摘 要

享有“现代神话之父”称号的爱尔兰作家刘易斯向来被视为儿童奇幻作品的先锋。自1950年《纳尼亚传奇》系列的首部《狮子、女巫和魔衣橱》初版以来，刘易斯的作品获得了巨大成功，而且其受欢迎度经久不衰。在其创作生涯中，刘易斯一直使用包括寓言、意象和象征等在内的各种形式的类比，从而达到帮助儿童读者认识和探索世界的目的。他把各种纷繁的神话元素诸如希腊、北欧和中世纪神话的元素与宗教元素混合在一起进行奇幻文学的创作。这一特色虽然赢得了读者的青睐，却颇受评论家的诟病。然而，恰恰是这种不同神话体系的元素所存在的不融贯性使得刘易斯的作品能把儿童读者的思绪和想象编织入自己所创作的世界中。这篇毕业论文旨在通过对凯尔特神话的意象分析及其对儿童读者的象征意义来研究为何刘易斯要构建一个不融贯的象征体系。由此，通过阐释《纳尼亚传奇》中和谐的象征体共存性可以得出本论文的结论，即，刘易斯的潜在创作意图是为了从儿童的视角出发为儿童读者进行创作，当作者运用各种与儿童所共有的多元化想象元素时，儿童作品就能更好地达到引导与启发儿童读者的意图。

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（摘要内容仅作参考，无需套用）

关键词：和谐；可持续发展；凯尔特神话；儿童文学；兼容性

Abstract

Often hailed as the “Father of Modern Fantasy”, Clive Staples Lewis is internationally regarded as a pioneer of the children’s fantasy novels. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the first of The Chronicles of Narnia series, was published in 1950.  Ever since then, Lewis’ works have received immense success and his success still endures. Over the course of his writing career Lewis created wonderful analogies, which assist young readers in understanding something they don’t know by using allegories, images and symbols. Lewis combined mythical elements with a rather distinctive Christian message. Although readers took to his books, many critics didn’t. Voices from a completely different camp criticized Lewis’ mixing of Greek, Norse, Medieval, and other kinds of mythology together. However, it is just because this incoherence of his symbolism that Lewis has achieved the manipulation of fantasy and his young readers by weaving childhood thoughts and rituals into his plots.

This thesis aims to analyze the underlying reason why Lewis created a incoherent network of symbols in his works via an imagery analysis of the Celtic symbols used in his writings and their implications for Children. Therefore, an conclusion can be drawn by expounding the harmonious compatibility of diversified Celtic symbols in The Chronicles of Narnia. That is, Lewis believed that adult authors should write for children out of all multifarious elements in the imagination which are shared by both children and adults.

Key Words: Incoherence; Harmony; Symbolism, The Celtic myth; Children Literature

Contents

1 Introduction 1

1.1 Literature review 2

1.1.1 A review of studies abroad 2

1.1.2 A review of domestic studies 2

1.2 Reception difference 4

1.2.1 Tolkien’ s dislike of Narnia 4

1.2.2 Best-selling children’s books 4

1.2.3 Controversy 5

1.3 Motivation and objectives 5

2 An Incoherent Symbolic World of Narnia 6

2.1 Allegories in Narnia 6

2.1.1 Greek myth 6

2.1.2 Norse myth 6

2.1.3 Biblical allegories 7

2.1.4 Celtic myth 8

2.2 Criticism on Incoherent Symbolism 9

2.2.1 Incoherence 9

2.2.2 Heresy 9

3 Justification of the Incoherence for Children 10

3.1 Children’s literature and incoherence 10

3.2 Children as implied readers 10

3.3 Writing for children’s epistemology 11

3.4 Incoherence as a compatible premise of children’s view of world 12

4.Harmony and Sustainability of Celtic Symbols 14

4.1 Celtic symbols -- Nature and talking animals 14

5.Conclusion 15

References 15

An Imagery Analysis of Celtic Circle Symbols and Its Association with the Harmony Symbolism in The Chronicles of Narnia

1 Introduction

Clive Staples Lewis was an internationally recognized literary figures, who is widely regarded as a pioneer of the children’s fantasy novels. He is one of the major contributors and well-loved Christian author for non-fictional and fictional writings. His famous non-fictional books such as Mere Christianity and A Grief Observed.  The former was famous for broadcast during World War II and almost each Christian have one in their bookshelves. After the death of Joy, his beloved wife, A Grief Observed was written which has provided much comfort to himself and those who have suffered the same loss.  Lewis has not only written many spiritual issues in his non-fictional books, but he also has added many of these kind of issues in his fiction.

In addition to the Chronicles of Narnia mentioned in this article, one of Lewis's most popular fictional works is Screwtape Letters. This book is filled with satirical letters of the senior devil and offers advice to an elementary devil who is trying to devise ways to seduce humanity. Lewis seems to like the art of bringing deep biblical truths in different genes.

Perhaps the sense of humor and wisdom that Lewis shows in his novels and non-fiction is inherited from his Irish education. C.S. Lewis was born in Belfast, Ireland, in 1898 and was subsequently sent to England to receive his studies, including his time at Oxford University. Most of his adult life was in Oxford and he was eventually promoted to a professor of literature in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. He passed away on November 22, 1963.