Roger Gilbert Lancelyn Green (2 November 1918 – 8 October 1987) was a British biographer and children's writer. He was an Oxford academic. He had a positive influence on his friend, C.S. Lewis, by encouraging him to publish ''

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe ''The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe'' is a portal fantasy novel written by British author C. S. Lewis, published by Geoffrey Bles in 1950. It is the first published and best known of seven novels in ''The Chronicles of Narnia'' (1950–1956 ...

''.

Biography

Roger Lancelyn Green was born in 1918 in

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of the county of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. It lies by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. The population of the Norwich ...

, England, to Major Gilbert Arthur Lancelyn Green (1887–1947), of the Royal Artillery, and Helena Mary Phyllis, daughter of Lt-Col Charles William Henry Sealy, of Hambledon House, Hampshire. The landed gentry Lancelyn Green family can be traced back to 1093, with the marriage of Randle Greene (sic) and Elizabeth, daughter of William Lancelyn, taking place in the reign of

Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was List of English monarchs, Queen of England and List of Irish monarchs, Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. She was the last and longest reigning monarch of the House of Tudo ...

. He began his education at Dane Court, Pyrford and

Liverpool College Liverpool College is a coeducational day and boarding school in Mossley Hill, Liverpool, England. It was one of the thirteen founding members of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference, Headmasters' Conference. History Liverpool Coll ...

, after which he studied under

C. S. Lewis Clive Staples Lewis (29 November 1898 – 22 November 1963) was a British writer, literary scholar and Anglican lay theologian. He held academic positions in English literature at both Magdalen College, Oxford (1925–1954), and Magdalen ...

Merton College, Oxford Merton College (in full: The House or College of Scholars of Merton in the University of Oxford) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the 126 ...

, where he obtained a B.Litt. degree. As an undergraduate, he performed in the Oxford University Dramatic Society's Shakespeare dramas produced by

Nevill Coghill Nevill Henry Kendal Aylmer Coghill (19 April 1899 – 6 November 1980) was an Anglo-Irish literary scholar, known especially for his modern-English version of Geoffrey Chaucer's ''Canterbury Tales''. He was an associate of the literary discuss ...

. He was deputy librarian at Merton College from 1945 to 1950, then William Noble Research Fellow in English Literature at the

University of Liverpool The University of Liverpool (abbreviated UOL) is a Public university, public research university in Liverpool, England. Founded in 1881 as University College Liverpool, Victoria University (United Kingdom), Victoria University, it received Ro ...

from 1950 to 1952. As Andrew Lang Lecturer at the

University of St Andrews The University of St Andrews (, ; abbreviated as St And in post-nominals) is a public university in St Andrews, Scotland. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest of the four ancient universities of Scotland and, f ...

from 1968 to 1969, he delivered the 1968 Andrew Lang lecture. Lancelyn Green remained close to Lewis until the latter's death in 1963, and holidayed in

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

with Lewis and his wife Joy Gresham just before her death from

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

in 1960. When Lewis started writing the Narnia books in the late 1940s, Lancelyn Green suggested that they should be called ''The Chronicles of Narnia''. Lancelyn Green lived in

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...

at Poulton Hall, a

manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were usually held the lord's manorial courts, communal mea ...

that his ancestors had owned for more than 900 years; he was Lord of the Manors of Poulton-Lancelyn and Lower Bebington. He died on 8 October 1987 at the age of 68. One of his sons was the writer Richard Lancelyn Green.

Works

Fiction

Lancelyn Green became known primarily for his writings for children, particularly his retellings of the myths of

(''Tales of the Greek Heroes'' and ''The Tale of Troy'') and

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

(''Tales of Ancient Egypt''), as well the

Norse mythology Norse, Nordic, or Scandinavian mythology, is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples, stemming from Old Norse religion and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia as the Nordic folklore of the modern period. The ...

(''The Saga of Asgard'', later renamed ''Myths of the Norsemen'') and the stories of

King Arthur According to legends, King Arthur (; ; ; ) was a king of Great Britain, Britain. He is a folk hero and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain. In Wales, Welsh sources, Arthur is portrayed as a le ...

(''King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table'') and

Robin Hood Robin Hood is a legendary noble outlaw, heroic outlaw originally depicted in English folklore and subsequently featured in literature, theatre, and cinema. According to legend, he was a highly skilled archer and swordsman. In some versions o ...

(''The Adventures of Robin Hood''). His works of original fiction include ''The Luck of Troy'', set during the Trojan War, and ''The Land of the Lord High Tiger'', a fantasy that has been compared to the Narnia books. Chronological order * ''The Singing Rose and Other Poems'' (Edmund Ward 1947) * " From the World's End" (1948) *'' The Luck of the Lynns'' (1952) * '' King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table'' (1954) * ''The Adventures of Robin Hood'' (1956) * ''The Book of Nonsense'' (1956) * ''Two Satyr Plays: Euripides' Cyclops and Sophocles' Ichneutai'' (1957) * ''The Land of the Lord High Tiger'' (1958) * ''Tales of the Greek Heroes: Retold From the Ancient Authors'' (1958) * ''The Tale of Troy: Retold from the Ancient Authors'' (1958) * ''Mystery at Mycenae: An Adventure Story of Ancient Greece'' (1959) * ''Myths of the Norsemen: Retold from the Old Norse Poems and Tales'' (1960) * ''A Century of Humorous Verse 1850–1950'' (J. M. Dent & Sons 1959) * ''The Luck of Troy'' (1961) * '' Once Long Ago: Folk and Fairy Tales of the World'' (1962, illustrations by Vojtěch Kubašta) * ''Authors & Places: A Literary Pilgrimage'' (1963) * ''Tellers of Tales : British Authors of Children’s Books from 1800 to 1964'' (1965) * ''Tales the Muses Told: Ancient Greek Myths'' (1965) * ''Tales from Shakespeare'' (Atheneum 1965) * ''Tales of Ancient Egypt'' (1967) * ''Ancient Greece'' (John Day Co. 1969) * ''A Cavalcade of Dragons'' (H. Z. Walck 1970) * ''A Cavalcade of Magicians'' (H. Z. Walck 1973) * ''Strange Adventures in Time'' (1974, editor, drawings by

George Adamson George Alexander Graham Adamson MBE (3 February 1906 – 20 August 1989), also known as the ''Baba ya Simba'' ("Father of Lions" in Swahili), was a British wildlife conservationist and author based in Kenya. His wife Joy Adamson related in h ...

, J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd, London; E. P. Dutton & Co., Inc., New York) * ''The Tale of Thebes'' (Cambridge University Press 1977) * ''The Beaver Book of Other Worlds '' (1978)

Biographies

Lancelyn Green wrote biographies of

J. M. Barrie Sir James Matthew Barrie, 1st Baronet, (; 9 May 1860 19 June 1937) was a Scottish novelist and playwright, best remembered as the creator of Peter Pan. He was born and educated in Scotland and then moved to London, where he wrote several succe ...

Andrew Lang Andrew Lang (31 March 1844 – 20 July 1912) was a Scottish poet, novelist, literary critic, and contributor to the field of anthropology. He is best known as a folkloristics, collector of folklore, folk and fairy tales. The Andrew Lang lectur ...

, and

. His new edition of selected tales of

Hans Christian Andersen Hans Christian Andersen ( , ; 2 April 1805 – 4 August 1875) was a Danish author. Although a prolific writer of plays, travelogue (literature), travelogues, novels, and poems, he is best remembered for his literary fairy tales. Andersen's fai ...

contains a short biography. He also wrote a brief biography of Anthony Hope as the introduction to a one-volume

Everyman's Library Everyman's Library is a series of reprints of classic literature, primarily from the Western canon. It began in 1906. It is currently published in hardback by Random House. It was originally an imprint of J. M. Dent (itself later a division ...

edition of '' The Prisoner of Zenda'' and its sequel '' Rupert of Hentzau''. He was editor of the '' Kipling Journal'', 1957–1979. Lancelyn Green was particularly interested in

Lewis Carroll Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (27 January 1832 – 14 January 1898), better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English author, poet, mathematician, photographer and reluctant Anglicanism, Anglican deacon. His most notable works are ''Alice ...

, publishing several books and articles. His book ''The Story of Lewis Carroll'' (1949) led to an invitation from Carroll's nieces, Violet and Menella Dodgson, to produce an edited version of his diary; this appeared in 1953, and has been at the centre of the recent debate about the alleged 'Carroll Myth'. Karoline Leach devoted much space to considering it in her book '' In the Shadow of the Dreamchild'', claiming that something like 60% of the diary material was left out of this publication, and that Lancelyn Green's allegedly partial, inaccurate and misleading editing had contributed to a continued misrepresentation of Carroll in biographies and the media. At the time of publication, Lancelyn Green claimed to have seen all the diaries and certainly gave the impression he had been allowed unrestricted access; however, Leach alleges he later retracted this claim and admitted he had been forced to work with heavily edited transcripts prepared for him by Menella Dodgson, 'for reasons of safety'. He was later a founder and vice-president of the Lewis Carroll Society and helped Morton N. Cohen to edit Carroll's collected letters. Chronological order * ''Andrew Lang: A Critical Biography'' (E. Ward, 1946) * ''The Story of Lewis Carroll'' (H. Schuman, 1951) * ''A. E. W. Mason : The Adventure of a Story Teller'' (Max Parrish, 1952) * ''The Letters of Lewis Carroll'', 2 volumes (1953) * ''Fifty Years of Peter Pan'' (Peter Davies, 1954) * ''Into Other Worlds : Space-Flight in fiction, from Lucian to Lewis'' (Abelard-Schuman, 1957) * ''J. M. Barrie'' (Bodley Head, 1960) * ''Lewis Carroll'' (Bodley Head, 1960) * '' Mrs Molesworth'' (Bodley Head, 1961) * ''The Readers' Guide to Rudyard Kipling's Work'' (R. E. Harboard, 1962) * ''Kipling and the Children'' (Elek Books, 1965) * ''Henry Treece, C. S. Lewis and Beatrix Potter'' (Bodley Head Ltd, 1969) with Margery Fisher and Marcus Crouch * ''C. S. Lewis: A Biography'' (1974) with Walter Hooper

References

External links