The Chronicles Of Narnia And The Lord Of The Rings

I have thought to compare two products of two well-known writers: Clive Staples Lewis and John Ronald Reuel Tolkien. It seemed to me interesting to track in what of similarity and distinctions of their creativity.
The Lord of the Rings is an epic high fantasy novel written by philologist and Oxford University professor J. R. R. Tolkien. The story began as a sequel to Tolkien's earlier, less complex children's fantasy novel The Hobbit, but eventually developed into a much larger work. The title of the book refers to the story's main antagonist, the Dark Lord Sauron, who had in an earlier age created the One Ring to rule the other Rings of Power, as the ultimate weapon in his campaign to conquer and rule all of Middle-earth. From quiet beginnings in the Shire, a hobbit land not unlike the English countryside, the story ranges across Middle-earth following the course of the War of the Ring through the eyes of its characters, most notably the hobbits, Frodo Baggins, Samwise Gamgee (Sam), Meriadoc Brandybuck (Merry) and Peregrin Took (Pippin), but also the hobbits' chief helpers: Aragorn, a ranger, and Gandalf, a wizard.
As for the Chronicles of Narnia is a series of seven fantasy novels for children written by C. S. Lewis. It is considered a classic of children's literature and is the author's best-known work, having sold over 120 million copies in 41 languages. In addition to numerous traditional Christian themes, the series borrows characters and ideas from Greek and Roman mythology, as well as from traditional British and Irish fairy tales. The Chronicles of Narnia present the adventures of children who play central roles in the unfolding history of the fictional realm of Narnia, a place where animals talk, magic is common, and good battles evil. Each of the books (with the exception of The Horse and His Boy) features as its protagonists children from our world who are magically transported to Narnia, where they are called upon to help the Lion Aslan save Narnia.
On one hand, they have a lot of similarities. As far as I know, both Lewis and Tolkien took part in the First World War, and that in the years following the conflict they became distinguished scholars of the English language and literature at Oxford University. Those who accuse these writers of escapism tend to overlook the fact that such a curriculum vitae would make it virtually impossible for them to remain ignorant of, and not to at least in some way reflect in their own writing, the events that changed the world and the literature in the first half of the twentieth century. Also, they have chosen the same literary genre – fantasy. Like the modernists, both Tolkien and Lewis combine and reinvigorate the main Western narrative traditions: myth, epic, romance, and different stages of the novel, to use a more common terminology – on a simultaneous level in their fiction.
On the other hand, there is the mainest and fundamental difference. They integrate both elements – Christian and pagan. An example of this combination is when the wizard mysteriously asserts that Boromir “escaped” before he died: “Galadriel told me that he was in peril. But he escaped in the end. I am glad. It was not in vain that the hobbits came with us, if only for Boromir’s sake”. Lewis also combines pagan and Christian matter in his fiction. The fairy tale animals and witches of Narnia are more than calculated ploys to make the Bible more appealing. Lewis believed fairy tales and religion were naturally connected. He saw myths and legends as a step in humankind’s development of belief. To him, they were part of a logical path to Christianity.
This is, of course, not the only difference, but i believe that it is one of the most important, giving rise to divergent stylistic treatments of the themes and the narrative universes – simple, forceful and direct in the case of Lewis; complex, vacillating and sometimes paradoxical, in the case of Tolkien.
So, to sum up, I would like to say that both writers are really brilliant! I fond of their way of writing, their fairy-tail world and their characters!