What is the title of J.R.R. Tolkien’s 1947 essay about the nature of fairy stories?

J.R.R. Tolkien’s 1947 essay about the nature of fairy stories is titled “On Fairy-Stories.”

The essay developed from the Andrew Lang lecture Tolkien delivered at the University of St Andrews in 1938. It examines what fairy stories are, where they belong, and what they can offer readers. Tolkien argues that fairy stories are not merely children’s entertainment and that their settings should be understood as coherent “Faërie.”

He identifies several valuable functions, including recovery, escape, and consolation. The essay also explains his concept of eucatastrophe, the sudden joyful turn that can provide a powerful sense of hope.

The title is sometimes confused with “The Monsters and the Critics,” Tolkien’s major 1936 lecture on Beowulf. Both are important works of Tolkien’s literary criticism, but they address different subjects and were published in different periods.