J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis in search of the criterion of artistry
- DOI
- 10.5922/vestnikpsy-2024-3-5
- Pages
- 51-58
Abstract
The article examines the aesthetic aspect of the artistic pursuits of famous English philologists and writers of the 20th century, Clive Staples Lewis and John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, based on their literary-critical works, essays, and fictional texts. In particular, the article traces the search for a criterion of artistry in the works of these authors. The relevance of this study is determined by the belief that the criterion of artistry in a literary text is a fundamental category of literary studies, allowing for the necessary distinction between texts that belong to literature as such and pseudo-literature. This criterion ultimately defines the subject of literary studies as a science, since the science of literature does not study just any written text containing fiction, but rather artistic texts. The purpose of this article is to understand what J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis — colleagues and friends who inspired each other and formed the literary fellowship of the Inklings — meant by artistry and what criteria of artistry they were able to develop.