Painting: an ancient lexicon open on a carved lectern in a dark chapel of books, glowing runes and symbols lifting off its pages like fireflies.
TermLiterature term1939

Secondary world

An invented world with its own consistent laws, which the reader enters imaginatively and believes in while inside. Tolkien contrasted it with the Primary World of real life and argued that making one well is a genuine art.

An invented world with its own consistent laws, which the reader enters imaginatively and believes in while inside. Tolkien contrasted it with the Primary World of real life and argued that making one well is a genuine art.

Origin

Named by J. R. R. Tolkien in his essay On Fairy-Stories, based on a 1939 lecture.

Quick answers

What does "Secondary world" mean?
An invented world with its own consistent laws, which the reader enters imaginatively and believes in while inside. Tolkien contrasted it with the Primary World of real life and argued that making one well is a genuine art.
Where does the term "Secondary world" come from?
Named by J. R. R. Tolkien in his essay On Fairy-Stories, based on a 1939 lecture.

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