One desire surpasses all others, by joining Consolation to Escape: the вЂEscape from DeathвЂ™ вЂ“ a theme that abounds in fairy stories around the world. Consolation is the satisfaction of desires, which include our deep-seated longing for a world, of only a secondary one, of wonder and enchantment. Does not a man in prison do well to escape? To escape means also to overcome the embargo imposed by our natural limitations in fantasy, we may fly through the clouds, talk with bees, or reach the ocean floor. It is not a sign of weakness, but strength and sanity. Recovery is regaining the ability to see things with clarity, вЂfreed from the drab blur of triteness of familiarity вЂ“ from possessiveness>вЂќ Escape is flight from the hor r ors of the modern world (factories, pollution, bombs, and technology ranked high on TolkienвЂ™s list. вЂњIn his Lang lecture, Tolkien analyzes the most important of these elements: Recovery, Escape, and Consolation (the capitals and italics are his). In The Lord of the Rings вЂ“ a book for children and adults, for all who gather beneath the Tree of TalesвЂ¦ вЂ“ he would develop to its fullest every element of the fantasistвЂ™s art. He had erred, he realized, by writing The Hobbit as he did, modifying his tone to appease a young and naГЇve readership. Now it dawned on him that the tastes of children, while less informed that those of adults, may not be, should not be, satisfied by watered-down presentations of Fairie. Tolkien already knew that fairy tales appeal to adults his own taste had settled that. вЂњIt is precisely story making in this mode that Tolkien sought to achieve in the Hobbit sequel, begun fifteen months before delivering вЂOn Fairy Stories.вЂ™ To accomplish this, he needed a fundamental change in his approach to narrative. This takes surpassing skill, but when a writer succeeds in crafting a velievable fantasy, he has achieved вЂstory-making in tis primary and most potent mode.вЂ™ Fantasy for Tolkien was вЂњnot a lower but a higher form of Art, indeed, the most nearly pure form, and so (when achieved) the most potent.вЂќ вЂњSuch an achievement, he readily admitted, is an elvish craftвЂ™, for fantasy entails creation of a different world from the one that we inhabit, and yet, to succeed as art, this newly minted world must offer the вЂinner consistency of reality.вЂ™ We must believe in the green sun, the flying horse, the diminutive hobbit. Tolkien understood himself as created in GodвЂ™s image to be a вЂњsubcreator.вЂќ And so he wrote fantasy вЂ“ that lifts the veil on whatвЂ™s really real. It starts with with Chapter 1 of Book I of The Fellowship of the Ring. Douglass, Jr., dredged up the long-forgotten recordings of Tolkien reading from LoTR to commemorate his legacy. According to Aletia, Tolkien, a medievalist scholar and Catholic, presumably chose this day as a nod to Medieval Catholicism, which formerly subscribed to the belief that March 25th was the date Jesus died on the cross and triumphed overВ evil.ДЄ reader of the website Brain Pickings, Eugene F. Diehard fans of The Lord of the Rings will recognize this as the date that the nefarious ring was destroyed in the blazing fires of Mount Doom. Tolkien reading passages from The Lord of the Rings resurfaced just in time for Tolkien Reading Day! For the last fourteen years, the Tolkien Society has designated March 25th as a reading holiday in honor of the adored writer of The Hobbit, The LotR trilogy, and The Silmarillion. Happy belated Tolkien ReadingВ Day!ДЄfter several decades, a rare recording of J.R.R. If you enjoy reading Electric Literature, join our mailing list! WeвЂ™ll send you the best of EL each week, and youвЂ™ll be the first to know about upcoming submissions periods and virtual events.

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