J.R.R. Tolkien’s 1939 lecture later published in essay form is titled On Fairy-Stories.
Tolkien originally delivered the lecture as the Andrew Lang lecture at the University of St Andrews in Scotland in 1939. It was later published in 1947 and became one of his most influential discussions of fantasy, fairy stories, and the purposes of imaginative literature.
In the essay, Tolkien argues that fairy stories are not merely children’s tales. He discusses their ability to offer recovery, escape, and consolation, and he defends the importance of the fantastic imagination. He also describes the “sub-creation” by which a writer builds a secondary world with its own internal consistency.
The essay is often read alongside Tolkien’s fiction because it clarifies ideas visible in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. It should not be confused with Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics, Tolkien’s famous 1936 lecture on Old English scholarship.