Ancient Motifs in C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien

Timetable

Module aim (aims)

- to gain knowledge about the life and work of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien
- to develop the ability to notice selected ancient motifs in The Chronicles of Narnia by Lewis and Silmarillion, Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings by Tolkien
- to gain knowledge about forms of reception of ancient motifs in modern literature

Pre-requisites in terms of knowledge, skills and social competences (where relevant)

None

Syllabus

1. Biographical sketch of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien
2. Philosophical and spiritual background
of the 1920s – Lewis, Barfield, and Tolkien.
3. Philosophical and spiritual background
of the 1920s – Lewis, Barfield, and Tolkien. - continued
4. Platonism – basic ideas.
5.Platonism – basic ideas.
6: The Chronicles of Narnia and Platonism
7: The Chronicles of Narnia and Platonism
8. Till We Have faces – background myths: Hipolytus, Bacchae, Psyche
9: Till We Have faces - interpretation
10: The Hobbit and the Odyssey,
11: The motif of nostos in the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings
12: Ainulindale – cosmogonic myth and Platonism
13: Ainulindale - continued.
14: The Ring – Plato Republic and Herodotus Histories.
15: The Ring – Plato Republic and Herodotus. Concluding remarks.

Reading list

Primary literature: Lewis, C.S. The Chronicles of Narnia (vol. 1-7), New York 2005. (or any other edition)
Tolkien, J.R.R. The Lord of the Rings, New York 2003. (or any other edition)
Tolkien, J.R.R. The Silmarillion, New York 1998. (or any other edition)
Tolkien, J.R.R. The Hobbit or, There and Back Again, New York 1997. (or any other edition)

Secondary literature:

Coutras, L. Tolkien's theology of beauty, New York 2016.
Kilby, C. A well of wonder, Orleans 2016.
Reyes, A.T. (ed) C.S. Lewis' Lost Aeneid, New Haven 2011.
Baggett, D. C.S. Lewis as philosopher: truth, goodness, and beauty, Lynchburg 2017.
Sammons, M. War of the fantasy worlds: C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien on art and imagination, Santa Barbara 2010.
Duriez, C. The Oxford Inklings: Lewis, Tolkien, and their circle, Oxford 2015.
Poe, H. The Inklings of Oxford, Grand Rapids 2009.
Loconte, J. A hobbit, a wardrobe, and a great war, Nashville 2015.
Zaleski, P. The fellowship: the literary lives of the Inklings, J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, New York 2015.