Deeper Realms: C.S. Lewis' Re-Visions of Joseph O'Neill's "Land under England"

C. S. Lewis wrote two novels in which there is a significant journey underground, concluding with a confrontation with an evil antagonist, "Perelandra" for adults (1943) and "The Silver Chair" for children (1953). In both novels, Lewis makes significant use of Joseph O'Neill's "Land Under England," as he draws on contemporary anxieties, ancient literatures, and his own nightmares in ways that allude to and supplement O'Neill's already allusive story. O'Neill's ability to describe the underground world of his hero's adventures with extremely vivid images is one of the outstanding features of his writing in "Land Under England," and Osborn believes that the visual impact of this work upon Lewis' imagination considerably enhances and may even have inspired the spiritual dimension in Lewis' novels, a dimension that O'Neill's novel lacks.