Thank you for this essay. “The Lord of the Rings is unique in that it birthed a genre it does not belong to" – that puts it very well. I also strongly agree with the way you separate the mysterious magic of fairytale from the learnable, systematized magic of modern fantasy.
To me, the unknown in Faërie stirs the hidden depths in our hearts and minds. Morality and virtue were certainly uppermost in Tolkien’s mind, but to me did not constitute the most moving aspect of his writings; those were the glimpses of Faërie as a realm of wonder, yearning and dread, never explained but powerfully evoked.
I’ve taken the liberty of linking to this piece in a recent post of my own, Faërie and fairytale in Tolkien.
I would love to read your book and leave an Amazon review. FYI, the link you provided in this article goes to https://catholicreads.com/2024/06/20/the-little-mermaid-by-hans-christian-anderson/ rather than your book. I'll do a search and find it on Amazon.
Oops! Thanks for letting me know. I'll correct it in the online version.
Thank you for this essay. “The Lord of the Rings is unique in that it birthed a genre it does not belong to" – that puts it very well. I also strongly agree with the way you separate the mysterious magic of fairytale from the learnable, systematized magic of modern fantasy.
To me, the unknown in Faërie stirs the hidden depths in our hearts and minds. Morality and virtue were certainly uppermost in Tolkien’s mind, but to me did not constitute the most moving aspect of his writings; those were the glimpses of Faërie as a realm of wonder, yearning and dread, never explained but powerfully evoked.
I’ve taken the liberty of linking to this piece in a recent post of my own, Faërie and fairytale in Tolkien.