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RE: Tolkien and Lewis on Worldbuilding
Just a quick question: why send readers to Google is you can link to the essay? Aside from that: good post. I think that rather than disrupt the sense of magic, Lewis' Secondary World brings the reader closer to the story by having the worlds "touch" in the book. I think it just speaks to a different kind of reader audience. Some prefer a bit of Primary World in their fantasy, while others prefer to distance themselves from it completely. It's also apparent in scifi with franchises like Star Wars that exist in their own Secondary World unrelated to our Primary.
Thanks for your feedback. That's true, I should have just put the link to the essay on the post itself (http://brainstorm-services.com/wcu-2004/fairystories-tolkien.pdf).
I think you are right that different Secondary Worlds are more popular with different people. Tolkien preferred to keep Middle Earth separate and many Tolkien fans appreciate that, while Narnia fans see nothing wrong with including aspects of the Primary World in his Secondary World. Personally, I think that Narnia is even more intriguing because it includes aspects of classical literature and myths which are familiar to us, but made new and magical in the world of Narnia.