overbold," since just before Tree and Leaf in my Tolkien Reader is a short essay on ofermod, or overmastering pride. I've often thought, since reading LOTR and especially The Silmarillion, that pride was a flaw which interested Tolkien deeply. This may be another echo of it.
* Why does he refer to Faërie as "the perilous realm"? It might be mostly because in these stories, humans who get mixed up with fairies rarely come out unscathed. It also makes me think of Faramir's comment to Frodo about how it is dangerous to seek out the Elves, now that their paths have become sundered from those of Men. I've always found that statement interesting too. (I've seen it used to argue that Faramir's view is narrow, but I get the feeling, from this essay among other things, that it's a sentiment Tolkien shared.)
* Again, simply gorgeous language in the introduction, especially that bit about "both joy and sorrow as sharp as swords." That could easily have come from one of the more lyrical passages of LOTR. Reading this really made me wish I could have heard JRRT speak.
* Someone on the board asked about the difference between fairies and elves. The terms seem rather fluid to me; I don't think there's a hard-and-fast distinction between them. The best I can think of is that, in the books I remember reading as a child, fairies generally had wings, and elves didn't.
* I remember thinking, even as a child, how interesting it was that so few "fairy tales" had actual fairies in them!
* I recognized the first quotation as a bit of "Thomas the Rhymer." It's a pretty fair example of how fairies in folklore tend to treat human beings--as pets at best and as playthings at worst. Tangent: this is why I've never understood the squeeing over Terry Pratchett's Lords and Ladies as being a bold, revolutionary view of Elves and a slap in the face to Tolkien. He just used folklore elves; it seems to me that Tolkien was the revolutionary, for re-imagining them, even if his version has been over-copied by his imitators.
* Given the way Tolkien treats Elves in his own work, it's not surprising that he should have despised the cute little winged sorts of fairies that populate a lot of children's literature. I think guiltily of Cicely Mary Barker's "Flower Fairy" books, which I loved as a child sample of the artwork), and I wonder if Tolkien would have despised me for liking them! (Or perhaps it would have been all right for me because I was a girl.)
* He wonders where the idea comes from that fairies are tiny. I think I've seen speculation that fairies of the type found in "Thomas the Rhymer" (very beautiful, inhuman but human-sized) got mixed up with the "little people" in parallel folklore traditions.
* I approve of Tolkien's stipulation that magic itself cannot be mocked in a fairy-story.
* It's interesting, although perhaps not surprising, that the first major collection of fairy-stories in English was a translation of stories of French origin. I suppose that was the major fairy tale book for English-speaking children, perhaps along with translations of the "Arabian Nights," until Andrew Lang came along.
* Also interesting is Tolkien pointing out that The Time Machine shares some elements with fairy tales. I must say that I laughed when he added, "This enchantment ... is weakened only by the preposterous and incredible Time Machine itself." That's it, just dismiss one of the classics of modern science fiction with an airy wave of the hand! But it's very like him. I find myself feeling a surprising amount of affection for the old curmudgeon as I read this.
* I think Tolkien is right to distinguish "true" fairy stories from traveler's tales, beast-fables, and dream-stories. In that sense, it's unfortunate that "fairy story" became the generic name for all of them.
* I have heard people complain about the "it was all a dream" ending of Alice in Wonderland being a cheat, and I always thought they were missing the point. I think JRRT clarifies why that is: "Alice" is supposed to be a dream-story and succeeds well at it, so it's not cheating to have it end that way. (Actually, I always preferred Through the Looking-Glass, and while the writing in that book is more obviously dreamlike, with the sudden shifts of setting and so on, it also has a more ambiguous ending. I wonder what Tolkien thought of that.)
* He also mentions The Tailor of Gloucester, which is my favorite Beatrix Potter book! And of course, it seems like a version of "The Shoemaker and the Elves," with the elves replaced by mice.
Useful Links
Overview" at Tolkien Online
Overview at Wikipedia
Andrew Lang (Wikipedia)
Andrew Lang lectures (Wikipedia)
Text of "Thomas the Rhymer"
Michael Drayton (Wikipedia)
Etext of Drayton's "Nymphidia
John Gower (Wikipedia)
Synopsis of "The Tale of Two Brothers"
Text of "The Tale of Two Brothers"