Talk:On Fairy-Stories

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Contents 1 Untitled discussion 2 NPOV 3 Literary Context 4 Links 5 Incorrect passage 6 WikiProject class rating

[edit] Untitled discussion

I believe this article is incorrect. I am currently reading this particular essay of Tolkien's and the article does not correctly articulate Tolkien's thesis. I will correct once I have finished reading the essay.

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You will have no protest from me if you can improve it. -Demosthenes- 01:09, 7 November 2005 (UTC) --Brian Melville

I only wrote on two of the sections of the essay, info from the other sections would be appreciated. I will add them myself eventually when I get the time if necessary. -Demosthenes- 23:34, 7 November 2005 (UTC) --Brian Melville

[edit] NPOV

The page is not an article about the essay. Rather, it's a very sympathetic paraphrasing of the essay. Sentences like "As Tolkien says, fantasy is “a rare achievement of Art,” (70).", "We shouldn’t take what we can from a story and then never think about it again.", and "Another important reason that we read fairy stories is to escape from reality. Why is it wrong to escape reality from time to time?" are not acceptable in an encyclopedia article and are not neutral point of view. The article can not restate Tolkien's points as established fact. Rather, a summary of the essay in NPOV is appropriate, along with critical reactions and more information about its influence. Citation of sources is a must. As is, the page is unacceptably biased and not useful as an encyclopedia article. Superm401 | Talk 21:06, 2 January 2006 (UTC)

I just went ahead and rewrote it remove POV and shorten it up a bit. Ethan Mitchell 14:19, 10 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Literary Context

Tolkien stated emphatically on several different occasions that his Middle-earth was on our own planet (see The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, ed. Humphrey Carpenter, pp. 220, 239, 244, 283, 375-6). I have revised this section so that it does not imply the contrary. pmr 19:35, 14 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Links

I've found some links to this essay on online. Any objection if I audit them and then post the best of the batch? jsnx 04:52, 29 July 2007 (UTC)

If you're referring to places where the text of the essay itself has been posted online, I'd advise against it. The essay is still under copyright, and links to copyvios are not acceptable, as far as I know. Deor 11:40, 29 July 2007 (UTC)

Good to know. jsnx 17:59, 29 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Incorrect passage

I believe the following passage -

The essay On Fairy-Stories is an attempt to explain and defend this new genre, which Tolkien names Fairy Stories, and is careful to distinguish from actual fairy tales such as those of the Brothers Grimm or H.C. Andersen.

- is incorrect. Tolkien is not referring to fairy-stories as a new genre but as something ancient and uses the term synonymously with fairy-tales (though he seems to prefer the use of "fairy-stories"). --130.194.13.105 04:38, 29 October 2007 (UTC)

I agree. In fact, I think that much of the section "Literary context" is either irrelevant to a discussion of this essay (the first paragraph) or wrongheaded in its summarizing of the essay's contents, like the statement you cite above. Something could be made of the last paragraph in the section, perhaps; but as it stands, it's both jejune and somewhat out of whack in its characterization of what T. wrote. (He explicitly defends the value—not "utility"—of the stories on four, not three, grounds: Fantasy [where his important concept of subcreation comes in], Recovery, Escape, and Consolation.) I hesitate to simply excise the section without some sort of consensus, but I advocate eliminating almost all of the first two paragraphs of "Literary context" and expanding and rewriting the third. Deor 05:27, 29 October 2007 (UTC)

It does need rewriting. Be bold and see what improvements you can make. Carcharoth 10:26, 1 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] WikiProject class rating

This article was automatically assessed because at least one WikiProject had rated the article as start, and the rating on other projects was brought up to start class. BetacommandBot 13:44, 9 November 2007 (UTC)