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Virginia Tech

Re-Defining C.S. Lewis and Philip Pullman: Conventional and Progressive Heroes and Heroines in The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, and The Golden Compass

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

C.S. Lewis and Philip Pullman are two very popular authors of British Children's Fantasy. Their books The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe and The Golden Compass straddle the period of writing that Karen Patricia Smith calls the Dynamic Stage of British Fantasy: from 1950 to the present. Both of these books are part of a larger series and both have been made into recent motion pictures by Hollywood. This paper explores these two books through the lens of their conventional and progressive authors. I discuss in detail the gifts that the heroes and heroines are given, the setting of these books, and the function of destiny and prophecy in order to explore the irony of these books: C.S. Lewis, often viewed as the more conventional author by scholars, is in fact more progressive than his contemporary counterpart.

Degree

thesis:*
Name thesis:degree_name
Master of Arts
Level thesis:degree_level
masters
Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
English
Department dc:contributor.department
English
Grantor dc:publisher
Virginia Tech
Year dc:date.issued
2009

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • McKagen, Elizabeth Leigh
Chair dc:contributor.committeechair
  • Stahl, John D.
Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember
  • Colaianne, Anthony J.
  • George, Diana L.

Subjects

dc:subject × 5

Rights

dc:rights
Statement dc:rights
  • In Copyright

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Dc Identifier Other
etd-05112009-142858
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/32592

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
Virginia Tech
Base URL
vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/oai/request
Last updated
2026-07-22
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
citation

McKagen, Elizabeth Leigh. Re-Defining C.S. Lewis and Philip Pullman: Conventional and Progressive Heroes and Heroines in The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, and The Golden Compass. masters thesis, Virginia Tech, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/32592