fairy-story
an imaginative story that takes place in Faërie and transports the reader to the Perilous Realm, also including the key elements of Recovery, Escape, and Consolation
Faërie
an inexplicable yet not imperceptible world of the Imagination, encapsulating entire worlds beyond the physical one; often called the 'perilous realm,' it pairs danger with beauty.
Recovery
"the recovery of clear sight," making the physical world seem strange and wondrous again
Escape
the quality of a fairy-story that allows a reader to escape the fallen world into a beautiful land of enchantment, like "the escape of the prisoner" and not "the flight of the deserter"
Consolation
the feeling granted to a reader by a eucatastrophe, a "sudden joyous turn" that turns darkness into light, when Good conquers Evil and the reader feels a thrill of joy
eucatastrophe
a "sudden joyous turn" in a dramatic narrative, where it seems that darkness will prevail before goodness unexpectedly triumphs
dyscatastrophe
the opposite of eucatastrophe; the possibility of an ending in which Evil triumphs over Good
beast-fable
a story in which animals are presented as thinking and speaking beings in order to give a moral lesson; Tolkien does not include these as "fairy-stories"
fantasy
the overarching sense of enchantment and wonder of a well-executed work of Sub-creation; including a Secondary World, Tolkien sees Fantasy as the highest and purest form of Art
imagination
the faculty of the mind that has the ability to create images
art
the medium by which Imagination can achieve the end of Sub-creation
sub-creation
the act of humans when creating; using the raw materials already created by God, man is merely rearranging and organizing, making his creation actually "sub-creation"
travellers' tale
a story that relates a man's journey to strange and foreign lands, where he is seen as such; not to be confused with a fairy-story
Primary World
the "real world," the physical and material world created by God in which all humans live
Secondary World
a world that comes about as a result of properly executed Fantasy, in which fairy-stories may be set and which constitutes the purest form of Art
