I recommend Tolkien’s essay “On Fairy Stories”
I read this essay in college, as I was attempting to better understand different genres of literature and the use of symbol. Tolkien understands these stories: who really loves them more?
So many of our modern stories are lacking in this understanding, and meaning…
“On Fairy Stories” was written in 1938 as an Andrew Lang Lecture, and, as Tolkien notes in his introductory note to the essay, “was in shorter form delivered in the University of St. Andrews in 1938” (The Tolkien Reader pg 31).It was originally published in 1947, in a slightly longer form, in Essays presented to Charles Williams (a memorial volume collected by CS Lewis and published after Williams’ death in 1945).
