I just finished the final for my Christian Fantasy class, which was split about 70/30 Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. I found the class highly enjoyable–after all, a large portion of the homework was re-reading the Rings books–but I also found that taking the class bolstered my confidence in the worth of fantasy as a genre.
Tolkien says it best in his essay on fantasy contained in the Tolkien Reader, so I won’t go in to it too much here. Suffice it to say that I now have greater faith in what I’m doing and feel better equipped to defend myself against the arguments of friends and relatives who wonder when I’ll grow out of fantasy and become a ‘real’ writer.
Here’s to sub-creation of believable and satisfying secondary worlds. Here’s to fantasy!
