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CS Lewis and Lewis Carroll's Magical Worlds

C. S. Lewis, his worlds, and his faith.

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Re: Quest.: Was Lewis influenced by Alice in Wonderland?

Postby Movie Aristotle » Apr 01, 2014 11:47 pm

I think the word "Uglified" used in The Voyage of The Dawn Treader was likely inspired by the word "Uglification" from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
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Re: Quest.: Was Lewis influenced by Alice in Wonderland?

Postby Adeona » Apr 02, 2014 12:51 am

That sounds likely to me, Movie Aristotle. :) Nice catch.

Coracle, that's terrible! I'd never heard anything about the history behind the Mad Hatter concept, nor the difference between hatters and milliners, let alone the depressing bit about the symptoms of mercury poisoning. *shudders* Thanks for sharing, I suppose? (It was certainly interesting! The things you learn on NarniaWeb.)

I like Varnafinde's comment about the influence of Edith Nesbitt's writing - apparently I should read at least one of her books some time. Now I'm curious to see if the exclamations sound similar to me, too.
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Re: Quest.: Was Lewis influenced by Alice in Wonderland?

Postby jewel » Jun 04, 2014 7:33 am

I never heard he was. That's very interesting. I can see a parallel between Alice and Lucy. Narnia is a lot better though.
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Re: Quest.: Was Lewis influenced by Alice in Wonderland?

Postby Varnafinde » Jun 06, 2014 3:21 pm

Adeona wrote: I like Varnafinde's comment about the influence of Edith Nesbitt's writing - apparently I should read at least one of her books some time. Now I'm curious to see if the exclamations sound similar to me, too.


Some of her books even use the concept of events in a different world not taking up any of our time. The House of Arden (from 1908) and Harding's Luck (from 1909) , especially the latter, are good examples of this. I guess they are out of print now, but they are available for reading on the net.
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Re: CS Lewis and Lewis Carroll's Magical Worlds

Postby coracle » Jun 06, 2014 6:03 pm

We've just changed the title of this thread from "Quest: Was Lewis Influenced by Alice In Wonderland?"
“Not all of us can choose what we give up. The things we love are taken or are never ours at all. If we’re lucky, life is defined not by what we let go, but what we let in: friendship and kind words, frailty and hope.”

From 'Call The Midwife', S9 Ep2
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Re: CS Lewis and Lewis Carroll's Magical Worlds

Postby Lady Arwen » Jun 10, 2014 2:50 pm

I was looking at some Alice in Wonderland stuff the other day when I realized that Alice and Lucy are quite close in age. Alice gives her age as 7 and 1/2, while Lucy is about 8 when she first enters Narnia. I find this age interesting, as it seems to put them on the cusp between being so young as to believe most anything and being old enough to regard adventures through portals as "weird" and "impossible" (says the Doctor Who fan). There are probably a lot of incidental similarities between the two girls, but I hadn't realized their ages until recently.

In other news, I'm still pondering hats and clothes. In Looking Glass, Carroll has Alice complaining of how heavy the crowns are. Of course, that does point out that popular versions (which all feature very, very small crowns that are easily knocked about) are incorrect. Given the historical time period, of course, heavy crowns were the thing;but as we discussed previously, quite a lot of Carroll's writing was either critiquing, making fun of, or otherwise commenting on political and social systems.

I wonder if Lewis would disapprove of such heavy crowns.
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