High Fantasy is a relatively new genre, having only been introduced in the late 1800s. Through the novels that fall under this category, authors have had the opportunity to respond to critical social issues that are prevalent in their lifetime. This has allowed the genre to mature along with the advancement of our culture. High Fantasy has rapidly developed into a genre that is widely appreciated and accepted; George R.R. Martin has contributed to this progression through his novel The Game of Thrones, in which he responds to past authors, social issues of today, and the High Fantasy genus.
While High Fantasy began with a fervent fan base, the genre also conjured up immense disapproval from the church. Devout Christians, Catholics, and Mormons worried that the High Fantasy novels were promoting witchcraft. They were concerned that if their children became interested in High Fantasy, they would stray from their faith in God. Prior to C.S. Lewis’s success with The Chronicles of Narnia, he wrote books with which he “enriched the faith of many young Latter-Day Saints…. Christians of all faiths [found] similar inspiration in Lewis’ writings”(Jardin). Due to his already profound impact on the believers in Christ, he was able to shift their views about the intentions of High Fantasy. Lewis’s fans were already invested in his compelling religious novels and as a result when he released The Chronicles of Narnia he forced them to approach the genre from a different perspective. “Lewis said it was primarily his imagination that laid the foundation of his faith…. When he read George MacDonald’s fantasy work ‘Phantastes,’ he described it […] as baptizing his imagination” (Jardin). This statement alone showed the people of faith who admired C....
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...." DeseretNews.com. N.p., 22 Nov. 2013. Web. 16 Feb. 2014.
This article outlines the life of C.S. Lewis and his writings on Christianity and Chronicles of Narnia. The piece describes the effect Lewis had on his religious readers and highlights his life story, including his inspiration for his novels. Jardin wanted to draw attention to the positive effect Lewis had on the world.
Larsen, David. "George RR Martin Interview - Books - From Our Archive - The Listener." New Zealand Listener George RR Martin Interview Comments. N.p., 16 Nov. 2013. Web. 17 Feb. 2014.
This interview exemplifies George R.R. Martin’s journey to The Game of Thrones and his writing styles and how they contribute to High Fantasy. Martin reveals the intentions of his novels and his strategy for completing such arduous books.
Martin, George R. R. A Game of Thrones. New York: Bantam, 1996. Print.
It will be the contention of this paper that much of Tolkien's unique vision was directly shaped by recurring images in the Catholic culture which shaped JRRT, and which are not shared by non-Catholics generally. The expression of these images in Lord of the Rings will then concern us.
Since the emergence of literature, thousands upon thousands of characters have graced our imaginations. From trouble maker Bart Simpson of the celebrated cartoon television series The Simpsons to Mr. Darcy of Jane Austen’s renowned novel Pride and Prejudice, the world has witnessed a plethora of characters in literature. Khaled Hosseini, author of The Kite Runner, and Billy Collins, distinguished American poet, as well as countless other authors, share the utilization of characters in their literary works. The manner in which these authors use the literary element of characters varies immensely.
· Wood, Ralph C. "Traveling the one road: The Lord of the Rings as a "pre-Christian" classic." The Christian Century Feb. 93: 208(4).
Overall, C.S. Lewis’ beliefs in God were incredibly real, raw, and honest. He inspired others to figure out who God was to them, and who God is to us. He challenged the people around him.
Recent big screen blockbusters such as The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring and its sequel, The Two Towers, as well as the two Harry Potter films have restored much attention to the oft-ignored genre. Despite the commercial success of the two fantastical franchises, however, Fantasy has not regained much standing within the academia, as scholars continue to neglect contemporary fantasy literature when choosing curricula and fail to give the genre its due while unwittingly including much that is fantastic in classical literature courses. Although these classics have been accepted, they have often been held either as the exception to the rule or have not been labeled as Fantasy at all. Further, the lack of Fantasy in the curricula of colleges across the country has become so egregious as to ignore modern literary giants such as George R.R. Martin who competes e...
Smith and Bradford use religion as a literary tool to persuade the reader towards their own interests. There are similarities and differences in the motivation to use religion by these two authors, yet the use is still prevalent in their writings. The reasons for these similarities and differences are found in the greater interest of each individual author.
After his conversion, C.S. Lewis' writings became less modernistic. Many of his most famous writings, such as Mere Christianity, The Screwtape Letters, and The Chronicles of Narnia series contain his Christian worldview (Stewart 1), which was completely opposite of the mode...
...e, is the end; Despite all the odds Lewis highlighted important truths of Christian faith through the story of a demon who is not good at being a demon. Wormwood’s helper shows us those truths in thirty-one irrational letters. A message of light brought forth through darkness.
C.S. Lewis uses a secondary world, Narnia, to convey complex, thought-provoking messages to readers of The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. This paper examines the way a selection of Narnia's key characteristics prompt debates over logic and faith, comment on the nature of spiritual and metaphysical journeys, allow readers to broaden their conception of their own capabilities, encourage new reflection on the story of Christ and help to clarify conceptions of good and evil.
On its surface, Martel’s Life of Pi proceeds as a far-fetched yet not completely unbelievable tale about a young Indian boy named Pi who survives after two hundred twenty-seven days on a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. It is an uplifting and entertaining story, with a few themes about companionship and survival sprinkled throughout. The ending, however, reveals a second story – a more realistic and dark account replacing the animals from the beginning with crude human counterparts. Suddenly, Life of Pi becomes more than an inspiring tale and transforms into a point to be made about rationality, faith, and how storytelling correlates the two. The point of the book is not for the reader to decide which story he or she thinks is true, but rather what story he or she thinks is the better story. In real life, this applies in a very similar way to common belief systems and religion. Whether or not God is real or a religion is true is not exactly the point, but rather whether someone chooses to believe so because it adds meaning and fulfillment to his or her life. Life of Pi is relevant to life in its demonstration of storytelling as a means of experiencing life through “the better story.”
To date, transmedia theory and criticism has focused its analysis on the genres of science fiction and fantasy. This is mainly due to the abundance of opportunity to expand and create narrative paths provided by the types of stories popular to the genre. Geoffrey Long, in his master’s thesis, highlights the importance of a rich world in transmedia narratives (2007, 28). Christy Dena also describes the process of unraveling parts of a larger narrative in each medium of a transmedia story (2010, 18). Jenkins illustrates an example of the Wizard of Oz and author L. Frank Baum declaring himself “the royal geographer of Oz” (2009) We see JRR Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, George Luca...
C.S. Lewis was the 20th century’s most popular proponent of faith based on reason. As a child, he created an imaginary world where personified animals came to life, and later, he wrote the book, Chronicles of Narnia. How did he transform from a boy fascinated with anthropomorphic animals into a man of immense faith? His transformation to the Christian religion happened as his fame began to flourish. People wrote him, asking him about his claims about the truth of Christianity (Belmonte, Kevin). As I attended the drama of Freud’s Last Session, I was engrossed into the plot of the play and was constantly thinking about how it pertained to the objectives of the World Literature class. I not only connected the content of the play to its context, but I also reached out to apply the context to a discussion on a broader scale. I then discovered why the context of literature is imperative for true understanding of the w...
The symbolism between C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, the fourth book in The Chronicles of Narnia, and the New Testament in the Bible, particularly the account of Jesus’ death is not merely coincidental because The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe is, in fact, an allegory. An allegory is a story with morals in which characters, plots and settings are used as symbols. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, by C.S. Lewis is rich with Christian symbolism even though the allegorical nature of it is the subject of much controversy. Nonetheless, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe is an allegory. In this tale, four ordinary children find a wardrobe that leads them into Narnia, an extraordinary land parallel to our universe with talking animal and fantasy creatures. An evil witch has cast a spell of eternal winter over the land and has lured one of the children into betraying the others for enchanted Turkish Delights. Meanwhile, a magical lion, the nemesis of the witch, has arrived after a 100-year absence because of the betrayal of Edmund and ancient prophecies. Soon the children find themselves as involved in the battle as the other creatures and the lion must free Narnia from the clutches of the evil witch and atones for Edmund’s betrayal. The symbolism in the characters, plots, setting, miscellaneous things and themes prove Narnia is, indeed, allegorical
“”But I should be right in thinking you are a daughter of Eve?” This quote from Mr.Tumnus applies to the Christian religion. Since in Christianity, the first humans were Adam and Eve. All humans in the world of Narnia are Children of Adam and Eve; therefore this shows that Christianity plays a big role in the book. ( “sons of Adam) (specifically Edmund”) http://www.gotquestions.org/Narnia_Lion-Witch-Wardrobe.html)
The Chronicles of Narnia are veritably the most popular writings of C.S. Lewis. They are known as children’s fantasy literature, and have found favor in older students and adults alike, even many Christian theologians enjoy these stories from Lewis; for there are many spiritual truths that one can gleam from them, if familiar with the Bible. However, having said this, it is noteworthy to say that Lewis did not scribe these Chronicles for allegorical didactics of the Christian faith, but wrote them in such a well-knit fashion that young readers might understand Christian doctrine through captivating fantasy and thus gain an appreciation for it. With this in mind, and in the interest of this assignment, the purpose of this paper is an attempt to analyze one of the many doctrines of the Christian faith from The Lion, The Witch, And, The Wardrobe (LWW), namely, temptation and how Lewis illustrates it through an individual character, Edmund.