Chronicles of Narnia (C.S. Lewis)

[dms1972]

I've heard of that theory too and wouldn't mind looking into it some more, although I'm inclined to think it's a little far-fetched and reading a bit too much into things — again, because it doesn't appear that Lewis had such an overarching plan in mind when he wrote the first few books, at least. I gather he once stated that when he wrote The Voyage of the Dawn Treader he "felt sure it would be the last" in the series, but it turned out not to be.

(Apologies for the way I keep making vague references and semi-quotes with no sources, by the way... I have several books on C.S. Lewis and Narnia, but left them all back in Australia when I moved to England a few years ago, so I don't have much on hand that I can quote directly!! )

Anyway, going by that, it seems Lewis didn't start out with the intention of writing seven Narnia books, which would mean he couldn't consciously have been following the kind of scheme that that theory suggests. But it's still an interesting area to speculate about, I agree.

I have read some of Planet Narnia, but I wonder about it too, though the book is very well researched, it builds a lot on an a few comments Lewis made to a former student. And Lewis isn't around to 'blow the gaff' if one has been made. The Planets are very much part of The Cosmic Trilogy however.

 

[dms1972]

Death is hard but I enjoyed that the series showed the full evolution of the Narnia world where at the end Aslan (Jesus) brought them to Him when the world ended. It is hard for a child to understand especially though. I read some reviewers on a book site didn't like the last book because of this, especially those who weren't Christian.

Five is a bit young for the last one, I always found it a really tough one to get through, the material is too mature for most pre-teens.

 

[dms1972]

Martha C. Sammon's Guide through Narnia is a handy little book to have, one of the first books on the stories.

 

[Kerensa]

Five is a bit young for the last one, I always found it a really tough one to get through, the material is too mature for most pre-teens.

I read The Last Battle aged 7 and loved it (still do), but probably would have struggled with it at 5. I can understand why it divides reviewers.

Martha C. Sammon's Guide through Narnia is a handy little book to have, one of the first books on the stories.

I haven't read that one — must look out for it, thanks (I see it's available from Amazon).

 

[Quid est Veritas?]

What ages would you suggest to introduce a child to Narnia? My son is 3, almost 4, which is probably too young, but I am wondering about this. I am trying to read to him at night, and Narnia looms large on my list of books I want to someday read him.

 

[dms1972]

Perhaps around the age of the children in the stories. But it depends on your own children. the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is probably best for younger children. I wouldn't want to put a hard and fast rule on it.

 

[Kerensa]

Perhaps around the age of the children in the stories. But it depends on your own children. the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is probably best for younger children. I wouldn't want to put a hard and fast rule on it.

Yes, I'd agree with this. My mum read me The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe when I was 5 and I read the rest of the Chronicles myself when I was 7, which was just right for me, but every child is different. I'd say pray about it! The Narnia books for me turned out to be the way God first introduced Himself to me (and this was in a totally non-religious family!), so I'm sure you can expect to be guided as to where and when to start them with your son.

Incidentally, my own thought is that it's best to start with The Lion... — even though it comes second in the "official" chronological order of the books, it was the first one Lewis wrote and I think it's probably the best introduction to Narnia and particularly to Aslan. But I'm sure others feel differently and again, it's up to what you find to be most right for your own child. I hope you and he have many happy hours with those wonderful books.

 

[dms1972]

Part of the enjoyment of reading LWW first is the unexplained elements, such as a lamppost in a wood, which are then explained in another story. But its best not to have them explained first, or you could not then make any guesses about how that lampost came to be there.

The publication order is:

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
Prince Caspian
Voyage of the Dawn Treader
The Silver Chair
The Horse and His Boy
The Magicians Nephew
The Last Battle.

 

[dms1972]

I'd definitely recommend The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe first, and of course The Last Battle last, but the rest of the ordering is fairly subjective and I guess everyone has their own preferences there.



I originally thought so too, until I went back to The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe some time later and found the White Witch IS called Jadis there once — at the end of the note that Maugrim the Wolf leaves in Tumnus's house after he's arrested.

Mind you, there's a little bit of "origin story" in The Lion that doesn't quite seem to fit with what we learn of Jadis in The Magician's Nephew, which was written some years later. In The Lion, she claims that Edmund's life is forfeit to her because, in her words to Aslan, "You at least know the Magic which the Emperor put into Narnia at the very beginning. You know that every traitor belongs to me as my lawful prey and that for every treachery I have a right to a kill." It's implied that the Witch was lawfully granted a sort of Satan-like role by the Emperor-beyond-the-Sea (Aslan's Father) when Narnia was created. Yet this never comes into The Magician's Nephew as far as I can remember; in that book she is of course the last queen of Charn who destroyed her own world and is brought into Narnia through Digory's actions. She isn't presented there as a figure whom Aslan and/or the Emperor intended to have there and to be given any legitimate part in governing Narnia. I've always wondered if Lewis slipped there a bit with his cosmology and forgot how he originally envisioned the Witch and her role in Narnia, but it doesn't spoil the stories for me.



I never thought she was the same figure, but I'm pretty sure (I don't have the book with me to check the exact quote) one of the owls in The Silver Chair states that they think she could be "one of the same crew" as the White Witch. So to me that suggests she's the same sort of being, perhaps even related somehow, but not literally the same person.

You're right it doesn't all fit together and its hard to make everything perfectly fit together, especially when he only had in mind writing one story. Remember he didn't even have Aslan in mind when he started, just a picture in his head of a faun in the woods. He wasn't thinking in terms of creating a world with its own cosmology. He was thinking in terms of story, rather than meticulously worked out high fantasy.

As an aside - recently they have come to be termed by some as The Narniad. Its an attempt to raise them above the status of kids stories. But i think that is a little elevated and they are not written to be like a Homerian epic poem, but in the manner of an E. Nesbit children's story. Homer begins his Epic by invoking the Muses to assist him! Lewis never had any intention to write in the manner of Epic Poetry and no one could take Lewis seriously if they thought he was attempting something in the manner of Homer and began it with 'Once there were four children whose names were Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy. This story is about something that happened to them when they were sent away from London during the war because of the air-raids." But there is absolutely nothing wrong with beginning in that way if you are simply writing a children's story and that is all Lewis seen it as.

Each probably just needs read as a more or less self contained story about the land of Narnia.