Episode 204 – The Perilous Realm: J.R.R. Tolkien's 'On Fairy Stories'

Weird Studies

Phil Ford and J. F. Martel

Arts, Philosophy, Society & Culture

4.8 • 784 Ratings

🗓️ 14 January 2026

⏱️ 76 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

For Tolkien, fairy stories are not stories about fairies, but stories that take place in Faerie. And in doing so, they make Faerie present. They are not escapist fantasies but disclosures of a real mode of being and invitations to live in that mode. In this episode, Phil and JF explore the great writer’s radical claims about the nature of story, life, and reality. Upcoming Events Erik Davis and JF's six-week course on Herman Melville's Moby-Dick begins on January 20th. For details and to enroll, visit the Weirdosphere. For information on the upcoming Weird Academia events in Bloomington (Jan 27-29), visit the symposium web page at the Center for Possible Minds. Music in this Episode "What a Load of Gnosis," from Weird Studies: Music from the Podcast, Volume I "Springtime on Ganymede," from Weird Studies: Music from the Podcast, Volume II References J. R. R. Tolkein, “On Fairy Stories” Immanuel Kant, Critique of Pure Reason Arthur Schopenhauer, The World as Will and Idea Franz Liszt, Transcendental Etude No. 4: Mazeppa (played by Lazar Berman) Dogen, "Instructions for the Cook" Jeff Kripal, Mutants and Mystics Eric Wargo, From Nowhere J.F. Martel, Review of “From Nowhere” for Journal of Scientific Exploration Richard Wagner, Parsifal Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Spectrevision Radio.
0:07.3	Do you freak out?
0:11.3	Wasteoids TV from Spectrevision Radio.
0:14.5	He's a late-night collage channel,
0:17.0	featuring Forgotten Music History,
0:19.0	microdose music documentaries,
0:24.3	and fly on the wall backstage interviews.
0:25.9	I get depressed if I don't create.
0:31.9	Discover your next favorite band and go underground with the internet's favorite popicle.
0:37.2	Wasteoids TV is now playing via Spectrovision Radio Network. Welcome to Weird Studies, an arts and philosophy podcast with hosts Phil Ford and J.F. Martel.
0:52.3	For more episodes or to support the podcast, go to weirdst. This is Phil.
1:26.1	It's a new year, and we've got big plans over here at Weird
1:30.4	Studies Corporate Tower. One of them is to discuss J.R.R. Talkins, the Lord of the Rings, in
1:37.3	2026, and to set the table for our future discussions, today we are discussing Tolkien's essay
1:44.1	on fairy stories. By fairy story,
1:47.4	he does not mean stories about fairies, though such stories may indeed have fairies in them.
1:53.7	Neither does he mean children's tales, though children might enjoy them. He is not interested in
2:00.1	using historical or anthropological methods to explain
2:03.6	and classify fairy stories. Indeed, explanation and classification are not what he's after.
2:11.4	For Tolkien, what makes a fairy story is that it concerns the land of fairy. Actually, it's not even right to say that a fairy
2:19.7	story concerns a fairy. Talkin is arguing something more radical, namely that a fairy story
2:26.7	comes from Ferry, is, in fact, a part of Ferry. What is Ferry? Talkin writes, quote, the definition of a fairy story, what it is or what it
	...

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