10 Ciberteologia - Journal of Theology & Culture – Year II, n. 14 The fairy-stories in The City of God: literary theory by J. R. R. Tolkien and Saint Augustine’s cardinal virtues Diego Klautau* Abstract: This article deals with J. R. R. Tolkien’s literary concepts of fairy-stories, fantasy, sub-creation, and eucatastrophe. Trough the poem Mythopoieia (1930), the essay Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics (1936), and the essay On Fairy-Stories (1939) we can weave a literary theory that understands its goal as a religious expression, searching for similarities with Saint Augustine’s thought, mainly in the four cardinal virtues expressed in the works The City of God (426) and On Free Choice of the Will (388), as well as the glory of pagan nations and the presence of virtues which would justify elements of the truth in a pagan people. Just as old roman virtues could be examples for Christians, also in the Scandinavian myths, such as Beowulf, one could find virtues pertinent to the Christian revelation. In the end, the sub-created fairy-stories can and must also echo elements from the Christian Gospel. Keywords: Literature, Christianity, virtues. But even as hope died in Sam, or seemed to die, it was turned to a new strength. Sam’s plain hobbit-face grew stern, almost grim, as the will hardened in him, and he felt through all his limbs a thrill, as if he was turning into some creature of stone and steel that neither despair nor weariness nor endless barren miles could subdue. (Tolkien, 2005, p. 934). Tolkien and his literary theory From the experience of folklorists from Great Brit- ain, such as George MacDonald1 and Andrew Lang,2 J. R. R. Tolkien3 produced his legendarium4, a cycle of writings on the universe of the Middle-earth, where he developed a whole fantasy reality, with intelligent and magic beings, dreadful and angelical creatures, demi- gods and demons. Through a literary creation involv- ing several books, poems and tales, Tolkien proposed a conception of fantasy literature that retook perspec- tives in pre-modern narrative environments, basically the Greek, Roman, and Scandinavian mythological narratives, the epic poems, and the biblical narratives. Among the legendarium’s various works ฀ consid- ering the ones published in his life or posthumously ฀ are The Hobbit (1937), the three parts of The Lord of the Rings (1954-1955), The Adventures of Tom Bom- badil (1934), The Silmarillion (1977), Other Verses from the Red Book (1962), The Last Song of Bilbo (1974), Unfinished Tales (1980) and the twelve vol- umes of The History of Middle-earth (1983-1996). Among the various academic publications, espe- cially his analysis of Beowulf,5 in the conference Be- owulf, The Monsters and the Critics (1936), held in Oxford, his work of greater academic, philological, and literary consistency, Tolkien always expressed the need for understanding legends and myths6 as impor- tant elements of language and religion. His famous poem Mythopoieia (1930), published in the work Tree and Leaf (1964), reflects the discussion between Phylomythus (the one who loves myths) and Myso- mythus (the one who hates myths). Such discussion was a repercussion of the dialogues between Tolkien, a stanch Christian, and his colleague, Oxford profes- sor, C. S. Lewis,7 who was extremely materialistic at the time. The poem had the contents discussed be- tween the professors. Blessed are the legend-makers with their rhyme of things not found within recorded time. It is not they that have forgot the Night, or bid us flee to organized delight, in lotus-isles of economic bliss forswearing souls to gain a Circe-kiss (and counterfeit at that, machine-produced, bogus seduction of the twice-seduced). (Lopes, 2006, p. 157)