The Box of Delights and The Chronicles of Narnia - The Hidden Adult in Children’s Literature

Aug 27, 2026

Upload by Ophelia

The paper examines how Masefield’s The Box of Delights shaped Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia, using Lewis’s stated admiration and debt to Masefield as a guiding premise. It identifies recurring influences in motifs and thematic handling, while arguing that key differences in how the two authors treat childhood and define the role of children’s literature point to divergent attitudes and functions. It also situates these works within broader cultural and media contexts.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryLiterature

FormatPDF

Pages19

Reading Time29 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

The Hidden Adult in Children’s Literature

The Box of Delights and The Chronicles of Narnia

BBC adaptations in the 1980s

Linguæ & Rivista di lingue e culture moderne 12021 | The Adult Reader of Children’s Literature | | | --- | --- | | edited by Jan Marten Ivo Klaver | | | Nota sugli Autori | 7 | | Jan Marten Ivo Klaver | | | Introduction: The Hidden Adult in Children’s Literature | 9 | | Tiziana Ingravallo | | | Alle donne di Inghilterra: le Rural Walks di Charlotte Smith | 13 | | Jelena Ulrike Reinhardt | | | The Hidden Fairy Tale: Oskar Kokoschka’s Die träumenden Knaben | 29 | | Alice Edna Spencer | | | The Box of Delights and The Chronicles of Narnia | 45 | | Emilija Dimitrijevic | | | The Work of Art in the Age of Political Correctness | 63 | | Recensioni | 75 | Linguæ &– 1/2021 [https://www.ledonline.it/linguae/ -Online](https://www.ledonline.it/linguae/ -Online issn 1724-8698-Print)[ issn](https://www.ledonline.it/linguae/ -Online issn 1724-8698-Print)[ 1724-8698-Print](https://www.ledonline.it/linguae/ -Online issn 1724-8698-Print) issn 2281-8952-isbn 978-88-7916-981-3 The Box of Delights and The Chronicles of Narnia Alice Edna Spencer alice.spencer@unito.it Università degli Studi di Torino doi: [https://doi.org/10.7358/ling-2021-001-spen](https://doi.org/10.7358/ling-2021-001-spen) AbstrAct – The present paper will consider the influence of Masefield’s The Box of Delights on Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia. Lewis himself openly acknowledged his admiration for and indebtedness to Masefield’s work, and the influence of the earlier novel is clearly evident on several occasions in the Chronicles. However, certain key differences in the two authors’ handling of similar themes and motifs reveal fundamental divergences in their attitudes to childhood and their vision of the function of children’s literature. Keywords – Masefield; Lewis; Narnia; Box of Delights; children’s literature; fantasy literature; BBC Children’s television; Christmas; Christmas literature; portal quest fantasy; liminal fantasy. 1. introduction, with A brief note on the 1980s bbc AdAptAtions The 1984 BBC adaptation of Masefield’s The Box of Delights was, at the time of filming, one of the most expensive television series ever made, taking up one twelfth of the broadcasting corporation’s total budget of twelve million pounds. The series began a tradition of lavish Christmas adaptations forchildren which, after The Children of Green Knowe in 1986, was followed by Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe in 1988. All three of these productions were produced by the BBC’s Paul Stone and met with considerable success in the United States. These 1980s television series were a huge cultural phenomenon, with children rushing home from school to see them. They featured on the front cover of the Radio Times, which included detailed plot summaries and cast lists for each episode, and were promoted on Blue Peter and Pebble Mill at One (Errington 2020, 108-11) . The adaptations of Lewis’ and Masefield’s children’s classics are still much remembered by the generation who grew up watching them, as witness Linguæ &– 1/2021 [https://www.ledonline.it/linguae/ -Online](https://www.ledonline.it/linguae/ -Online issn 1724-8698-Print)[ issn](https://www.ledonline.it/linguae/ -Online issn 1724-8698-Print)[ 1724-8698-Print](https://www.ledonline.it/linguae/ -Online issn 1724-8698-Print) issn 2281-8952-isbn 978-88-7916-981-3 the The Box of Delights Appreciation Society on Facebook, which has over two thousand members, and fact that the numerous fanzines / Facebook groups dedicated to the Narnia books make frequent reference to the BBC series. A cursory glance at the photography and casting choices will reveal that the Disney films, and especially The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, were hugely influenced by the 1988 television series. These online communities centre on nostalgia: on nostalgia for the past childhood of their various members. From the thoroughly postmodern, globalised world of social media and Netflix, they also look back to the (perhaps ill

FAQs

What is the focus of the paper?

The paper focuses on the influence of Masefield’s The Box of Delights on Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia, especially in recurring motifs and thematic treatment of childhood.

How does the paper support the claim of influence?

It relies on Lewis’s explicit acknowledgment of admiration for and indebtedness to Masefield, alongside evidence of visible parallels across Narnia.

What differences does the paper highlight between the two authors?

It contrasts their handling of similar themes and motifs to show fundamental divergences in attitudes to childhood and in their visions of what children’s literature should do.

Aug 27, 2026

Upload by Ophelia