Into the Wardrobe

I know this has been discussed here before, but I'm not clear on all of the details. Why did Tolkien not have a very high appraisal of Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia? I remember reading that one of the reasons was that he disliked Lewis' combining elements of many mythologies in the stories, e.g. Greek, Roman, King Arthur, Norse, and others. The story ofThe Lord of the Rings seem more as if it came from one single mythology that Tolkien created, whereas Lewis used other sources in creating characters, settings, etc. But I don't think there's anything wrong with the ingredients of the Narnia series-- especially since Lewis was an effective storyteller. Does anyone have a different opinion?

Larry W.

I remember reading that Tolkien thought CON was a mish-mash of mythological characters that didn't belong together. (Dwarves and Satyrs and Father Christmas all together?)

I think he was also slightly jealous that Lewis wrote the books so quickly and easily, and sent them off for publication with very little revision. If I remember correctly, one of the CON books was written in only a few weeks.
Whereas Tolkien spent years writing and revising his manuscripts like the perfectionist he was.

I personally love the mixture of mythological characters in CON, but Tolkien was a purist when it came to that sort of thing.