Roger Scruton

In Wicked, Roger Scruton is invoked as the source of one of Gregory Maguire’s “articles of faith”: the British moral philosopher’s line, “The consolation of the imaginary is not imaginary consolation.” The quotation grounds the book’s defense of fiction and fantasy — the claim that the comfort and meaning we draw from imagined worlds is real, not a lesser substitute for it.

Context: Roger Scruton (1944–2020) was a British philosopher and writer associated with conservative thought and aesthetics, author of works on beauty, art, and the philosophy of culture. The line quoted here reflects his recurring interest in how imagination and the aesthetic carry genuine human value.

Where this appears

• Wicked — Maguire cites Scruton’s “the consolation of the imaginary is not imaginary consolation” as a personal article of faith defending the worth of fiction.