Tales Before Narnia

Download or read book Tales Before Narnia written by J.R.R. Tolkien and published by Del Rey. This book was released on 2008-03-25 with total page 357 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In his acclaimed collection Tales Before Tolkien, Douglas A. Anderson illuminated the sources, inspirations, and influences that fired J.R.R. Tolkien’s genius. Now Anderson turns his attention to Tolkien’s colleague and friend C. S. Lewis, whose influence on modern fantasy, through his beloved Narnia books, is second only to Tolkien’s own. In many ways, Lewis’s influence has been even wider than Tolkien’s. For in addition to the Narnia series, Lewis wrote groundbreaking works of science fiction, urban fantasy, and religious allegory, and he came to be regarded as among the most important Christian writers of the twentieth century. It will come as no surprise, then, that such a wide-ranging talent drew inspiration from a variety of sources. Here are twenty of the tributaries that fed Lewis’s unique talent, among them: “The Wood That Time Forgot: The Enchanted Wood,” taken from a never-before-published fantasy by Lewis’s biographer and friend, Roger Lancelyn Green, that directly inspired The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe; E. Nesbit’s charming “The Aunt and Amabel,” in which a young girl enters another world by means of a wardrobe; “The Snow Queen,” by Hans Christian Andersen, featuring the abduction of a young boy by a woman as cruel as she is beautiful; and many more, including works by Charles Dickens, Kenneth Grahame, G. K. Chesterton, and George MacDonald, of whom Lewis would write, “I have never concealed the fact that I regarded him as my master.” Full of fascinating insights into Lewis’s life and fiction, Tales Before Narnia is the kind of book that will be treasured by children and adults alike and passed down lovingly from generation to generation. INCLUDING SEVENTEEN MORE WORKS BY THE PROGENITORS OF MODERN FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION: “Tegnér’s Drapa” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow “The Magic Mirror” by George MacDonald “Undine” by Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué “Letters from Hell: Letter III” by Valdemar Thisted “Fastosus and Avaro” by John Macgowan “The Tapestried Chamber; or, The Lady in the Sacque” by Sir Walter Scott “The Story of the Goblins Who Stole a Sexton” by Charles Dickens “The Child and the Giant” by Owen Barfield “A King’s Lesson” by William Morris “The Waif Woman: A Cue—From a Saga” by Robert Louis Stevenson “First Whisper of The Wind in the Willows” by Kenneth Grahame “The Wish House” by Rudyard Kipling “Et in Sempiternum Pereant” by Charles Williams “The Dragon’s Visit” by J.R.R. Tolkien “The Coloured Lands” by G. K. Chesterton “The Man Who Lived Backwards” by Charles F. Hall “The Dream Dust Factory” by William Lindsay Gresham

Download or read book A Field Guide to Narnia written by Colin Duriez and published by InterVarsity Press. This book was released on 2004-06-02 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Are you traveling to Narnia? No matter if this is your first visit to C. S. Lewis's wonderful fantasy world or if you've been there many times, you'll want to bring along this handy companion to the landscape and inhabitants of Narnia, including an A-to-Z guide to characters, places, objects and events. From Narnia expert Colin Duriez you'll learn Duriez also takes up some the sticky questions that you may be left wondering about, such as the destiny of Susan. His book will help you dig deeper into the series and its implications for understanding the Christian life.

Download or read book Milton, Spenser and The Chronicles of Narnia written by Elizabeth Baird Hardy and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2014-11-21 with total page 197 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 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.

Download or read book Reading the Short Story written by Anna Wing-bo Tso and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2019-11-11 with total page 206 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Beginning with a brief history and evolution of the short story genre, alongside an overview of the key short story writers, and an explanatory chapter of literary criticism, this book aims to give readers insight into the works by canonical British, Irish, and American authors, including Edgar Allan Poe, James Joyce, Flannery O'Connor, and more. Applying close reading skills and critical literary approaches to twelve selected short stories in English, this work conducts comparative analyses to reveal the interrelationships between the texts, the authors, the readers, and the sociocultural contexts. Developed and tested in literature classes at university over several semesters, this book addresses key issues, topics and trends in the short story genre.

Download or read book The Narnia Code written by Michael Ward and published by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.. This book was released on 2010-10-28 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Millions of readers have been captivated by C. S. Lewis’s famed Chronicles of Narnia, but why? What is it about these seven books that makes them so appealing? For more than half a century, scholars have attempted to find the organizing key—the “secret code”—to the beloved series, but it has remained a mystery. Until now. In The Narnia Code, Michael Ward takes the reader through each of the seven Narnia books and reveals how each story embodies and expresses the characteristics of one of the seven planets of medieval cosmology—Jupiter, Mars, Sol, Luna, Mercury, Venus and Saturn—planets which Lewis described as “spiritual symbols of permanent value.” How does medieval cosmology relate to the Christian underpinnings of the series? How did it impact Lewis’s depiction of Aslan, the Christlike character at the heart of the books? And why did Lewis keep this planetary inspiration a secret? Originally a ground-breaking scholarly work called Planet Narnia, this more accessible adaptation will answer all the questions.

Download or read book C.S. Lewis & Narnia For Dummies written by Richard Wagner and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2011-05-04 with total page 377 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Explore C.S. Lewis's life, works, and the world of Narnia the fun and easy way. Curious about C.S. Lewis and The Chronicles of Narnia? This plain-English guide provides a friendly introduction to the master storyteller and Christian apologist, revealing the meanings behind The Chronicles of Narnia and The Screwtape Letters as well as his other works. You'll also discover why Lewis went from being a confirmed atheist to a committed Christian and how he addressed his beliefs in his writings. Discover * How his life influenced his writings * His friendship with Tolkien and the Inklings * The parallels between Narnia and Christianity * His use of allegory and symbolism * Resources for further exploration

Download or read book The Magical Worlds of Narnia written by David Colbert and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2005 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Examines the origins and hidden meanings of the characters and plots within C.S. Lewis's Narnia series.