The Chronicles Of Narnia

[shelke]

The Chronicles of Narnia is a series of seven fantasy novels for children written by C. S. Lewis. It is considered a classic of children's literature and is the author's best-known work, having sold over 120 million copies in 41 languages. Written by Lewis between 1949 and 1954 and illustrated by Pauline Baynes, The Chronicles of Narnia have been adapted several times, complete or in part, for radio, television, stage, and cinema. In addition to numerous traditional Christian themes, the series borrows characters and ideas from Greek and Roman mythology, as well as from traditional British and Irish fairy tales.

The Chronicles of Narnia present the adventures of children who play central roles in the unfolding history of the fictional realm of Narnia, a place where animals talk, magic is common, and good battles evil. Each of the books (with the exception of The Horse and His Boy) features as its protagonists children from our world who are magically transported to Narnia, where they are called upon to help the Lion Aslan save Narnia.

There are seven books in this series which are
1.1 The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (1950)
1.2 Prince Caspian: The Return to Narnia (1951)
1.3 The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (1952)
1.4 The Silver Chair (1953)
1.5 The Horse and His Boy (1954)
1.6 The Magician's Nephew (1955)
1.7 The Last Battle (1956)

 

[Tonyblack]

Now this is a series that I have read and, for the most part, enjoyed. The 'religious' aspect is somewhat tedious and 'The Final Battle' was really rather odd. I didn't see the end of the Pevsey family coming at all.

 

[Jan Van Quirm]

I have to say that when I first read TLTW&TW, aside from when Aslan submitted to sacrifice by the White Witch the religious themes went right over my head and I was much more focussed on the centaurs and fauns and the talking animals so I just enjoyed the story for itself.

TLTW&TW wasn't my favourite story and Lucy certainly wasn't my hero - I preferred Edmund and as it went on the later books were much more to my taste as the animals and more 'indigenous' characters became more prominent and the classical creatures took a back seat more. Although Greek Myth was my 1st love in fantasy I really didn't like it mixed in with the rest and my actual favourite character was Puddleglum (Silver Chair) and then Reepicheep (Prince Caspian & Voyage of the Dawn Treader) but overall the final book, The Last Battle was at the top of the list of my fave books (until I read Tolkien ).

That book I did get was religious - I was older for 1 thing, but what appealed in that was the message that if you live a good life then you get your reward eventually, regardless of which faith you follow - the bit where the true believer in the 'evil' god Tash was also admitted to paradise with Jill & Eustace etc. In a school run by nuns this was something novel in that we just didn't know anything at all about other religions which included CofE and non-conformist churches. They weren't 'proper' christians apparently

Looking back this was highly influential in how I came to reject catholicism because of their narrow interpretation of what's 'right' and the 'us' and 'them' attitudes too. In some respects as an adult I don't much like Lewis' own robust brand of christianity which, when I do look back on his work comes across as self-righteous in the extreme, and the books themselves are pretty crude at times but the basic message of decency and not being afraid to 'do good' isn't one to be sneezed at, but sadly, the books are not really time-proof in the way Tolkien's work was. The reason for that is one that Tolkien himself put to Lewis - you should make your world unique and consistent and I'm afraid, charming as talking animals are, mixing your mythologies really don't work past the age of say 10. But then children these days aren't quite so naive as we were back in the 60's...

 

[michelanCello]

I've only read the second one, I think, but I'm not a fan of these series, sorry...

 

[Doughnut Jimmy]

I really enjoyed these when I was younger and didn't notice the christian messages until I was watching Voyage of the Dawn Treader when the lamb turns into Aslan - someone pointed out then that Aslan on the stone table was supposed to reflect Jesus but the God/Hero being sacrificed is hardly an uncommon theme so I didn't reckon it was that important.

I agree with Jan that the message of doing the right thing/fighting evil was what attracted me to the books. And the character I identified with was Peter - something to do with having younger siblings to look out for.

May have to reread them at some point as I haven't for ages and see how dire they are now. On the Greek myth thing I rather liked recognising the references when people like Bacchus appeared, a bit like Pratchett in that respect

 

[Jan Van Quirm]

On the Greek myth thing I rather liked recognising the references when people like Bacchus appeared, a bit like Pratchett in that respect

Agreed - that was fun and I loved Mr. Tumnus (despite the fact that he would have ravished Lucy rather than give her tea & cakes if he was a proper faun ), but unlike Terry there was no 'grace' to Lewis' characterisations and this is part and parcel of what I was saying about his lack of sublety and restraint as a writer. Maybe that's why Narnia's for curious kids and Arda's for sad adult fantasy-addicts like me

Clincher for me on C.S. Lewis as an author was reading his Cosmic Trilogy - which is definitely not for kids as that's possibly the most heavy-handed turgid fantasy series I've ever read (yes, even more than the Thomas Covenant books! ). I've read that twice now and the second time was even harder than the first - the man just couldn't turn melodrama into passion without the aid of a sledgehammer

 

[Who's Wee Dug]

never read any just seen the films.

 

[Willem]

I read the first one after seeing the movie. Really, really didn't like the book. There was no charm to the characters or life to the story in my reading experience.

 

[mystmoon]

I really really liked them when I was younger, but I think my favourite is the Dawn Treader

 

[bikkit]

^SAME. In my little mind was going roung "WOW! He turns into a DRAGON. OOOOHH. WOW"

 

[mystmoon]

I don't get why he was so desperate to change back

 

[bikkit]

neither do I.

 

[Jan Van Quirm]

Because he thought nobody loved him and that they were going to have to leave him behind after they'd fixed the ship. He didn't actually want to be a dragon did he - just to have the hoard to himself?

The bit where he starts to shed his dragon skins is highly significant spiritually as well but most people aren't looking for an RE lesson reading these books

 

[theoldlibrarian]

There's been some very interesting articles written on the series. The latest theory is that every book is based on a planet. The moon, sun and whatever else they thought the planets were in those days. It would explain a lot of the themes and also why the books are so disconnected.
The theory is backed up by a similar series of poems Lewis wrote earlier about the "seven" planets.

 

[Doughnut Jimmy]

Any chance of a link to the article Oldlibrarian?

 

[theoldlibrarian]

Any chance of a link to the article Oldlibrarian?

Article

Clip from documentary

 

[Doughnut Jimmy]

Thanks

 

[Jan Van Quirm]

Hmmm!

Not convinced with either of those although the case for Jupiter/TLTW&TW; Mars/Prince Caspian; Sun/Dawn Treader and Moon/Silver Chair have their attractions, but what about the other 'stand alone' stories of which we only get Mercury was it for Horse and his Boy (also the Mare and her Girl), but we'll skip the gender prejudices since they're of their time and at least the ladies (Hwin and Aravis) got virtual equal billing, though obviously Shasta and Bree are the leads in that.

Despite what's being said in there about Tolkien being dismissive of Narnia, he and Lewis were very good friends before, during and after Lewis wrote the 7 books and in fact Lewis was more famous than Tolkien at the time (The Hobbit had some success after it's publication but LotR didn't have much mainstream success until George Unwin brought out the late 60's paperback). What Lewis and Tolks did have was a friendly rivalry and they constantly challenged each other's techniques which did lead them both into some of their finest writing. But in Lewis' case this was actually The Cosmic Trilogy (Out of the Silent Planet; Perelandra and That Hideous Strength) which of course also had the good/evil theme but I'd say had far more identification with an astronomic/astrological approach than Narnia. For a start the first 2 were respectively set on Mars and then Venus.

This insight into Lewis' literary motifs is fairly misleading as well. There's an awful lot known about both Lewis and Tolkien in relation to their academic circle's club, known as The Inklings, in which neither of them were the most successful commercially for quite a long time. They both had a fondness for myth and medievalism and together they defined the processes of 'mythopoeic' writing - that is in inventing a fictional myth-based world. That interest has obvious bearings on both Narnia and Tolkien's Middle Earth but it also led to a bet between the two academics to write a commercial book about space travel and time travel. They flipped a coin I think and Tolks got time and Lewis got space. Of the two Lewis was more faithful to the basis of the bet but Tolkien's lure to archaic myth led to the formation of Middle Earth and the rest, as they say, is history.

My final argument on Lewis and Narnia remains unchanged whether or not the planetary themes a goer or not. This means nothing to the writing which in Narnia's case hasn't stood the test of time as a children's book. I loved the books when I was 8 and I liked the imagery of the more profound ones as I went into double figures - I thought they were sophisticated and grown up. And then I read Tolkien and found the passion and the depth that Lewis never had. Tolkien was the better writer no question of that in my mind.

I think Lewis' literature was the more adventurous and compelling conceptually and I wonder what would have happened if he'd met Joy Gresham before he'd written the Narnia books - the main problem with them looking back as an adult is that Lewis wasn't a father and had had a very unhappy childhood. Tolkien had 6 kids and he wrote The Hobbit and less well-known books for them...

 

[theoldlibrarian]

Hmmm!

Not convinced with either of those although the case for Jupiter/TLTW&TW; Mars/Prince Caspian; Sun/Dawn Treader and Moon/Silver Chair have their attractions, but what about the other 'stand alone' stories of which we only get Mercury was it for Horse and his Boy (also the Mare and her Girl), but we'll skip the gender prejudices since they're of their time and at least the ladies (Hwin and Aravis) got virtual equal billing, though obviously Shasta and Bree are the leads in that.

Despite what's being said in there about Tolkien being dismissive of Narnia, he and Lewis were very good friends before, during and after Lewis wrote the 7 books and in fact Lewis was more famous than Tolkien at the time (The Hobbit had some success after it's publication but LotR didn't have much mainstream success until George Unwin brought out the late 60's paperback). What Lewis and Tolks did have was a friendly rivalry and they constantly challenged each other's techniques which did lead them both into some of their finest writing. But in Lewis' case this was actually The Cosmic Trilogy (Out of the Silent Planet; Perelandra and That Hideous Strength) which of course also had the good/evil theme but I'd say had far more identification with an astronomic/astrological approach than Narnia. For a start the first 2 were respectively set on Mars and then Venus.

This insight into Lewis' literary motifs is fairly misleading as well. There's an awful lot known about both Lewis and Tolkien in relation to their academic circle's club, known as The Inklings, in which neither of them were the most successful commercially for quite a long time. They both had a fondness for myth and medievalism and together they defined the processes of 'mythopoeic' writing - that is in inventing a fictional myth-based world. That interest has obvious bearings on both Narnia and Tolkien's Middle Earth but it also led to a bet between the two academics to write a commercial book about space travel and time travel. They flipped a coin I think and Tolks got time and Lewis got space. Of the two Lewis was more faithful to the basis of the bet but Tolkien's lure to archaic myth led to the formation of Middle Earth and the rest, as they say, is history.

My final argument on Lewis and Narnia remains unchanged whether or not the planetary themes a goer or not. This means nothing to the writing which in Narnia's case hasn't stood the test of time as a children's book. I loved the books when I was 8 and I liked the imagery of the more profound ones as I went into double figures - I thought they were sophisticated and grown up. And then I read Tolkien and found the passion and the depth that Lewis never had. Tolkien was the better writer no question of that in my mind.

I think Lewis' literature was the more adventurous and compelling conceptually and I wonder what would have happened if he'd met Joy Gresham before he'd written the Narnia books - the main problem with them looking back as an adult is that Lewis wasn't a father and had had a very unhappy childhood. Tolkien had 6 kids and he wrote The Hobbit and less well-known books for them...

I do not have time to read this now but I've saved it for later reading

 

[Jan Van Quirm]

No hurry OL - be interested to hear your views