Paradise Lost and Found: Obedience, Disobedience, and Storytelling in C. S. Lewis and Philip Pullman.

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Bibliographic Details
Title: Paradise Lost and Found: Obedience, Disobedience, and Storytelling in C. S. Lewis and Philip Pullman.
Authors: Wood, Naomi1
Source: Children's Literature in Education. Dec2001, Vol. 32 Issue 4, p237-259. 23p.
Subject Terms: *Storytelling, Imagination in children, Imagination in literature
Reviews & Products: Chronicles of Narnia book series
People: Pullman, Philip, 1946-
Abstract: In the fantasy series The Chronicles of Narnia and His Dark Materials, by C. S. Lewis and Philip Pullman respectively, the authors use symbols and themes from Paradise Lost. Each author's narrative choice uses his view of cosmic order to persuade readers that obedience should be understood as central to coming of age. At stake is the proper role of human agency in the world. Can children become narrators of their own lives, or are they fated simply to occupy narratives already written for them? Obedience and disobedience are inextricably connected with narratives of origin, of development, and of maturation. Both Lewis and Pullman model and problematize the process of independent storytelling in order to arrive at truth; their treatments of obedience and disobedience explore each writer's sense of the nature of authority, storytelling, and the creative process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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Database: Education Research Complete
Description
Abstract:In the fantasy series The Chronicles of Narnia and His Dark Materials, by C. S. Lewis and Philip Pullman respectively, the authors use symbols and themes from Paradise Lost. Each author's narrative choice uses his view of cosmic order to persuade readers that obedience should be understood as central to coming of age. At stake is the proper role of human agency in the world. Can children become narrators of their own lives, or are they fated simply to occupy narratives already written for them? Obedience and disobedience are inextricably connected with narratives of origin, of development, and of maturation. Both Lewis and Pullman model and problematize the process of independent storytelling in order to arrive at truth; their treatments of obedience and disobedience explore each writer's sense of the nature of authority, storytelling, and the creative process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
ISSN:00456713
DOI:10.1023/A:1012718005663