Speaking again on the appeal of fairy-stories:
This, however, is the modern and special (or accidental) “escapist” aspect of fairy-stories, which they share with romances, and other stories out of or about the past. Many stories out of the past have only become “escapist” in their appeal through surviving from a time when men were as a rule delighted with the work of their hands into our time, when many men feel disgust with man-made things.
-J.R.R. Tolkien, On Fairy-Stories, (Recovery, Escape, Consolation)