"Suspension of disbelief" vs. "Secondary Belief": fictional worlds in Coleridge and Tolkien

Paolo Pizzimento

doi:10.13125/2039-6597/5807

Paolo Pizzimento University of Messina

DOI: https://doi.org/10.13125/2039-6597/5807

Keywords: Fictional worlds, Suspension of disbelief, Poetic faith, Secondary Worlds, Secondary belief

Abstract

This article aims to analyse S.T. Coleridge’s theory of suspension of disbelief and poetic faith, which seems to overshadow a conception of the literary work as displaying a “separate universe” capable of reconfiguring the experience of everyday reality. This theory, particularly through the mediation of Owen Barfield, exerts a considerable influence on J.R.R. Tolkien’s essay On Fairy-stories, which enters subtle controversy with Coleridge and opposes and opposes the suspension of disbelief with his “Secondary Belief”. The difference between the two authors can shed light on dissimilar conceptions of the ontological status of the fictional worlds.

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