J.R.R. Tolkien’s 1939 lecture on fantasy was titled On Fairy-Stories.
Tolkien delivered the Andrew Lang lecture at the University of St Andrews in 1938, and it was published in revised form in 1947. The essay examines what fairy-stories are, why people create them, and what they can offer readers.
Tolkien argues that fantasy can provide recovery, escape, and consolation. He also describes the “eucatastrophe,” a sudden joyful turn that he considers a defining feature of the best fairy-stories. These ideas became central to later discussions of fantasy literature.
The title is sometimes confused with The Monsters and the Critics, another important Tolkien lecture, delivered in 1936 about Beowulf. On Fairy-Stories is specifically associated with Tolkien’s theory of fantasy and fairy-tale literature.