Tales Before Narnia: The Roots of Modern Fantasy and Science Fiction

In his acclaimed collection Tales Before Tolkien, Douglas A. Anderson illuminated the sources, inspirations, and influences that fired J.R.R.

Tolkiens genius. Now Anderson turns his attention to Tolkiens colleague and friend C.

S. Lewis, whose influence on modern fantasy, through his beloved Narnia books, is second only to Tolkiens own.In many ways, Lewiss influence has been even wider than Tolkiens.

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 Lewiss unique talent, among them:The Wood That Time Forgot: The Enchanted Wood, taken from a never-before-published fantasy by Lewiss biographer and friend, Roger Lancelyn Green, that directly inspired The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe; E.

Nesbits 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 Lewiss 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.From the Trade Paperback edition.