Analogues and sources for the non-human characters in C.S. Lewis's planetary romances and Narnia chronicles

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dc.contributor.authorSumpter, Eleanor Marionen_US
dc.date.accessioned2024-08-15T18:27:25Z
dc.date.available2024-08-15T18:27:25Z
dc.date.copyright1985en_US
dc.date.issued1985
dc.degree.departmentDepartment of Englishen_US
dc.degree.levelMaster of Arts M.A.en
dc.description.abstractThis thesis examines C. S. Lewis's use of selected analogues and sources in creating the non-human characters in his planetary romances and Narnia Chronicles in terms of his critical and religious perspectives on the natures of originality, realism and the Christian author's role. The thesis suggests that Lewis's fiction to some ex­tent illustrates these features of his religious and critical position The thesis first identifies some of Lewis's philosophical sources and mythological analogues for the numinous creatures found primarily in the planetary romances and shows how his combination of selected details from a broad base of analogues results in characters that are original in whole even though derivative in their discrete ele­ments. It then examines how Lewis's adaptation of archetypal, mythic and legendary creatures, found primarily in The Chronicles of Narnia, makes these sometimes incompatible creatures consistent within the secondary world of Narnia. Next, the thesis turns to the real and realistic animals in the planetary romances and the Narnia Chronicles in order to examine Lewis's adoption and combination of literary tech­niques typical of usually distinct sub-genres such as science-fiction and children's adventure stories or illustrated in specific works such as The Canterbury Tales, The Faerie Queene and Paradise Lost. Finally, the thesis demonstrates that the Talking Animals of Narnia are particularly vibrant and memorable because they combine elements from specific analogues, structural devices and techniques of characterization generally derived from popular or at least accessible sources, especially various types of animal fantasy. In each case, the examination of Lewis's adaptation or combina­tion of limited elements from a plethora of individual and generic analogues demonstrates how Lewis employed his admiration for the med­ieval approach to originality, or how he practised the critical values he expounded regarding realism, or how his fiction embodies the values he suggested as appropriate for art produced by a Christian The thesis concludes by arguing that Lewis has used his broad literary background as source material for his non-human characters in much the same way that another author may use real world experiences as raw material for his characters, that Lewis's combination of elements from his analogues allows him to use disparate materials within con­sistent secondary worlds, and that, at least for the non-human char­acters of the planetary romances and the Narnia Chronicles, the broader the range of analogues and sources f or a specific or for a type of character, the more complete and hence the more believable and mem­orable the character.
dc.format.extent117 pages
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1828/19853
dc.rightsAvailable to the World Wide Weben_US
dc.titleAnalogues and sources for the non-human characters in C.S. Lewis's planetary romances and Narnia chroniclesen_US
dc.typeThesisen_US

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