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The Box of Delights and The Chronicles of Narnia

Alice Edna Spencer

Abstract


The present paper will consider the influence of Masefield’s The Box of Delights on Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia. Lewis himself openly acknowledged his admiration for and indebtedness to Masefield’s work, and the influence of the earlier novel is clearly evident on several occasions in the Chronicles. However, certain key differences in the two authors’ handling of similar themes and motifs reveal fundamental divergences in their attitudes to childhood and their vision of the function of children’s literature.


Keywords


Masefield; Lewis; Narnia; Box of Delights; children’s literature; fantasy literature; BBC Children’s television; Christmas; Christmas literature; portal quest fantasy; liminal fantasy.

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References


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DOI: https://doi.org/10.7358/ling-2021-001-spen

Copyright (©) 2021 Alice Edna Spencer – Editorial format and Graphical layout: copyright (©) LED Edizioni Universitarie

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Linguæ & - Rivista di lingue e culture moderne
Registered by Tribunale di Milano (06/04/2012 n. 185)
Online ISSN 1724-8698 - Print ISSN 2281-8952

Dipartimento di Scienze della Comunicazione, Studi Umanistici e Internazionali: Storia, Culture, Lingue, Letterature, Arti, Media
Università degli Studi di Urbino Carlo Bo

Editor-in-Chief: Roberta Mullini
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