Concluding a look at Tolkien's "On Fairy-Stories" essay. Tolkien seems more anti-technology than I would have guessed, or at least anti-industry, but not at all anti-science. Indeed he says that the clearer and more rational the thinking, the better the quality of the resulting fantasy. He also considers how fairy stories are nothing inherently especially suitable for children, it's only adults who have dumbed them down. Children, he says, like everything. They don't have a particular need to believe the story is true (even if that is the hallmark of a good storyteller), only desire to find out what happens. This desire for the other-worldly persists into adulthood whether we want it to or not. Finally I briefly cover the under-appreciated notion of the eucatastrophe, the anti-catastrophe in which things suddenly improve. The eucatastrophe, for Tolkien, is the "highest function" of a fairy story, and I venture some guesses as to how this applies to fantasy and science fiction more generally.

#Fantasy
#SciFi
#Tolkien

https://decoherency.blogspot.com/2023/09/on-fairy-stories-ii-eucatastrophe-if.html