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. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 52
... . Cover images ©2006 Clipart.com Manufactured in the United States of America McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers Box 6¡¡, Je›erson, North Carolina 28640 www.mcfarlandpub.com For my parents, who encouraged my love of reading; for.
... reading; for my husband, who wouldn't let me give up on this project; and for Nathaniel, in anticipation of many journeys to Narnia and other fantastic realms. Acknowledgments This project would not have been possible without the.
... readers Daphne Baird, Lynn McKinney, Ralph Lentz II, and, most importantly, Michael C. Hardy, aided me in shaping and refining the text. I am also deeply indebted to the anonymous individual who once decided that a copy of The Lion, the ...
... much the same way. As my studies in Milton and Spenser grew more focused, I began to notice familiar threads. I knew that Lewis was an author who absorbed everything from his experiences and his vast reading and 1 Preface.
... reading and that those influences might surface in any of his writing: fiction, criticism, or apologetics. The more I read, the more I began to see how Lewis's love for and understanding of The Faerie Queene and Paradise Lost had shaped ...
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 |