“The moment disbelief arises, the spell is broken; the magic, or rather art, has failed.”

— John Ronald Reuel Tolkien , book On Fairy-Stories

On Fairy-Stories (1939)
Context: The story-maker proves a successful 'sub-creator'. He makes a Secondary World which your mind can enter. Inside it, what he relates is 'true': it accords with the laws of that world. You therefore believe it, while you are, as it were, inside. The moment disbelief arises, the spell is broken; the magic, or rather art, has failed.

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John Ronald Reuel Tolkien 78

British philologist and author, creator of classic fantasy … 1892–1973

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