J. R. R. Tolkien
688 citations

I have claimed that Escape is one of the main functions of fairy-stories, and since I do not disapprove of them, it is plain that I do not accept the tone of scorn or pity with which 'Escape' is now so often used. Why should a man be scorned if, finding himself in prison, he tries to get out and go home? Or if he cannot do so, he thinks and talks about other topics than jailers and prison-walls? ✨ On Fairy-Stories. Andrew Lang Lecture at the University of St. Andrews on March 08, 1939. Essays presented to Charles Williams, 1947.

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