When an author of fiction employs the imagination and sets characters in a new location, they are in a sense creating a world. Might such fictional worlds give us a deeper appreciation of our own?
Many readers have found themselves, like the Pevensie children, transported by C.S. Lewis into Narnia, and they have traveled from Lantern Waste to Cair Paravel and the edge of the sea. Thanks to J.R. Tolkien, readers have also journeyed with Bilbo, Frodo, and their companions across Middle-earth from the Shire to the Lonely Mountain, the forest of Mirkwood, the mines of Moria, and the very fires of Mount doom. But as often as we enter these fictional worlds as readers, we eventually return to our world refreshed and with sharpened insight.
In The Wonders of Creation, biologist Kristen Page explores the beloved fictional landscapes of Narnia and Middle-earth in order to discover what we might learn about real-life landscapes and how to become better stewards of God's good creation.
About the Author
Kristen Page (PhD, Purdue University) is Ruth Kraft Strohschein Distinguished Chair and professor of biolgy at Wheaton College. Her work has appeared in scholarly journals, including The Journal of Wildlife Management, Journal of Parasitology, Journal of Wildlife Diseases, and Emerging Infectious Diseases.
