Time According to the Perilous Realm

The commentary that could be made on fantasy is endless. Even though all of our assigned readings did a marvelous job of capturing and defining the word and genre, I believe that the discussion could (and to does) go on indefinitely. Tolkien, although he spoke extensively on the subject in his essay, "On Fairy-stories" did not even attempt to exhaust the topic.

Tolkien's essay was perhaps the most influential on my reflections on fantasy. As the premier (and possibly greatest) author of high fantasy, I received his insight on the elements of a fairy-story like precious gems from a clear stream. One point in particular that I would like to explore in this response is the distance of time and space that he claimed was essential to fairy-stories -- or wonder tales as they are sometimes called. 

In "On Fairy-stories" Tolkien discusses "certain primordial human desires" (326) as being an element used in successful works of fantasy. "One of these desires," he claims, "is to survey the depths of space and time" (326). One use we find in fantasy literature is a means to explore other times and places. 

A removal of the physical setting to distant land is clearly seen in almost every fantasy story that I can think of. The reason for this is relatively straight-forward. We long for the Secondary World that grants us escape from everyday life. When are in that world, we may abandon our "actual distresses" and escape into a new realm (Lewis, 69) -- the Perilous Realm. 

A removal of the temporal setting to long ago, however, is somewhat more problematic to me. Tolkien claims later in his essay that "antiquity has an appeal in itself"(345). The long ago opens "a door on Other Time, and if we pass through... we stand outside our own time, outside Time itself, maybe" (346). Readers of fantasy deeply desire the essence of timelessness that stories of this kind can grant. Time is a boundary that must also be escaped. 

Although it is less obvious in fantasy stories, the long ago in a fairytale is just as important as the physical world. All stories of (true) Faërie are influenced by this. Even, as Dr. Smith pointed out, Harry Potter follows the fundamental rule of time. Although it is not set a long, long time ago, the wizarding world is an archaic establishment with medieval influences (such as the castle, the delivery of mail by owls, the suits of amour, or the headless horsemen in COS). That world was set up a long time ago and continues on. In addition to this, Harry's story and origins are set in time before the book was written -- thus, still a time removed from the present.