Emily Tucker- On Fairy Stories

    I've been fascinated with and loved fairies ever since I was a little girl. From watching all of the Tinker Bell movies (and forcing my brother to watch them), reading a plethora of different book series about fairies, and even setting up little fairy gardens in our backyard as a child, I loved all the stories about little flying fairies who lived in their own world separate from the world we live in. In some of the series, humans found a portal or link to the fairy world; and for some time, I believed one day I would find the fairy world too. As I got older, those dreams died away as rationality takes a hold. However, as a dancer there were numerous times that I danced as a fairy on the stage whether it be a pixie fairy in Snow White, a sylph in La Sylphide and Les Sylphides, or a Dryad in Don Quixote. 

    I'm writing this blog about fairies because in J.R.R. Tolkien's "On Fairy-Stories" he argues against the idea that Fairy-Stories are solely for children. Tolkien states that the central themes and ideas surrounding Fairy-stories are rooted in myth and should be viewed as legitimate literary works. 

    Tolkien defines these "Fairy-Stories" as narratives that take place in and transport the reader to Faёrie, "The realm or state in which fairies have their being" (Tolkien 42). He states that it not only contains fairies, elves, dwarves, witches, trolls, giants, and dragons, but the seas, sun, moon, skies, earth, and all that is in it. Tolkien believes fairy-stories to be a very specific type of story by explaining the differences between fairy-stories, and traveler's stories, stories containing human dreams as the mechanism towards fantasy, and "best-fables" that give animals human-like characteristics to teach a moral. 

    "Fantasy is a natural human activity. It certainly does not destroy or even insult reason; and it does not either blunt the appetite for, nor obscure the perception of, scientific verity." (Tolkien 72). Tolkien believes that fantasy is founded on fact. He states, "For creative fantasy is founded upon the hard recognition that things are so in the world as it appears under the sun." 

    Tolkien attributes three functions to fantasy: Recovery, Escape, and Consolation. "Recovery is a regaining of a clear view" (Tolkien 74). The things most familiar to us, are the hardest thing to view in a different perspective. Fairytales also provide escape- escape from constraints and difficulties of the world. Lastly, Consolation, which Tolkien calls eucatastrophe is essentially the opposite of catastrophe. It is defined as a sudden, joyous turn in a story, where an unexpected happy ending emerges. 

    Ultimately, Fairy-Stories are for all ages and can be studied and analyzed like any other notable work of literature. Sometimes the things we love as a child contain very real and practical lessons. Throughout this semester we've learned a lot about the heroes journey, interior journeys, and exterior journeys, and how they can be seen in all aspects of life in different ways. Fairy-stories are just another instant where stories we grew up with and loved are far deeper and impactful than we may have originally expected. 

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