From the fairy tale to the epic

This work analyses how Tolkien uses elements of the fairy tale and the epic genre to write his novel The Hobbit. Published in 1937, J. R. R. Tolkien's first published novel is frequently seen as a fairy tale. In addition, by using the author's essay "On Fairy Stories" to analyze his own fiction, it is possible to argue that it has most of the characteristics he ascribes to the fairy tale genre: it takes place in a consistent secondary world, it satisfies several human desires, such as the one of glimpsing other worlds and the one of conversing with other beings; more importantly, it has a "happy ending", which is, par excellence, the essence of the genre for the author. However, a close reading of such fiction reveals that its light tone is slowly replaced by a darker one, typical of ancient narratives like the epic poem Beowulf. This research, therefore, investigates how Tolkien builds a narrative that begins with the sobriety of the fairy tale, reaches a climax characteristic of the epic, and closes with a bittersweet taste that mixes traces of both genres. To do so, I rely on Tolkien's own theories concerning such genres.