I don’t typically review nonfiction books or books that are strictly for adults. I do make exceptions for books about writing to help other writers. “On Fairy Stories” is actually more of an essay about a genre of literature rather than a book about how to write. Even so, as a writer of young adult fantasy fiction, this essay is incredibly important for shaping my writing career. If you would like to read the essay, you can read it here: https://uh.edu/fdis/_taylor-dev/readings/tolkien.html
Tolkien gave a series of lectures in the 1950s that became this essay, “On Fairy Stories.” The lectures specifically addresses the collection of fairy tales and folklore in Andrew Lang’s Fairy Books ( the best known being The Blue Fairy Book). Tolkien is both a fan of the collection and critical of it simultaneously. The reason for this is because of what Tolkien’s definition of a fairy tale is more specific than many other people’s and because Tolkien holds a lot of respect for the genre.
One of my favorite parts of this essay is where Tolkien defends fairy tales from being seen as just stories for children. The depth in which Tolkien lists the timeless virtues of fairy tales as good literature for all ages means a lot to me as a writer of fantasy.
Modern fantasy fiction is very different from the fantasy written by Tolkien, Lewis, and George MacDonald. These writers and others who wrote fantasy or fairy tales in their time styled their work on both fairy tales and myths that came before them. Today’s writers actually write adventure tales, horror, romance, or thrillers with fantasy creatures and magic. Tolkien would argue that this is not a fairy tale. I agree with him.
Personally, I try very hard to write fairy tales for my fantasy novels. It is hard to say if I am entirely successful in that. So, then, what is the difference between what I am trying to do ( and what Tolkien defines as fairy tales) and the modern fantasy novel?
Very roughly, I can quote a small definition of fairy tales from Tolkien, though you really ought to read his essay to fully understand what he means in this excerpt: “For the moment I will say only this: a “fairy-story” is one which touches on or uses Faerie, whatever its own main purpose may be: satire, adventure, morality, fantasy. Faerie itself may perhaps most nearly be translated by Magic—but it is magic of a peculiar mood and power, at the furthest pole from the vulgar devices of the laborious, scientific, magician. There is one proviso: if there is any satire present in the tale, one thing must not be made fun of, the magic itself. That must in that story be taken seriously, neither laughed at nor explained away.”
Tolkien is talking about the magical enhancements of our natural world. Most modern fantasy books either have “magic systems” that are very scientific sounding or random spells with rules that don’t make sense. Why does this matter?
This distinction is very important because good fairy tales should bring out truths of our world rather than just being a hypothetical construct of how we wish the world to be. Modern stories with prophecies about a single character who will save the world are not a fairy tales, but a narcissistic fantasies lacking reality.
Tolkien argues that a person writing fairy tales should have a good foundation in philosophy and logic so they can convey “truth” in their work. Today’s writing is often more focused on the material or emotional than on “truth.” Tolkien is not talking about “truth” as scientific facts or moral teachings or even believable scenarios. “Truth,” for Tolkien, aligns more with Aristotle and Plato’s concepts of a transcendent reality of unchangeable constants. They disagreed on the specific nature of those “truths.” For the Judeo-Christian worldview, “truth” would be the created purpose and order of the world, the foundational essence of how and why the world works as it does.
Tolkien talks about many other aspects of fairy tales that I again highly recommend reading. In concluding his essay, as a writer myself, I found myself pondering my purpose in writing fairy tales. In today’s world, writers are faced with the choice of writing what will make money or writing something we feel is really good and lasting. Ideally, writing good, high-quality literature would also make money to support the author, but historically this is not always the case.
I review many books, and I have seen quality in both traditionally published books and indie books. I have also been deeply disappointed by books, both traditionally published and indie. Tolkien’s ideal for fairy stories are similar to my ideals for high-quality books in general.
Check out my young adult fantasy fiction novels HERE for something optimistic and fun.
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