Milton, Spenser and The Chronicles of Narnia: Literary Sources for the C.S. Lewis NovelsIn 1950, Clive Staples Lewis published the first in a series of children's stories that became The Chronicles of Narnia. The now vastly popular Chronicles are a widely known testament to the religious and moral principles that Lewis embraced in his later life. What many readers and viewers do not know about the Chronicles is that a close reading of the seven-book series reveals the strikingly effective influences of literary sources as diverse as George MacDonald's fantastic fiction and the courtly love poetry of the High Middle Ages. Arguably the two most influential sources for the series are Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queen and John Milton's Paradise Lost. Lewis was so personally intrigued by these two particular pieces of literature that he became renowned for his scholarly studies of both Milton and Spenser. This book examines the important ways in which Lewis so clearly echoes The Faerie Queen and Paradise Lost, and how the elements of each work together to convey similar meanings. Most specifically, the chapters focus on the telling interweavings that can be seen in the depiction of evil, female characters, fantastic and symbolic landscapes and settings, and the spiritual concepts so personally important to C.S. Lewis. |
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... Evil in literature. 9. Spirituality in literature. ¡0. Christianity in literature. I. Title. PR6023.E926C5335 2007 823'.9¡2—dc22 2006033¡92 British Library cataloguing data are available ©2007 Elizabeth Baird Hardy. All rights reserved ...
... Evil: Women of Power and Malice 17 II. The Depiction of Evil: Men, Mortals, Monsters, and Misled Protagonists 51 III. Girls Whose Heads Have Something Inside Them: The Characterization of Women 77 IV. An Inside Bigger Than Its Outside ...
... evil in Narnia has much of its history in The Faerie Queene and Paradise Lost, both “evil” characters and actions must be examined. Narnia certainly has no shortage of villains, many of whom are both externally and internally similar to ...
... allow readers to know Milton and Spenser for a little while in the world of Narnia that they may know them better in the world on this side of the wardrobe. I The Depiction of Evil: Women of Power and Malice 16 INTRODUCTION.
... evil minor characters who reflect the influence of Milton and Spenser. Finally, like Milton's Eve and Spenser's Redcrosse Knight, several of the characters in the Chronicles are not innately evil; they are simply swayed from the true ...
Contents
17 | |
The Depiction of Evil Men Mortals Monsters and Misled Protagonists | 51 |
Girls Whose Heads Have Something Inside Them The Characterization of Women | 77 |
An Inside Bigger Than Its Outside Setting and Geography | 107 |
Knowing Him Better There Spirituality and Belief | 135 |
Conclusion | 159 |
Chapter Notes | 163 |
Bibliography | 177 |
Index | 183 |