The St. Austin Review
The St. Austin Review (StAR) is an international journal of Catholic culture, literature, and ideas. In its pages, printed every two months, some of the brightest and most vigorous minds around meet to explore the people, ideas, movements, and events that shape and misshape our world.

A Tolkien Jubilee: A Fiftieth Anniversary Celebration
Sample Article 50 Years after the Father’s Farewell
This September marks the fiftieth anniversary of J. R. R. Tolkien’s voyage to the Blessed Realm. Husband, father, scholar, author, artist—a myriad of titles could not do justice to the man behind the mythology of Middle-earth. However, there is another paternal title some have endeared to the professor: “Father of Fantasy”. Years before the publication of The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien delivered an Andrew Lang Lecture at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. He considered his subject, fairy-stories, “one of the highest forms of literature”. The collected manuscripts of his lecture from March 8, 1938, would later appear as the expanded essay, “On Fairy-stories”, which Tolkien believed to be “quite an important work, at least for anyone who thinks me worth considering at all”. But what do readers consider most important in his essay? Many who read the essay reduce it to Tolkien’s work in philology and ignore the genius of his philosophy. Tolkien knew fairy-stories could enchant, delight, and express truth. He was also keenly aware of their noblest ability: conveying Truth.
The Ink Desk Blog
September/October issue: A Tolkien Jubilee
Sample Content from Our Latest Issue Table of Contents Sample [...]
July/August Issue: Faith and Fantasy: Chesterton, Tolkien, Lewis, Rowling and Other Tellers of Tall Tales
Sample Content from Our Latest Issue Table of Contents [...]
May / June Issue — The Mere Genius of C. S. Lewis
Sample Content from Our Latest Issue Table of Contents Sample [...]
Sympathy for the Devil?
Is Milton responsible for making the Devil a sympathetic character? [...]
A Dazzling Dozen
Joseph Pearce recommends twelve works of contemporary fiction published in the twenty-first [...]
Celebrating Hobbit Day
Celebrating Tolkien on Hobbit Day... Celebrating Hobbit Day - Joseph Pearce (jpearce.co)
St. Austin Review Issues
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How Righteous is Anger?
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