E. Nesbit's influence on C.S. Lewis' Narnia stories

Introduction

The stories of E. Nesbit had a big influence on C.S. Lewis' Narnia series. The influence was not religious, but rather the notion of ordinary English girls and boys being caught up in adventures. The children in Nesbit's stories have keen moral senses, but Nesbit did not have the same religious agenda as Lewis.

Here is a list of Nesbit stories considered in this webpage:

• "The Aunt and Amabel", Chapter 10 of The Magic World (1912) wiki, etext
• The "Five Children" Trilogy
  1. The Five Children and It (1902) - wiki, etext
  2. The Phoenix and the Carpet (1904) - wiki, etext
  3. The Story of the Amulet (1906) - wiki, etext
• The Bastable series
  1. The Story of the Treasure Seekers (1898) - wiki, etext
  2. The Wouldbegoods (1899) - wiki, etext
  3. The New Treasure Seekers (1904) wiki, etext
• Wet Magic (1913) - wiki, etext

In the listings below, the related Narnia book is indicated in parentheses after each Nesbit entry.

(Note: I was motivated to create this webpage after reading about Nesbit's influence on C.S. Lewis in The Natural History of Make-Believe. As you read the Nesbit stories mentioned in that book, their influence on the Narnia books is obvious. Rosemary Lake created a "Sources of Narnia ?" webpage that reports some of the same facts as this page. Her webpage predates mine, but is not as detailed about Nesbit's influence. We don't have any serious differences re Nesbit's influence, but in any instances where my webpage differs from hers, I think mine is correct ;-)

"The Aunt and Amabel" (Ch. 10 of The Magic World)

To me, this is a fairly uninteresting story except for the notion of a wardrobe as a gateway to another world.

• young girl discovers a wardrobe that is a gateway to another world (LWW)
• funny place names like "Bigwardrobeinspareroom" (LWW)

The "Five Children" Trilogy

I enjoyed these stories and recommend them.

The fantasy elements of the "Five Children" books remain rooted in the everyday-world - quite different from the Narnia stories. In The Natural History of Make-Believe, John Goldthwaite states that Nesbit is "best understood as comic realist." I agree.

The Five Children and It

• Four main child characters (boy, girl, boy girl) of similar ages as the Pevensies

The Phoenix and the Carpet

• two working class Londoners become king and queen of an exotic land (MN)
• young boy likes Turkish Delight (LWW)

The Story of the Amulet

• adventures take zero time in the "real-world" (all)
• children bring a foreign queen to London and chaos erupts (MN)
• children magically transported to a ship at sail on the ocean (VDT)
• The word "Tyrean" (meaning 'of or about Tyre') might have suggested Tirian (LB)
• children (almost) sold into slavery (VDT)
• the word "Nisroch" is similar to the word "Tisroc" (HHB, LB)
• "call not upon the gods lest ye raise greater ones than ye can control" (LB)
• Comparison of Nesbit's Nisroch and Tash (LB)
  • Nisroch has hands of stone; Tash means "stone" in Turkish
  • Nisroch has the head of an eagle ; Tash has the head of a vulture
  • Nisroch has a "harsh, grating voice"; Tash has a horrible voice
  • However, Nisroch is a helpful god, not an evil one like Tash

The Bastable series

I haven't read any of these books yet, so can't offer any opinion as to their readability.

• In MN, Lewis implicitly reminds the reader that the Narnia stories are fiction: "In those days Mr. Sherlock Holmes was still living in Baker Street and the Bastables were looking for treasure in the Lewisham Road."(MN, Ch. 1)

Wet Magic

• multiple mer-folk cultures, some fierce (VDT)
• women making war on other women with whips rather than swords (Jill at end of 0SC)
• children forget the adventure by the end of the book (Susan in LB)