@cyberlucy Oh yes. Both Lewis and Tolkien had dwarfs in their stories, and dwarfs are from Norse Mythology. Fauns, Centaurs, and Satyrs are from Greek and Roman mythology.

The Calormenes also share similarities with India; both their cultures involved arranged marriages. This may be that at the time CS Lewis was born, India belonged to Great Britain.

Posted by: @jasminetarkheena

 

The Calormenes also share similarities with India; both their cultures involved arranged marriages. This may be that at the time CS Lewis was born, India belonged to Great Britain.

The Middle East does as well.   I will have to read it again because I don't really recall any similarities with India.  

@jasminetarkheena dwarfs are common characters in most European fairy tales and folk tales. Lewis was a huge reader who never forgot anything he had read, so his memory had all sorts of variations of mythical creatures to choose from for his works.

@cyberlucy you said:
While Lewis was a academician with a focus on English Literature he was was known widely as a Classics professor. This meant that he was also greatly influenced by Hellenic and Hellenistic (Greek and Roman) literature and philosophy.

Sorry,but Lewis was never a Professor of Classics, at either Oxford or Cambridge. He was a senior lecturer/teacher in Medieval English Literature at Oxford, and later in life he became a Professor in Medieval and Renaissance Literature at Cambridge. (Professor is only given to the most senior teachers at English Universities, not just to teachers as in USA, by the way).

Posted by: @coracle

Sorry, but Lewis was never a Professor of Classics, at either Oxford or Cambridge. He was a senior lecturer/teacher in Medieval English Literature at Oxford, and later in life he became a Professor in Medieval and Renaissance Literature at Cambridge. (Professor is only given to the most senior teachers at English Universities, not just to teachers as in USA, by the way).

@coracle  I'm sorry. I am an American and we tend to refer to anyone who teaches at a university as professor.  Forgive me please for saying something that's incorrect.  Lewis' education did include a focus on Classics and he's referred to in a number bios as having taught Classics as well Medieval Literature.  So I took that to mean that he was a professor of Classics as well.   

@cyberlucy sorry, I didn't mean to be difficult. I know that Professor is a much wider term in USA. In French it is also used just for 'teacher'.

But in terms of his university study and his teaching, I've turned to the Sayer bio and read through a few chapters. It's always nice to read it.:D

He says Jack graduated with three degrees: 'Honour Mods' (Greek & Latin texts), 'Greats' (Classical Philosophy), and English Language and Literature. His first teaching work was in Philosophy and Ethics.
So he doesn't seem to have taught Classics (Language or Literature of Ancient Greeks or Romans).

Someone asked earlier whether he had studied Medieval in his degrees; but all I found was that he definitely learned Anglo-Saxon (Old English), which was a requirement in an English degree. [When I was at University 50 years later, most English majors had learned Old English and Middle English in their second year - no, I was not at Oxford!]

@coracle 

I always wondered why so many schools today are called universities.  Colleges used to be much smaller than universities and generally offered four year bachelor degrees instead of six year master degrees. I wonder what Lewis would have thought of our schools here in America and their credentials.  I graduated from a four year Christian liberal arts college, and it was such a small institution compared to where Lewis taught. Maybe he would have liked the smaller schools better. 🙂

Posted by: @coracle

He says Jack graduated with three degrees: 'Honour Mods' (Greek & Latin texts), 'Greats' (Classical Philosophy), and English Language and Literature. His first teaching work was in Philosophy and Ethics.
So he doesn't seem to have taught Classics (Language or Literature of Ancient Greeks or Romans).]

Classics tends to have broader meaning here.   It's not just the Language and Literature but it's also the philosophy and culture.   That's probably why Americans thought he taught Classics at some point.  Anyway, I think that he was a very learned man with a lot of knowledge in a variety of areas.