Happy 126th Birthday to C.S. Lewis, born on this day, November 29, 1898.
In 1962, he was asked what books most influenced him.
He responded with a list of 10 books.
They're Great Books. I recommend you read them -- or, at least, read this thread about them:
10. George MacDonald's Phantastes
A fantasy novel about a young man searching for his female ideal in a dream-world.
Lewis once said: "I have never concealed the fact that I regard [MacDonald] as my master... I have never written a book in which I did not quote from him."
9. Virgil's The Aeneid
An epic poem that is foundational to Western literature, it tells of Aeneas's heroic journey from the fall of Troy to the shores of Italy.
Lewis once wrote:
"A man, an adult, is precisely what [Aeneas] is... With Virgil, European poetry grows up."
Long before Tolkien’s fantasy worlds enchanted us, other stories enchanted him.
Ever wonder which books sparked his imagination?
Here's a thread of 15 works — some high-brow, some low, all fascinating — that shaped Tolkien's world:
1. Beowulf
Beowulf was Tolkien's academic specialty, and he consciously drew upon it in LOTR.
Ents, orcs & elves are all taken from Beowulf.
Gollum is partly based on the monster Grendel.
And the dragon Smaug (in The Hobbit) mirrors Beowulf's dragon.
But that's not all.
Like Beowulf, LOTR also portrays a pagan, pre-Christ world but is by a deeply Christian author.
Tolkien sought to match how Beowulf nodded implicitly towards Christian eschatology through "large symbolism" about good, evil & redemptive grace but eschewed heavy-handed allegory.