Intertextual and other literary allusions and references to be found in J. R. R. Tolkien’s ’The Lord of the Rings’, C. S. Lewis’s ’The Chronicles of Narnia’ and George MacDonald’s ’The Princess and the Goblin’ and ’The Princess and Curdie’

Szidónia Majoros (Károli University of the Reformed Church, Budapest)

Email: mszidi@freemail.hu

 

ABSTRACT:

The Inklings, an informal writers’ club that met regularly between the 1930s and the 1960s, assembled with the aim of giving each other thoughts and inspiration, discussing story ideas and reading their own works to each other. The Inklings were, in fact, a group of friends and fellow geniuses of Oxford University including, among others, J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. One of the Inklings’ common source of interest and inspiration came from the writings of their predecessor, the Scottish children’s author and novelist George MacDonald. In my talk I will aim at presenting a comparative and contrasting study on the allusions and references to other writings of literature to be found in the most popular novels of some of the most notable practitioners of British scientific romance. As all of the above mentioned books combine strong imagination and lively adventure with artfully concealed Christian parable, they are appropriate in giving audiences of all generations and nationalities literary hindsights and insights into both the realm and development of fiction and fantasy.