Exploring Tolkien

63. Kids Ruin Everything - On Fairy Stories, Part 3
This week we discussed “Children” from the “On Fairy Stories” by Tolkien. He pushes back against the coupling of fairy-stories and children, making the point that, “If fairy-story as a kind is worth reading at all it is worthy to be written for and read by adults.”
We talk about:
- Suspension of Disbelief vs Literary Belief
- How fairy-stories are not to be relegated to nurseries
- How children ruin everything (even fairy-stories) if we leave it alone with them
- The “covert sniggering” that happens when adults write stories FOR children
- Is the Hobbit too “silly” for Middle-earth
Then in our members-only episode (https://theonering.com/members) we:
- Did Tolkien approve or enjoy tragedies?
- Discuss our interview with Nick Groom last week, and why we weren’t more confrontational.
- We did, in fact, react with quiet disbelief at some of Professor Groom’s answers to our Confessions from the Comfy Chair!