"On Fairy-Stories," Part 3: "Children"

[cressidarambles]

Ack! I can't believe how long it's been since I posted. And to think I thought I could finish this project in a couple of weeks...but I always seem to find so much to say when I dig into this essay!

Comments

[jchance]

It's interesting to see just how long the "genre is childish" notion has existed...I'd say that some amount of valuing sophistication, however defined, goes back as far as social climbing has been any kind of possibility.

Also, it's very interesting to see you bring up the notion of double belief. I think it explains a lot of rather puzzling human behaviour. The most obvious being the existence of contradictory cultural assumptions, where people believe opposed things just by never subjecting them to judgement. The form you describe, though, is more complex, and more relevant to some of our current difficulties. It's not a case of two conflicting ideas believed equally, but one being treated as "less real"--not so much in the sense of existence, but of importance and trustworthiness--than the other. I think this affects a lot of prevailing attitudes to spiritual matters, and ideals more generally. They are believed, but somehow unconsciously considered immaterial and untrustworthy. Often, this manages to combine the disadvantages of both views, to lead someone to suffer both from the impediments of blind faith and the malaise of modern anomia.