J.R.R. Tolkien - On Fairy-Stories (unabridged) | Catholic Culture Audiobooks

"God is the Lord, of angels, and of men-and of elves."
In this 1939 essay, J.R.R. Tolkien expounds upon his personal theory of fantasy. Considered by many to be his most influential scholarly work, the essay is remarkable both as an analysis of a literary form by one of its most important pioneers and as a key to understanding Tolkien's own legendarium.
This reading is unabridged, with the exception of Tolkien’s footnotes and endnotes.
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On Fairy-Stories full text: archive.org/details/on-fairy-...
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Theme music: 2 Part Invention, composed by Mark Christopher Brandt, performed by Thomas Mirus. ©️2019 Heart of the Lion Publishing Co./BMI. All rights reserved.

[@troublewithweebles]

This whole thing changed the way I see the world.

[@RallyTheTally]

I like how we have all this wisdom just hanging out on youtube.

[@Pumpkinshire]

Lilliputians are not small. They are perfectly normal sized. Human beings are big.

[@odothedoll2738]

A Lilliputian posted this

[@Atulack]

If the Lilluputians are small because there are things bigger than them then everything in this world is small.

[@kpcraftster6580]

You folks been reading Plato's Theaetetus again?@@Atulack

[@angelalopez4261]

Very soft voice I love it!

[@BriGuyIL1980]

Thank you so, so very much for this. I still read fairy tales and folklore myself, so hearing this has been super helpful.

[@5QShakespeare]

Wonderful reading of an important essay. I hadn't read it in years, so this was a great refresher. A great help for my literature analysis channel. Thank you.

[@silverwox4269]

Chapters
3:07 Fairy Story
26:26 Origins
55:32 Children
1:19:06 Fantasy

[@RallyTheTally]

Thank you fam.

[@king_noah_2692]

1:37:24 Recovery, Escape, Consolation
2:05:01 Epilogue

[@sylviakanel9766]

The adjective

[@CatholicCulturePod]

Indeed.

[@barttheraven]

The opening to my copy of the essay doesn't start like this. What are you reading at the beginning?

[@CatholicCulturePod]

Good question - that introductory paragraph is included in a number of PDF versions found online. I (producer) have the collection The Monster and the Critics which does not include that paragraph, but the reader likes to have an electronic version to read from when recording, so I sent him this one. coolcalvary.files.wordpress.com/2018/10/on-fairy-stories1.pdf
I didn't notice the difference until you pointed it out! I wonder if it comes from one of the earlier editions. Wikipedia says: '"On Fairy-Stories" first appeared in print, with some enhancement, in 1947, in a festschrift volume, Essays Presented to Charles Williams, compiled by C. S. Lewis.' I wonder if this introductory paragraph was part of the "enhancement" in the original publication and was removed in later collections. I also see that the essay was eventually published in a stand-alone "expanded edition" ed. Verlyn Flieger - maybe the PDF reflects that edition, but I really don't know because I only own The Monsters and the Critics.

[@Finarphin]

I have three separate editions where "On Fairy-stories" is printed. Tree and Leaf (1965), The Tolkien Reader (1966), and The Monsters and the Critics (1983). All three of them start the same way ("I propose to speak about fairy-stories..."). In this recording it's not perfectly clear where the official recitation begins, as there is an introduction by one person, and another introduction by the person doing the reading. It seems to start with "To be invited to lecture..." I'm guessing Tolkien rewrote the first paragraph at some point, since what is being recited, although not exactly the same as what's printed in my editions, is very similar and contains some of the same phraseology ("...dungeons for the overbold."). (@@CatholicCulturePod

[@polyglotwholivesinabarn]

mystical towards suoernatural, magical towards nature, and the mirror of scorn and pity towards man, the three faces of fairy, the middle is essential, the other two uo to author

[@jerryguillen3000]

👊🏾❤️👊🏾🤝🏾🕊️🙏🙏🏽

[@doctorbritain9632]

He pronounces fairy as ferry, a bit odd to my English ears.