The Chronicles of Narnia Boxed Set
by C. S. Lewis
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Book Reviews of The Chronicles of Narnia Boxed Set
Book Review: Timeless and Delightful, But Not Really an Allegory
Summary: 5 Stars
The Chronicles of Narnia are undoubtedly one of the most influential works in the history of juvenile literature - timeless and delightful for all ages.
There is, however, no small amount of confusion about the literary type of the Chronicles. Time and again, it is referred to as a "Christian allegory," a tag with which C.S. Lewis would not have been happy. As he explains in some of his essays and letters, an allegory is a work in which immaterial realities are represented by imaginary physical objects. For example, the immaterial faculty of Reason may be allegorically represented by someone we call Lady Reason. This Lady - because Reason is clear, undefiled, swift, cold, hard, and sharp like a sword - we could picture as a "sun-bright virgin clad in complete steel," riding on a horse "with a sword naked in her hand." This, C.S. Lewis has actually done in his only allegorical work, "The Pigrim's Regress," from which the example of Lady Reason is taken.
Are the Chronicles of Narnia, then, an allegory? After all, C.S. Lewis loved allegorical literature, and it is obvious that elements of his Christianity flowed into the Narnian storyline, such as the concept of Creation, the Incarnation, Redemption, the End of the World, and Heaven and Hell.
Were C.S. Lewis alive, I think he would be very glad if I could transfer to the readers his view that the Chronicles of Narnia are not an allegory. C.S. Lewis did not say to himself, "Let us represent Jesus as He really is in our world by a Lion in Narnia." His original inspiration was much less theological than that - nothing more than a mental picture. Long before he became a Christian, he had a picture in his head of a faun carrying an umbrella and parcels in a snowy wood. Decades went past, until one day he said to himself, "Let's try to make a story about it." At first he had very little idea how the story would go. "But then suddenly," he later wrote, "Aslan came bounding into it," and "once he was there he pulled the whole story together, and soon he pulled the six other Narnian stories in after him."
I believe I am right that some people will now think, "But aren't the Chronicles of Narnia Christian at all? Doesn't Aslan die and rise again like Jesus did? Isn't that a representation of the Christian faith? If that isn't an allegory, what on earth is it?"
Well, C.S. Lewis called the Chronicles a "supposition." He wrote the books by saying, "Let us suppose such and such were true and then imagine what would happen." At first this supposition did not even contain a Christian element, but after Aslan had "bounded into" Narnia, Lewis said, "Let us suppose that reality contained different parallel worlds, and that in one of them the Son of God, as He became Man in our world, became a Lion there, and then imagine what would happen."
Now this supposition has a definite Christian element in it; the Christian element is in fact essential to it. But that does not make it an allegory. As we have seen, an allegory is trying to describe a (mostly immaterial) fact in our world by means of a picture, such as Reason being pictured as a sun-bright virgin clad in steel. Aslan, however, does not represent the immaterial God in the same way in which Lady Reason represents Reason. He is the result of a supposition. Granted the supposition, he and all the characters and events in Narnia would have been a physical reality no less than Jesus' death in first-century Palestine. Narnia is thus an imaginary world existing in its own right, having grown out of a Christian supposition, but not being an allegory of Christianity. To put it differently, Aslan is Jesus in another world; he is not an allegory of Jesus in our world.
I would encourage those who still cannot see the difference to read Lewis's "Pilgrim's Regress." Putting it side-by-side with the Chronicles of Narnia should make the distinction plain.
But no matter whether you agree with Lewis's view on the question of allegory, no book shelf is complete without the Chronicles of Narnia. One can read them again, and again, and again.
- Jacob Schriftman, Author of The Crack Beneath the Worlds and Other Books
Book Review: a British period piece
Summary: 4 Stars
this review is specifically in support of A Pauled Free2B's valuable observations, with several notes based on the genre and historical setting of The Chronicles of Narnia.
Free2B's comments are crucially important because they call attention to issues that are shamefully ignored by the American mainstream and shamefully perpetuated by American filmmakers. I think the issues are even more subtle than some of Free2B's comments allow (and certainly than this review has space to cover). A few tempering additions with this in mind:
Having lived in bomb-ridden England during WWII, Lewis knew more than most of us do about war and having one's country under fire, and his writings (about Narnia and about various other things) were profoundly influenced by this experience. The interested reader can find several essays and speeches of his on war, for instance, in the collection The Weight of Glory.
It is true that the Chronicles follow the children's-book convention of turning unassuming, ignorant (and often quite nasty) children into heroes. Only rarely, though, does it have anything to do with their own abilities or intelligence. Usually their successes come from someone else bailing them out of their foolish moves; if anything, the children in the Chronicles alternately make one cringe at their folly and feel sorry for their ill-treatment.
Many of the vices Free2B lists apply more properly to the recently released movie than to C. S. Lewis's books. I myself was a bit disappointed with the film, largely because Aslan's death and return were unexplained, because fighting received far more attention than in the books, and because, frankly, not much "happened"--there were a few major episodes linked by lots of running and battling.
Much can be said with regard to the color of characters in the books. By our time the stories have become period pieces set, as far as the scenes in this world go, in England in the late 1800s and mid-1900s, and the four siblings living in the latter period discover Narnia precisely because they are victims of the Nazis.
As for Narnia itself, color seems to signify beauty and goodness. The White Witch is colorless precisely because she is evil. To the extent that she is also beautiful, she is horrible; her colorlessness makes her mysterious and easy to fall prey to. Whenever she enters a colorful realm (as in The Magician's Nephew), both her power and appearance fade (this process is weaker on Earth, where objects and people themselves are faded). We might say that the Witch's whiteness has an intended meaning, while that of the children does not--they are simply the color of most Brits of the time period. Whiteness has acquired literary meaning primarily through historical events and literary theories that developed since Lewis's writing of the books through the 1950s. For thoroughness, though, we might add that the White Witch's Gestapo consists of wolves, which could be any color, although they tend to be associated with white/gray, and most of the characters are non-humans--animals of various colors.
We could demand that the Chronicles not be read because they came out of a racist environment. In that case we should throw out 99% of pre-civil-rights-movement literature and much that has been written since (Western and non-Western--racism has raged on all fronts). Actually, many people are for this. I prefer to keep the lit and read it well. To lose the works of Homer, David, Chaucer, Shakespeare, and Luther, to name just a few Western authors whose racism and, in the case of the latter three, antiSemitism, are tremendous and often terrifying, would be worse than unfortunate and would, in fact, destroy much of the "evidence" that finally brought about the expose of colonialism and imperialism.
Be these things as they may, they will go unrecognized by the majority of Lewis's young readership, and by an even higher percentage of the movie audience. These reviews are a good place to call attention to them. Many thanks to Free2B for scratching the surface; many thanks to many other reviewers for rightly praising wonderful aspects of The Chronicles of Narnia.
Book Review: The Chronological Order is the ONLY way to read these!
Summary: 5 Stars
The Magician's Nephew is the correct first book, in this, we see the creation of Narnia, the first people ever to enter Narnia, how the Lampost came to be and who the professor really is! Next, in The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, we find out who Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy are, it spoils the effect to read The Horse and His Boy before that and see them in Narnia in their later years before we know how they got there! Then, thirdly, read The Horse and His Boy, after than, the books go in perfect order, we see the four return to help Narnia out from under a tyrannical ruler. Then Edmund and Lucy return with a new friend of Narnia, after that, Eustace introduces yet another person to the realm of Narnia and finally they return for a last showdown in The Last Battle. This order makes perfect sense! We see how Narnia is created, we see then who the professor is when we read the next book, we see the influence of the Pevensies on Narnia and in turn, see how a seeming mistake eventually helps Narnia for the best! It is positively non-sensical to read about the Pevensies finding Narnia through the wardrobe and then not finding out about the creation until much later!
However, I can see reading The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe first and THEN immediately reading The Magician's Nephew because at that juncture you are surprised by the Lampost, the Professor, The White Witch and Aslan. You can experience the wonders that Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy discovered along with them rather that being smug by already knowing everything.
I guess I like the chronological order because my introduction to Narnia came when I watched the four movies about it. I watched The Chronicles of Narnia on Public TV via Wonderworks Family Movies: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe; Prince Caspian; Prince Caspian and the Voyage of the Dawn Treader; and The Silver Chair. I thought that was it until I was given the books once I was old enough to read them. So, I admit, I did meet Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy first. Really, if you have a child who has not yet read these books, have them watch the movies first! Then, you can read the books in chronological order.
But to get to my views of these books, I believe they are fantasic! I first saw the movies when I was 4 or 5 and my Mom had the forethough to record them to a VHS tape too so that I could experience them many times over the years. Later on I read the books, before I was 10 I believe. Now I'm in my 20's and still read them at regular intervals! Are these really only considered children's books? I believe that as adults we can still appreciate them for many reasons!
First of all, the fantasy. These books were my introduction to fantasy and have always remained THE first and foremost authorities on parallel universes and creatures of the imagination! I still hold the Land of Narnia to be the ORIGINAL fantasy land, all the good animals and creatures are dear to my heart. I can never forget Aslan, Tumnus, Puddleglum, Reepicheep, Fledge, Bree ("Bree Hi Whinny Brinny Hooey Ha!"), Hwin, Mr. and Mrs. Beaver, Dr. Cornelius, Trumpkin ("soup and celery Trufflehunter!"), Jewel, Puzzle, The Monopods ("Yes! Yes! You're right! There's nothing like an opposite!") and of course all our human friends and the royalty of Narnia as well! For me, Narnia started it all. It was the first land I ever jumped through a puddle and found myself in!
Narnia is timeless, it is the sort of world I wish we could exist in rather than what we're stuck with now. If I could only find the Wood Between the Worlds and the proper rings, or better yet, the Narnian Applewood Wardrobe I'd jump right through (given that the magic was right at the time I jumped in and not a wooden panel at the back)!
These books should not be limited by a certain age. They are a universe unto themselves for people of all ages who are willing to keep their hearts and minds open to any possibility. Remember, it was growing up and becoming "practical" that kept Susan from finding Narnia again, never let that believing part of you submit to practicality, there's always a bit of Narnia out there for you if you know where to look!
Book Review: kids read it for the first time, adults return to it
Summary: 5 Stars
Long before there was a Harry Potter, there were the works of JRR Tolkein and CS Lewis. And while the sensation they created may not have been nearly so frantic nor universal in those blessed premedia days, the fanaticism that they engendered was no less powerful. Our neighbor Mark Farris used to just start one series and read it, then start the other and read it and then start all over again. I wasn't quite that bad, but I do recall that one of the proudest accomplishments of my young life was actually completing both series, a feat that involved reading several thousand pages.Now, I'm certain that most of the metaphorical and allegorical nuances of these books completely escaped most of us at these early readings. But these books, along with comic books and pulp novels like Doc Savage and The Avenger, served one vital function, they demonstrated with incontrovertible certitude that there were such things as good and evil and that it was better to be good. Such books are often termed escapist fantasy and, for me at least, that was precisely their attraction; the opportunity that they offered, to escape from the disturbing moral relativism of the 60's and 70's, and enter worlds where the truths, that I sensed to be eternal and absolute, actually obtained. As much as parents or religion, it was books like these that formed the template from which our inchoate sense of morality was forged.
It must be true for most children that the arts and literature to which they are exposed when young, will have a decisive impact on their moral development. That is why the culture of video games, Goosebump books, politically correct twaddle like Billy has Two Mommies and the vast wasteland of Television are so pernicious and why the emergence of Harry Potter is such a hopeful sign. First for the bad, take as an example the first-person-shooter games like Doom. What precisely do such games teach children? There is no narrative line to these games. They are not pretending to be heroes; the only goal is to kill others and to survive yourself. For all you know, you may be the bad guy. Is it any surprise that a generation that is being raised on these games produces children with no sense of right and wrong, children capable of blowing away classmates as if they were extensions of the game?
Harry Potter, on the other hand, offers a glimmer of hope. The astronomical sales and popularity of the series must surely be an indicator that kids still long to escape into a world where right and wrong and good and evil are clearly defined and easily comprehensible. Hopefully parents are exploiting this phenomena and turning their kids on to books in general and specifically this genre. This is a golden moment we've been handed, a once in a generation chance to pry kids out from in front of the TV and the PC and get them reading. Let's hope it's not wasted.
Kids who like Harry Potter would certainly like the Chronicles of Narnia. But the secret charm of the Narnia books is that when you return to them as an older reader you begin to perceive a whole new layer of meaning in the texts. For Lewis, one of the great Christian apologists of the Century, essentially rendered Christian myth in the guise of children's fantasy. With a more mature eye, we realize what it means that the children enter a world where it is "always Winter, but Christmas never comes", that the great lion Aslan is Christ, the White Witch is Satan, her defeat of Aslan is a reenactment of the Crucifixion and, of course, when Aslan rises again to lead the humans and defeat the Witch, it symbolizes the risen Christ leading us in battle against evil. If not exactly subtle, these lessons are at least not heavy handed and should not deter anyone from reading the books.
If you've got a kid who is devouring the Harry Potter books, don't let them stop there. Turn them towards this classic series and then to Tolkein. With any luck they'll discover the same sense of wonder and enjoyment that preceding generations have found and maybe even shut off the TV in order to read once in a while.
GRADE: A+
Book Review: 85 Million Copies Sold: The Chronicles of Narnia have stood the test of time
Summary: 5 Stars
In my new book, PASSPORT TO NARNIA: A NEWCOMER'S GUIDE, I try to put to rest the controversy about the order in which the books should be read, and for good reason: Lewis himself did not write these books as an interlocking whole, as did Tolkien (THE LORD OF THE RINGS) and J.K. Rowling (the Harry Potter novels). Lewis wrote that he wrote the books as they occurred to him, which is why he himself had no preference in which the books SHOULD be read. My contention is that the important thing is to READ these novels, not worry about the reading order. Besides, HarperCollins, his publisher, has made a decision to publish the books with THE MAGICIAN'S NEPHEW first, followed by THE LION, THE WITCH, AND THE WARDROBE because, as is stated on the copyright page of the one volume hardback & paperback editions, "Although THE MAGICIAN'S NEPHEW was written several years after C.S. Lewis first began THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA, he wanted it to be read as the first book in the series. HarperCollins is happy to present these books in the order in which Professor Lewis preferred.
Regarding the seven novels themselves and their readability: Great books come from great writers who can not only are outstanding storytellers but also offer more than mere diversion: Lewis, a celebrated scholar, teacher, writer, and popularizer of the Christian faith, was a literary giant; and when we read the Chronicles of Narnia, we see the world filtered through his worldview. The books and the writer are in this case inseparable; the books come from the writer and are deep expressions of his humanity, his views on courage and sacrifice and honor, which are at the heart of these seven novels. Having sold 85 million copies since 1950 (when the first book in the series was published), you can rest assured that the books have stood the test of time, entertaining and illuminating five generations of readers.
The only complaint I have about this boxed set is that the production values are mismatched: the covers are gorgeously printed, but the interiors use very cheap pulp paper, with blotty ink printing that obscures not only the text but the wonderful Pauline Baynes artwork. Since mass market paperbacks are routinely printed on pulp paper, the problem here seems to be the presswork: The over-inking of these pages obscures the printing of the text and obliterates the artwork. Since the one volume editions are issued from the same publisher, with readable text and no glaring deficiencies in the presswork, I hope that the publisher takes the time to correct what is otherwise a handsome, affordable, boxed edition.
A few comments about the forthcoming movie: the trailer looks wonderful and captures the sense of wonder that is Narnia. Early reviews are positive and, from all indications, Disney Pictures has a winner of a film and the beginnings of a major, new franchise. To my mind, the best thing about the movie is that it will prompt a certain number of people to go into the bookstores and look for the principal texts; I came to the Narnia books late in life, but reading them did what good fiction is supposed to do: Those books took me out of this world and into C.S. Lewis's wonderful and enchanting world of Narnia, and isn't THAT what superb storytelling is all about?
Bottom line: Despite my reservations about the printing of the interiors of these books, this is the edition of choice because of its price and portability. If you haven't read these books, now is the time to start: After December 9, when the film is released, everyone will be rushing to the bookstore to see what is next.
I look forward to the film release and also look forward to re-reading the Chronicles of Narnia again, just as soon as I finish re-reading Tolkien's THE LORD OF THE RINGS from cover to cover (including the appendices).