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J.R.R. Tolkien, On Fairy Stories - Three Faces Of Fairy Stories - Sadler's Lectures

This lecture discusses key ideas from the 20th Century English author, linguist, and literary critic J.R.R. Tolkien's essay On Fairy Stories

It focuses specifically on the passage where he distinguishes three "faces" of fairy stories, "the Mystical towards the Supernatural; the Magical towards Nature; and the Mirror of scorn and pity towards Man." Tolkien claims that the magical is the essential face, but the other two are often involved as well. We also go into his later distinction between magic and enchantment.

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Broadcast on:
10 Jul 2023