J.R.R. Tolkien’s 1939 lecture later published in Tree and Leaf was titled “On Fairy-Stories.”
Tolkien originally delivered the lecture as the Andrew Lang Lecture at the University of St Andrews in Scotland. He used it to examine what fairy-stories are, what they can do, and why adults should not dismiss them as merely childish entertainment.
The essay presents Tolkien’s influential ideas of recovery, escape, and consolation. He argued that fantasy can help readers see ordinary things freshly, imagine alternatives to oppressive conditions, and receive a form of hope through the eucatastrophe, or sudden joyful turn.
“On Fairy-Stories” is frequently confused with “The Monsters and the Critics,” Tolkien’s major 1936 lecture on Beowulf. Both are important essays, but they address different subjects and belong to different moments in his academic career.