Tolkein on Fairy Stories

Am reading Tolkein's essay "On Fairy-Stories," from the collection The Monsters and the Critics. Not an easy read, despite the awesome title (taken from his essay on Beowulf, one of seven in the collection). But am enjoying working through it anyway.

This actually is my second attempt at reading this one; I skimmed through it once before upon purchasing the book, but didn't really get into it. Last Saturday's entry here, though, got me thinking about the nature of "fairy tales" again, however, and so I think I'm catching more of the ideas this time.

One of the points Tolkien emphasizes is that "fairy stories" need not refer to "stories about fairies." He insists, rather, that "fairy-stories are not in normal English usage stories about fairies or elves, but stories about Fairy, that is Faerie, the realm or state in which fairies have their being." He also adds that "stories that are actually concerned primarily with 'fairies,' that is creatures that might also in modern English be called 'elves,' are relatively rare, and as a rule not very interesting. Most good 'fairy-stories' are about the aventures of men in the Perilous Realm or upon its shadowy marches."

This is interesting, concerning that Tolkein's own best-selling works keep the Men (strictly speaking) a bit off to the side; the stories are primarily "concerning Hobbits," who would seem to fit the same category as his "elves and fairies" in the remark just quoted. Or are they?

Probably the best way I can make sense of it is to note that, although Hobbits are properly creatures of Tolkein's imaginary world, they function as humans within the context of the narrative, as surely as do Aragorn and Eowyn and Faramir and, for that matter, Barliman Butterbur. Bilbo in TH and Frodo in LotR fill the "everyman" role, and the Perilous Realm for them is the world outside the Shire. ("It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out of your door," Bilbo used to say; "you step into the Road, and if you don't keep your feet there is no knowing where you might be swept off to.")

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The essay also contains Tolkein's views on "sub-creation"; but as it's getting late and I have to work tomorrow, that topic will have to wait for another time.

Dr. C