Ep 20 – J.R.R. Tolkien’s “On Fairy Stories” – Special Guest: Chen Malul

This episode features a discussion with Israeli writer, Chen Malul, of J.R.R. Tolkien’s essay, “On Fairy Stories“. Tolkien originally wrote the essay as a speech he delivered as part of the Andrew Lang lectures for St. Andrews College in Scotland. Later, after the publication of The Lord of the Rings and its massive success, Tolkien revised the essay adding an introduction and expanding the text in 1964. It was published in the US in a volume called, Tree and Leaf.

On Fairy Stories is Tolkien’s attempt to answer questions about the origins and nature of fairy tales/stories. He began working on the essay just as he attempted to write what he called “the Hobbit sequel” (eventually Lord of the Rings). The essay helped Tolkien understand the tale he was trying to write and eventually led him to write a much deeper and more serious story than his original Hobbit novel which was written for children.

On Fairy Stories is a fundamental document for understanding Fantasy literature and its importance in literature. In addition, it is a key to unlocking Tolkien’s intention and ideas in his great novel The Lord of the Rings.

You can find a digital copy of “On Fairy Stories” here. I was also helped in my research by the Tolkien Gateway site. The Tolkien Encyclopedia also provided background information on the essay. Chen mentions the first Hebrew translation of the Hobbit which you can find out more at this link.
Music by Tech Oasis from Pixabay Tolkien’s photo is in the public domain.

PS, I cut about 15 minutes for length from the original podcast recording. If you’d like to listen to the raw recording (1 hr 8 mins), you can get an mp3 copy here.

Chen Malul

I discovered Chen Malul’s substack feed, The Library of Babel, a few months ago and was delighted to read his short post on Tolkien’s On Fairy Stories. It was well-written an thoughtful response to the first part of the essay (Fantasy and Sub-Creation). I immediately invited him to join with me in discussing the whole essay and to my delight he said, “Yes”. The result is one of my favorite podcast discussions along with finding an new friend.

Chen is an Israeli writer and editor who fell in love with the study of Literature, History and the Occult from a young age.