I'd be much happier with Edward Eager if only he weren't so worshipful of E. Nesbit all the time in-text
Yes. There's a fine line between alluding to other works because it's inconceivable that the characters themselves wouldn't make the connection—as in Caitlín R. Kiernan's Daughter of Hounds, where it makes sense for eight-year-old Emmie Silvey to liken her experiences to the Chronicles of Narnia: what else should a voracious young reader think of, on finding herself traveling into another world hidden in plain sight?—and alluding to other works as a fan. (Otherwise known as, it's a bad sign when your fondness for another author makes it into Wikipedia as a defining characteristic of your work.) C.S. Lewis also steals from E. Nesbit, but in ways that suggest making use of a tradition rather than proselytizing. And he got to be metatextual about it, too.
but becoming a Real Landmark of that particular genre requires pretending that it hasn't all been done before.
Although then you're in danger of claiming, like J.K. Rowling, that you never read any fantasy as a kid: and therefore being patently unbelievable . . .
no subject
Yes. There's a fine line between alluding to other works because it's inconceivable that the characters themselves wouldn't make the connection—as in Caitlín R. Kiernan's Daughter of Hounds, where it makes sense for eight-year-old Emmie Silvey to liken her experiences to the Chronicles of Narnia: what else should a voracious young reader think of, on finding herself traveling into another world hidden in plain sight?—and alluding to other works as a fan. (Otherwise known as, it's a bad sign when your fondness for another author makes it into Wikipedia as a defining characteristic of your work.) C.S. Lewis also steals from E. Nesbit, but in ways that suggest making use of a tradition rather than proselytizing. And he got to be metatextual about it, too.
but becoming a Real Landmark of that particular genre requires pretending that it hasn't all been done before.
Although then you're in danger of claiming, like J.K. Rowling, that you never read any fantasy as a kid: and therefore being patently unbelievable . . .