Rebecca's Reviews > On Fairy-Stories
On Fairy-Stories
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I read this for research.
Also because it’s a wonderful essay and there’s always something new to think about, since Tolkien rambles so much, haha. I actually realized this time just how...formative this was for me? As both a reader and writer? I read it when I was thirteen and just getting into writing fantasy (rather than historical fiction or whimsical pieces about personified drawing utensils and whatnot that were technically fantasy but...yeah), and it’s shaped...everything about how I think about other realms and magic and the fair folk and...yeah. Everything.
This quote is lovely to me, and though its point is somewhat tangential, it does tie in very nicely with the eternal newness of fairy-stories that runs through Tolkien’s discussion of and appreciation of them:
The analytic study of fairy-stories is as bad a preparation for the enjoying or the writing of them as would be the historical study of the drama of all lands and times for the enjoyment or writing of stage-plays. The study may indeed become depressing. It is easy for the student to feel that with all his labour he is collecting only a few leaves, many of them now torn or decayed, from the countless foliage of the Tree of Tales, with which the Forest of Days is carpeted. It seems vain to add to the litter. Who can design a new leaf? The patterns from bud to unfolding, and the colours from spring to autumn were all discovered by men long ago. But that is not true. The seed of the tree can be replanted in almost any soil, even in one so smoke-ridden (as Lang said) as that of England. Spring is, of course, not really less beautiful because we have seen or heard of other like events: like events, never from world’s beginning to world’s end the same event. Each leaf, of oak and ash and thorn, is a unique embodiment of the pattern, and for some this very year may be the embodiment, the first ever seen and recognized, though oaks have put forth leaves for countless generations of men.
Also because it’s a wonderful essay and there’s always something new to think about, since Tolkien rambles so much, haha. I actually realized this time just how...formative this was for me? As both a reader and writer? I read it when I was thirteen and just getting into writing fantasy (rather than historical fiction or whimsical pieces about personified drawing utensils and whatnot that were technically fantasy but...yeah), and it’s shaped...everything about how I think about other realms and magic and the fair folk and...yeah. Everything.
This quote is lovely to me, and though its point is somewhat tangential, it does tie in very nicely with the eternal newness of fairy-stories that runs through Tolkien’s discussion of and appreciation of them:
The analytic study of fairy-stories is as bad a preparation for the enjoying or the writing of them as would be the historical study of the drama of all lands and times for the enjoyment or writing of stage-plays. The study may indeed become depressing. It is easy for the student to feel that with all his labour he is collecting only a few leaves, many of them now torn or decayed, from the countless foliage of the Tree of Tales, with which the Forest of Days is carpeted. It seems vain to add to the litter. Who can design a new leaf? The patterns from bud to unfolding, and the colours from spring to autumn were all discovered by men long ago. But that is not true. The seed of the tree can be replanted in almost any soil, even in one so smoke-ridden (as Lang said) as that of England. Spring is, of course, not really less beautiful because we have seen or heard of other like events: like events, never from world’s beginning to world’s end the same event. Each leaf, of oak and ash and thorn, is a unique embodiment of the pattern, and for some this very year may be the embodiment, the first ever seen and recognized, though oaks have put forth leaves for countless generations of men.
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Reading Progress
February 22, 2021
– Shelved
February 22, 2021
– Shelved as:
nonfiction
February 22, 2021
– Shelved as:
5-stars
February 22, 2021
– Shelved as:
2021
Started Reading
September 9, 2022
– Shelved as:
2022
September 9, 2022
–
Finished Reading
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rated it 5 stars
Sep 09, 2022 02:42PM
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But, hey, your review is also the best thing ;)
I feel like the eucatastrophe/Resurrection portion is objectively the best part. The part about the potency (and importance) of Fantasy is also one of my personal favorites, as well as the defense of healthy escapism and his thoughts on the peculiar appeal of the Perilous Realm...and, you know, everything. :P
Also the quote you shared reminded me of this poem Lewis wrote that I believe is in response to his conversations with Tolkien:
I heard in Addison’s Walk a bird sing clear
This year the summer will come true. This year. This year.
Winds will not strip the blossom from the apple trees
This year, nor want of rain destroy the peas.
This year time’s nature will no more defeat you,
Nor all the promised moments in their passing cheat you.
This time they will not lead you round and back
To Autumn, one year older, by the well-worn track.
This year, this year, as all these flowers foretell,
We shall escape the circle and undo the spell.
Often deceived, yet open once again your heart,
Quick, quick, quick, quick! – the gates are drawn apart.
Yeeah, I know. "Everything" says it. xD <3 <3
:) I heard about the poem when I met the composer JAC Redford in Oxford this summer. He had set it to music and showed me where to find it on youtube (What the Bird Said Early in the Year) so I listened to it at Addison's Walk while I was there.