fairy stories, was: Gummed-Up Works or Got Lives?

Craig Brewer · 16 Dec 2011, 03:25 · from 2011-December.txt.gz

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From: cnbrewer at yahoo.com (Craig Brewer)
Date: Thu, 15 Dec 2011 19:25:20 -0800 (PST)
Subject: (urth) fairy stories, was:  Gummed-Up Works or Got Lives?
In-Reply-To: <SNT123-W45C045D189B23106D2A590CFA00 at phx.gbl>
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<Deliberately ignoring the public snark-fest...>

Has Wolfe ever spoken at length about Lord Dunsany? I can think of a few mentions, but nothing significant. That might be an interesting way into the question of "fairy stories."

(And, yes, I asked a question without searching urth.net...mainly to shift the conversation.)

________________________________
 From: Lee Berman <severiansola at hotmail.com>
To: urth at urth.net 
Sent: Thursday, December 15, 2011 9:21 PM
Subject: (urth) Gummed-Up Works or Got Lives?

>Dan'l Danehy-oakes: tBotNS is indeed a fairy story, a once-upon-a-time whisking away of
>the reader to a land where miracles happen, giants..battle heroes, the dead walk, and 

>monarchs live in invisible palaces. (Even the invisible palace hides an invisible
>palace!) 

>If it questions the assumptions of the fairy story, and especially the happy ending, well 

>so too does it question the assumptions of classic science fantasy: and we cannot 

>understand that questioning unless we understand "what we have learned of these things
>from fairy-tales."

Wow, Dan'l. Outstanding post, both for content and eloquence.

Also, I agree with all you say about Tolkien and Lewis and Wolfe in your earlier post. I

might only debate one issue, that being the implication that Tolkein's moral lessons are

not explicit. I would agree with you in regard to religious morality. 

But there is a social-cultural morality Tolkien displays which I find not so very hard to

catch, including the intrinsic value of hearth and home and the unquestioned assumption

that blood (genetics) runs true and determines the worth of a man. Not a shocking moral 

stance for an Englishman of the early 20th century but still, it is there.

I think, by todays standards, Tolkien's geo-social biases might not be considered so

policially correct. I mostly mean his implication that those dark-skinned types from the 

south and east are evil and not to be trusted. Conversely that north and west are the "good" 

directions, not to mention those wonderful (american) eagles who always fly in at the last 

crucial moment to save the day. If he'd used falcons it just wouldn't have worked the same, 

I think. (not that I'm being really critical of Tolkien; I"m sure he was a good and honorable

man but also a product of his times. And aren't we all?) ??? ???  ??? ?  ??? ??? ? 
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