Tolkien On Fairy-Stories

A new expanded edition of Tolkien’s most famous, and most important essay, which defined his conception of fantasy as a literary form, and which led to the writing of The Lord of the Rings. Accompanied by a critical study of the history and writing of the text.

J.R.R. Tolkien’s “On Fairy-stories” is his most-studied and most-quoted essay, an exemplary personal statement of his views on the role of imagination in literature, and an intellectual tour de force vital for understanding Tolkien’s achievement in the writing of The Lord of the Rings.

“On Fairy-stories” comprises about 18,000 words. What is little-known is that when Tolkien expanded the essay in 1943, he wrote many more pages of his views that were originally condensed into or cut from the published version. An estimate is difficult, but these unpublished passages perhaps amount to half again as much writing as the essay itself. These passages contain important elaborations of his views on other writers, and their publication represents a significant addition to Tolkien studies. Included in this new critical study of the work are:

An introductory essay setting the stage for Tolkien’s 1939 lecture (the origin of the essay) and placing it within a historical context.
A history of the writing of ‘On Fairy-stories’, beginning with coverage of the original lecture as delivered, and continuing through to first publication in 1947.
The essay proper as published in corrected form in Tree and Leaf (1964).
Commentary on the allusions in the text, and notes about the revisions Tolkien made to the text as published in Tree and Leaf.
Important material not included in the essay as published, with commentary by the editors.

Contained within “On Fairy-stories” are the roots of the tree of tales that bore such glittering fruit in Tolkien’s published and unpublished work. Here, at last, Flieger and Anderson reveal through literary archaeology the extraordinary genesis of this seminal work and discuss, in their engaging commentary, how what Tolkien discovered during the writing of the essay would shape his writing for the rest of his life.

Author Biography

J.R.R.Tolkien (1892-1973) was a distinguished academic, though he is best known for writing The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion, plus other stories and essays. His books have been translated into over 60 languages and have sold many millions of copies worldwide.

Verlyn Flieger, Ph. D. is a Professor in the Department of English at the University of Maryland specializing in myth studies and comparative mythology. She teaches a sequence of graduate and undergraduate myth courses that offer Celtic, Arthurian, Hindu, Native American, and Norse myth.

Concentrating on modern fantasy with a special focus on the works of JRR Tolkien, Professor Flieger’s publications include Question of Time: JRR Tolkien’s Road to Faerie, the winner of the 1998 Mythopoeic Award for Inklings Studies; Splintered Light: Logos and Language in Tolkien’s World; Tolkien’s Legendarium: Essays on The History of Middle-earth co-edited with Carl Hostetter and winner of the 2002 Mythopoeic Award for Inklings Studies; and her fictional works Pig Tale and The Doom of Camelot: “Avilion: A Romance of Voices.”

Professor Flieger is co-editor with Douglas A. Anderson and Michael Drout of Tolkien Studies, a yearly journal devoted to scholarly examination of the works of J. R. R. Tolkien.