Literary inspirations for the Voyage of the Dawn Treader

[Swanwhite]

I'm listening to the VDT audiobook and thinking about how each island is almost a different genre as well as a different adventure and that's got me thinking about what stories may have influenced Lewis as he was writing VDT. Primarily I'm getting Greek mythology vibes, though I don't know enough Greek mythology to mark many specific similarities. I think there are a lot of Greek stories (like the Odyssey?) that include a long sea voyage with various challenges to overcome. And isn't there a story where sailors land on an island and get turned into pigs by a sorceress? So I'm curious if you've noticed any possible literary influences on the Voyage of the Dawn Treader whether from Greek mythology or other sources.

[knightofnarnia]

I have actually read the Odyssey and besides the fact that there is a long sea voyage and islands I don't see that much similarity. I sometimes wonder if he didn't inspire himself of more mondern sea voyages like British sea adventures. Like when Eustace says they are in lack of water. (Was it because the casects broke?) This senario is in far more British sea adventures then in the Odyssey. The rest I think he invented.

[Ajnos]

I imagine the Odyssey had some influence as a kind of sea-faring story with episodic adventures trope. Some of their adventures do have a similar theme, since they both involve different kind of temptation to prevent them achieving their goal. It would also be interesting to see similarities with Sinbad the Sailor of which I know less, since we know Lewis had some interest in the Arabian Nights tales. I suspect he was influenced by a range of sea-faring tales concepts which could include both ancient and more recent exploration stories

As for other influences, we've probably discussed elsewhere that we find monopods in medieval literature (I can't remember if the precise source was a travelogue type story or just fantasy beings). Goldwater definitely has hints of the Midas story. Cursed dragon hordes are again a trope rather than a single reference. The same is probably true of sea people. I'm not aware of any precedents of islands/places where your dreams/nightmares come true (we find later examples in scifi / fantasy literature).