Intertextuality of C.S. Lewis’ The Last Battle

• Authors: Zegarlińska, Magdalena

Abstracts

EN

The Chronicles of Narnia has an established position in the canon of children’s literature. However, what on the surface is a fairy tale involving adventures and magic; with children, kings, talking beasts, and wood spirits as main protagonists; is, in fact, a set of stories deeply rooted in Christian and chivalric traditions, containing elements of beast fable and morality tale. The story, according to Madeline L’Engle, depending on the reader's cultural knowledge and experience, may be understood on various levels, from the literal one of an adventure story for children, through the moral and allegorical levels, eventually reaching the anagogical level. While reading The Chronicles, one is able to notice various references to other written works, interwoven into the text, with the Bible, chivalric romances and beast fables being the most prominent sources of intertextual allusions. In The Last Battle Lewis attempts to answer John Donne’s question, “What if this present were the world’s last night?" (Holy Sonnet XIII) and presents a comprehensive image of Narnian apocalypse and life after death in Aslan’s country. The following paper will present the most noteworthy intertextual references in the final volume of The Narniad.

Keywords

EN

Narnia; intertextuality; apocalypse; Bible; beast fable; King Arthur; Roland

• Publisher: Uniwersytet Łódzki. Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego
• Journal: Analyses/Rereadings/Theories: A Journal Devoted to Literature, Film and Theatre
• Year: 2014
• Volume: 2
• Issue: 1

Dates

published

2014

Contributors

author

Zegarlińska, Magdalena

other

University of Gdańsk

other

Magdalena Zegarlińska is a senior year graduate student at the University of Gdansk. She is an author of various articles devoted to film studies and British literature, and a member of research groups conducting research in the area of dreams, memory and imagination, and minorities. Her PhD dissertation is devoted to film studies and various manifestations of duality in David Lynch’s films as a source of Freudian “uncanny.” The title of her MA dissertation was: “A passage to Ridleyville: A comparative analysis of visual and auditory elements in “Alien,” “Blade Runner” “Legend,” “Black Rain,” “Gladiator” and “Black Hawk Down,” directed by Ridley Scott.” The subject of her BA research was congruent with the title of the article published in the present journal, i.e. “Intertextuality of The Last Battle by C. S. Lewis.” Her personal interests include film studies, psychoanalysis, British Victorian literature, and British children's literature

Identifiers

URI

http://hdl.handle.net/11089/22955