Book discussion: THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA (open spoilers likely)

Cafe Society
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As you may have noticed, I’ve been trying to start a different book discussion thread each week. Since the **His Dark Materials ** discussion was a lot more fruitful than the Lovely Bones one, I thought I’d go back to a fantasy series: specifically C. S. Lewis’ ** The Chronicles of Narnia**.

I won’t bother with a summary; the books are famous enough that I’m sure there’s an ample supply of Lewisians and anti-Lewisians on the board. Instead I’ll just try jumpstarting the discussion with a few questions. As always, feel free to answer as few or as many as you wish, or to add your own.

**1. When did you first read the Chronicles, and what prompted you to do so? Were you introduced by a parent, a teacher, the 70s’ animated cartoon, the recent movie, or something else?

  1. Do you find the Chronicles’ Christian subtext an asset or a defect? If you are a Christian, do you feel the books have assisted you in your spiritual journey? If you are an atheist,

  2. Which of the books is your favorite, and why? Which is your least favorite, and why?

  3. Which of the books do you think is best written? If this one is not your favorite, why do you downgrade it?

  4. Of the Chronicles’ eleven child protagonists–Peter, Susan, Edmund, Lucy, Caspian, Eustace, Jill, Shasta, Aravis, Digory, and Polly–whom do you like best? Whom do you most dislike? Whom do you identify with?

  5. Do you think Susan went to hell? If so, does this reduce your enjoyment of the books? If you think she didn’t, why not?

  6. What do you think is the most valid criticism of the books? What is the series’ greatest strength?

  7. Did you like the recent movie, dislike it, or refuse to watch it?

  8. A few years ago there were rumblings that HarperCollins might hire writers to add on to the Chronicles, possibly requring that the stories have less religious subtext. What do you think of this idea?

  9. So what IS the proper order for reading the books? Publication order or internal chronology?**

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I suppose I might answer the questions myself in the interests of not being a jerk.

I saw the cartoon in the 70s. My sixth-grade teacher, the first to recognize and salute my inner geek, gave me the books as a Christmas present, and I fell utterly in love.

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is definitely my favorite to read; it’s my comfort food for times of emotional or spiritual distress, partiularly the story ofhte Dark Island. I don’t dislike any of the stories, but the depressing plot of The Last Battle keeps it at the bottom of my Lewis reading list.

The Silver Chair is the best-written, I’d say, the most “adult” in many ways, but I didn’t like it at all as a child.

I most like Eustace as presented the latter half of Treader; I most dislike him before his draconic transformation; and I most identify with him. Trifecta!

Prince Caspian is too obviously a retread of The Lion, the Witch, & the Wardrobe, so that bothers me; and I wish Lewis had lived to reconcile the tone & the presentation of Aslan in The Magician’s Nephew with Wardrobe.

A certain movie I shall not name has put me off ever watching adaptations of books I love.

Once I am god-king of Earth, anyone who even contemplates such a thing shall be fed alive to ravenous mongooses. Or mongeese. Or whatever you call Riki-Tiki-Tavi plus a hundred of his cousins.

Publication order, of course. ::muttering about bastards at HarperCollins::

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Woohoo! One of my favorite series. I asked for it as a Christmas gift two years ago. I’m 30, btw.

1. When did you first read the Chronicles, and what prompted you to do so? Were you introduced by a parent, a teacher, the 70s’ animated cartoon, the recent movie, or something else?

I’m not sure. I was reading C.S. Lewis for a little while, and I don’t think I happened on Chronicles first. Must have been a librarian who suggested it.

**2. Do you find the Chronicles’ Christian subtext an asset or a defect? If you are a Christian, do you feel the books have assisted you in your spiritual journey? If you are an atheist, **

I never ever noticed the Christian subtext until I was an adult. Now I feel it is fairly subtle and I still re-read them with enjoyment and it doesn’t bother me. Why not? Of all the ways to impart your beliefs, this is the one I can most easily get behind…books.

3. Which of the books is your favorite, and why? Which is your least favorite, and why?
**
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Still one of my favorite adventure books. What a great idea for a book/movie/RPG - go looking for the seven lost lords and find all kinds of beautiful and mysterious places in the journey.
4. Which of the books do you think is best written? If this one is not your favorite, why do you downgrade it?

n…I still have to go with Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

5. Of the Chronicles’ eleven child protagonists–Peter, Susan, Edmund, Lucy, Caspian, Eustace, Jill, Shasta, Aravis, Digory, and Polly–whom do you like best? Whom do you most dislike? Whom do you identify with?

I like Caspian best. Honest, forthright, and adventurous. Shortly after that I like Eustace…post-transformation, of course. I despise Jill and Polly. They are both convinced they are right and more often than not it seems like they have this conviction simply because they are girls.

6. Do you think Susan went to hell? If so, does this reduce your enjoyment of the books? If you think she didn’t, why not?

I’m not sure what Lewis had in mind, really. I like to think she didn’t of course, but he might have sent here there. I like to think she simply chose her own life.

7. What do you think is the most valid criticism of the books? What is the series’ greatest strength?

That it is a Christian allegory. Many people do criticize it for this, and it’s true. What else is there to say?
The greatest strength is the fact that it can still be read as a pure fantasy story.

**8. Did you like the recent movie, dislike it, or refuse to watch it?**I rather liked it. I own it.

9. A few years ago there were rumblings that HarperCollins might hire writers to add on to the Chronicles, possibly requring that the stories have less religious subtext. What do you think of this idea?

throws up Well, you get the idea. Yuck. What a stupid idea.

10. So what IS the proper order for reading the books? Publication order or internal chronology?
Um…publication order. Lion first.

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BTW, and I don’t want to hijack, but you constantly beat up on the LOTR movies. You’re entitled to your opinion of course, but I rather liked the movies and could easily separate them from the movels. I think Jackson did a great job of bringing a very difficult task to screen…I can see why no one attempted it before him, and I really loved them.

Just throwing in my thoughts. :slight_smile:

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**1. When did you first read the Chronicles, and what prompted you to do so? Were you introduced by a parent, a teacher, the 70s’ animated cartoon, the recent movie, or something else?**I was in grade school; but I honestly don’t remember why I read it. I do remember my 5th grade teacher reading Silver Chair to us, but I don’t think I read the whole series for myself until several years later, maybe high school.

**2. Do you find the Chronicles’ Christian subtext an asset or a defect? If you are a Christian, do you feel the books have assisted you in your spiritual journey? If you are an atheist, ** Like many people who first read them as children, the Christian subtext went right over my head for a long time, even though I was raised in a Christian home. As I got older, I grew to appreciate them - in fact I realized that it was those themes that had resonated with me when I was young, even though I didn’t recognize it at the time. As I get older, every time I re-read the story it means something deeper to me. I guess it’s like that scene in PC where Lucy observes that Aslan has grown bigger, and He tells her that no, she has grown, and the older she gets, the bigger he will seem.

3. Which of the books is your favorite, and why? Which is your least favorite, and why? Dawn Treader is easily my favorite. Action packed, with a very moving conversion/redemption story and a hopeful finale. The Horse and His Boy was my least favorite as a child, but I like it more now. Prince Caspian is probably my least favorite.
**4. Which of the books do you think is best written? If this one is not your favorite, why do you downgrade it? ** Hmmmm. I think Lion or Dawn Treader are the best-written, in terms of characters, plotting and ideas. Lion is probably my second favorite as well.

5. Of the Chronicles’ eleven child protagonists–Peter, Susan, Edmund, Lucy, Caspian, Eustace, Jill, Shasta, Aravis, Digory, and Polly–whom do you like best? Whom do you most dislike? Whom do you identify with? As the oldest child in my family, I always liked and identified with Peter. I always wondered if I could be as noble as he was when tested. On the other hand, I never really liked Digory as a boy. I did like him as the adult Prof. Kirke, though.

6. Do you think Susan went to hell? If so, does this reduce your enjoyment of the books? If you think she didn’t, why not? I don’t think she did, and I think Lewis intentionally did not address her fate. Like Aslan says in The Horse and His Boy, that is part of her [Susan’s] story, and we are not always told what happens in other people’s stories.

7. What do you think is the most valid criticism of the books? What is the series’ greatest strength? The racist and sexist attitudes that were unremarkable in Lewis’ time certainly make the books seem dated today. I don’t think Lewis can be blamed for attitudes that reflected his culture, but they can take me out of the story today. As for strengths, Lewis was remarkable in the way that he introduced so many Christian themes into the stories - sacrifice, redemption, free will, predestination, love, etc.
8. Did you like the recent movie, dislike it, or refuse to watch it? I wasn’t blown away, but I thought it was pretty decent. I certainly didn’t dislike it. I really liked the young actress who played Lucy. I’m a little nervous about the upcoming Prince Caspian movie, which IMHO is a weaker book to start with.

9. A few years ago there were rumblings that HarperCollins might hire writers to add on to the Chronicles, possibly requring that the stories have less religious subtext. What do you think of this idea? :mad: :mad: :mad:

10. So what IS the proper order for reading the books? Publication order or internal chronology? Publication order! Reading them in chronological order is blasphemous!!

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Anaamika, I might point out that I didn’t actually mention LOTR; I’ve been praising it in my beautiful cinematic moments thread. And I love the first two. (Well, I love Fellowship and am extremelly fond of Towers.) Incredibly, it was another movie I’ve been mocking in another thread (League of Extraordinary Gentlemen) that soured me on adaptations; but I didn’t want to bring that argument over here, which is why I didn’t mention either.

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I first read the books when I was very young, so young I don’t really remember a time when I hadn’t read them. I never even noticed the Xtian thing until I was much older. It doesn’t bother me and had no effect on me spiritually. I am an atheist.

My favorite book is The Horse and His Boy. I loved the adventure and I loved the horse. My least favorite is The Last Battle, it seems not to really fit with the rest of the series. I have no opinion on which is the best written.

Jill is probably my favorite character, I like that she really enjoys her adventure. Peter is my least favorite - he is so boring!

I doubt Susan went to hell…I just don’t think the books are that mean-spirited. Maybe I’m being naive.

I don’t put much stock in any criticisms about the book. I loved their creativity and the adventures and the use of normal children as the protagonists.

I liked the movie, but it wasn’t that great. I dislike the idea of anyone adding to the series.

I don’t think there is a proper order for reading the books other than reading LionWitchWardrobe first.

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Oh. :embarrassed: No, I didn’t see that you had mentioned it, I just knew you were negative on it and had seen it in many other threads. So I thought you were referring to it here. So I thought I’d finally bring it up. I am sorry. And I’m with you on League, I saw that movie myself and thought it was a great concept but really ruined in execution.

I also see I didn’t answer one of your questions. That being:

Which book did you like the least?

And for me it would have to be The Magician’s Nephew. Way too much time spent in this world.

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S’alright. I have resolved to no longer bash ROTK, as even I am bored with hearing me do so. So let me instead praise the ethereal beauty that is Fellowship.

So I thought I’d finally bring it up. I am sorry. And I’m with you on League, I saw that movie myself and thought it was a great concept but really ruined in execution.

:eek:

But…but…that has the best line of dialog in ANY of the Chronicles…when the Great Lion is talking about Digory’s mother’s illness for the first time. “Grief is great,” Aslan said. “Only you and I in this land know that yet. Let us be good to one another.”

Gosh, I love Aslan.

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  1. I was a small child, about 6 I guess. I read them out of order, & some multiple times, over a few years in my childhood. I found them reasonably quick reads; I could tear through some in a few hours.

  2. I think I’ve tried to explain this in an earlier thread, to the great offense of other Lewis fans: I’m glad of the Xtian context, in that it allowed Lewis’s philosophy to be “OK” in my fundamentalist subculture; & let him begin lead me out of that particularly toxic sort of religion to something more embracing of the world, more ecumenical, more human, & finally, in my case (& I mean no offense to Jack Lewis in this) not actually Christian after all. In my dark adolesence, when my own worldview & all those around me seemed morbid & foul, the worldview of the Chronicles held a light up for me: that view that the good is far larger & more beautiful than the evil. Such a view was not articulated by many in my church. After I left Xtianity, even after I knew I couldn’t go back, I read The Case for Christianity & thought, “I would like to believe in the world he speaks of.”

  3. I now say, even without being prompted, that The Horse & His Boy is my favourite. Come to think of it, I think The Magician’s Nephew was my fave at one time. And this is odd, in that I don’t have favorites of most things.
    Why? As a kid, I only had copies of four of the books: TLTWATW, The Silver Chair, The Horse & His Boy, & The Magician’s Nephew. I read them more than the others. It’s perhaps too obvious to hold the first favorite? I dunno. The Silver Chair is amazing, but the Emerald Witch creeped me out so much as a kid that I’d try to skip over parts when rereading it. At one time, though, it may have meant the most to me; I’m not sure. in TMN, I like the 19th-Century setting, Uncle Andrew’s characterization, & the peek into the larger extracosmic context. But I like TH&HB for… um… OK, I guess it’s the sense of a larger world than Narnia, the treatment of Rabadash, the conversations with Aslan & the old man who never met any such creature as Luck (cute), the sense of the Pevensies as adults, & the serious & total immersion in that world. Also, this quote:

  1. It’s been way too long since I’ve read most of them for me to pick a best written. But I seem to recall TLTWATW being a quite good introduction to the whole thing, whereas Prince Caspian, by contrast, was a bit slow going early on.

  2. Meaningless question. OK, Lucy seems to me to be obviously the primary identification character in the first book. And I quite like her. But honestly, I thought (was it really just my age?) the other Pevensies (esp. Peter & Susan) got short shrift. My favorite book is The Horse & His Boy, so I guess I could say Shasta. But Jill has some good scenes, too.
    Screw it, I’m going to say Corin just to be contrary, even though he’s not remotely a protagonist.

  3. I used to think Susan was lost (The Last Battle doesn’t do Hell), but something else I read got me over it. Apparently in TLB, England didn’t end, but Jill & Eustace’s lives in England ended. They spoke of Susan as they knew her at the time, not her final fate. Besides, Jack Lewis didn’t describe Hell conventionally. Even the blinded dwarfs are in Aslan’s Place, though they see it not.
    Actually, what diminished my enjoyment of TLB was that it was the End of the World. Ick. I hated the Apocalypse as a child, & looked for a way out of Xtianity because of its disgusting love for the End of All Things. Also, I was not real crazy about the portrayal of the little Narnia-clique & the double contempt: their contempt for Susan’s contempt for them. And really, what’s wrong with lipstick & boys?!

  4. I dunno what qualifies as a “valid criticism” of the books. The greatest strength is Lewis’s clear prose style, including the ability to deal with the themes he chose in a readable way.

  5. …Um, I haven’t gotten around to it. None of the above?

  6. I’m a bit leery of hiring someone to “add to” the Chronicles, but I wouldn’t declare war over it. Anytime a fan (or hired gun) tries to continue a series, he risks some other fans’ annoyance, because it’s not how they would have done it. There’d have to be a strong line drawn between Jack’s stuff & the new stuff. But if it got us some cool fanfic of the unrevealed history of Archenland, that might be fun.

  7. I read the books very much out of order, & it still works. They aren’t one long book, you know. But TLTWATW is clearly #1.

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Oh, yeah, I got wrapped up in another question. I was introduced to the series through the animated cartoon of the 1970’s. It was actually shown at my church.

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Um, do I really need to add that The Last Battle is my least favorite book, & I found Eustace to be a right twit at the beginning of …Dawn Treader?

No? Thought not.

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1. When did you first read the Chronicles, and what prompted you to do so? Were you introduced by a parent, a teacher, the 70s’ animated cartoon, the recent movie, or something else?

I picked up The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe because it had the word “Witch” in the title. When I was a kid…aw, heck, even now…I was drawn to any kind of story with a supernatural element.

2. Do you find the Chronicles’ Christian subtext an asset or a defect? If you are a Christian, do you feel the books have assisted you in your spiritual journey? If you are an atheist,

I read TLTW&TW about twenty times before I read any of the others, and it took me a long time to notice the parallels, although I went to a Christian school. I felt Aslan was far more lovable than Jesus. I turned out to be an atheist anyway, but I still enjoy reading anything C.S.L. wrote. The man was a genius.

3. Which of the books is your favorite, and why? Which is your least favorite, and why?

The Dawn Treader is my favorite because of the variety of magical places they visited. I’m sitting here trying to decide which island was my favorite, but I can’t do it. Least favorite book is The Last Battle. It’s a huge downer, and it’s hard for me to let go of my beloved Narnia, no matter what it’s a “pale shadow” of.

4. Which of the books do you think is best written? If this one is not your favorite, why do you downgrade it?

I think they are all well written.

5. Of the Chronicles’ eleven child protagonists–Peter, Susan, Edmund, Lucy, Caspian, Eustace, Jill, Shasta, Aravis, Digory, and Polly–whom do you like best? Whom do you most dislike? Whom do you identify with?

Best: Edmund. He screwed up and learned from it. I can’t recall the specific scene at the moment, but he showed mercy to a traitor, because he knew what it was like to make a mistake. And Eustace, he kept things interesting by behaving like a jerk for so long.
Most disliked: Jill and Polly, silly girls.
Identify with: Heck, I guess it’s Edmund again.

6. Do you think Susan went to hell? If so, does this reduce your enjoyment of the books? If you think she didn’t, why not?

I don’t think she did, because she was still alive at the end, so she could have changed her ways. We’re just not to know how it turned out for Susan, and I think it’s a nice touch of realism that all the children don’t necessarily live happily ever after.

7. What do you think is the most valid criticism of the books? What is the series’ greatest strength?

Criticism: They are cutesy and twee. I don’t mind that in a book, if the story is good.
Strength: The story is damned good.

8. Did you like the recent movie, dislike it, or refuse to watch it?

It was okay. I’ve seen worse adaptations. However, they changed the part where Edmund meets Lucy in the wardrobe, lies about it to the others, and then inadvertently admits that he’s been to Narnia before. I think it’s an important part to the development of his character.

9. A few years ago there were rumblings that HarperCollins might hire writers to add on to the Chronicles, possibly requring that the stories have less religious subtext. What do you think of this idea?

I think I’d get physically violent with anyone who suggested such a thing, or thought it was a good idea.

10. So what IS the proper order for reading the books? Publication order or [del]internal chronology?[/del]

It’s publication order.

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I collect fantasy and science fiction. I read Lion quite some years ago, and decided to wait until I found the rest of the books used to read the entire series. I finally got to it last summer.

Atheist. Sometimes the subtext is subtle, and no problem, but sometimes Lewis slams you in the head with it, and it detracts from the story.

The Magician’s Nephew is my favorite, since it contains the only real humor in the series - the scene outside their house. The Last Battle is the worst - it is a mess in lots of ways. Not just the religion, but the Narnians are idiots, which they never were before. They make the Jedi Council seem right on top of things.

Voyage of the Dawn Treader is good, with lots of incidents. My biggest gripe about Lion is that Lewis, perhaps not trusting his audience, does not let any suspence go on for more than a page or two.

Mostly ciphers.

Yes. Look at how badly Lewis handles love and sex. Forget Jill, but consider how the four siblings go through adult life in Narnia then become children again without any apparent maturity. They went through 50 years or so of life with no romantic involvement - basically children playing knights. I believe it was A Horse and His Boy where the prospect of one of the girls getting married was horrid. I know that it was against her will, but I got the impression that any marriage, thus any sex, desired or not was considered an evil.

Good children’s literature should address a child’s concerns about the world and about growing up. Look how well Harry Potter does this, or the Ramona books. People age in Narnia, but do they grow? Then, many of the books use Aslan as a literal deus ex machina, rescuing the so called heroes. I understand the theological significance, but it makes for poor literature.

Not refuse, have no interest.

In general, I believe series like this should be left alone. I don’t want to see LoTR, the Shire years either.

Publication order worked fine for me. Reading the Magicians Nephew first would lose the significance of the events.

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I first encountered the Chronicles when my father read them aloud to the family - I was probably 6 or 7 when we started. My parents both adore Lewis, and so there was much Narnia reading and discussion throughout my childhood. Probably because of this, I don’t have a very clear memory of when I ‘got’ the subtext - I’m pretty sure I didn’t on the first reading, but I remember treating it as common knowledge by the time I was 11. (When I ridiculed my school’s principal who was perfectly happy to stage the musical Narnia, but wanted to change ‘Father Christmas’ to ‘Father Spring’ in order to avoid offending non-Christians. :wally )

Re-reading the books while aware of the subtext, it annoys me by different amounts in different books. tLB is by far my least favorite book, because there seems to be little actual story to disguise the subtext! Indeed, without a reasonably thorough grasp of Christian theology, bits of tLB - like Susan’s ultimate fate - are obscure. (So I don’t think Susan is going to hell, though I think she’s likely to be in a state analagous to the Catholic ‘mortal sin’ at the time of tLB. But I don’t think that is obvious from the text alone.) Similarly, although I like VotDT a lot, I think that the ending is really odd; mostly, it seems, because Lewis was determined to make a point about the spiritual life. The other books have strong enough stories that I think the sub-text is a plus, as it adds depth to an already functional narrative. I think this willingness to sacrifice plot for piety is the greatest flaw in the fiction I’ve read by Lewis, though not all of the books exhibit it.

Before I re-read them all, VotDT was my favorite. On re-reading, though, the points about the ending raised above and the horrible defense of colonialism lowered it considerably in my eyes. I’m left without a clear favorite to fall back on, but if forced I think I’d choose tHahB, because I think both Sasha and Aravis are quite fun. Second place to tMN, as Polly and Diggory are similarly fun, and I’m not sure there’s comedy anywhere else in the series to match Jadis in London.

re: the recent movie. My summary was ‘meh.’ A few weeks before seeing the new movie, I watched the BBC mini-series from the 1988. The new film certainly addressed the weaknesses in special effects and costuming in the original, but the script was (IMO) needlessly changed. In particular, the Pevensies’ apparent willingness to abandon Narnia to its fate until Edmund deserts them drastically coarsens the characters and the sense of the narrative was sacrificed to cram more action scenes in. Like the iceberg scene. WTF? I thought it was silly overall, because I think adopting the BBC script wholesale and updating the effects would have produced a better movie than we got.

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I don’t think that’s a fair criticism. The only book in which Aslan personally solves the overall problem is The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, and I’d say HE’S the protagonist of that one; it’s basically a retelling of the Passion narrative. I agree that Aslan ultimately defeats the witch, but he goes out of his way to recruit mortal Narnians to help him do so.

In Prince Caspian, Peter and Caspian’s army defeats the Telmarines without *any * direct intervention from Aslan. True, Aslan does free the river-god at Beruna and otherwise bring magic back to the land, but he doesn’t intervene in the military engagement. Afterwards he does act as judge to the Telmarines, but that’s hardly a rescue; the Pevensies and the old narnians don’t NEED rescuing. (You could say he rescues the Telmariens from THEM.) For the most part he acts to keep the travellers on the right path: e.g., his appearance to Lucy (and gradually the other Pevensies) as they travel through the gorge to the Stone How. But he lets them choose to follow the wrong path, respecting their free will.

Dawn Treader is very episodic; there is no overall problem to solve. Aslan lets (or forces) Caspian & company to rescue themselves from the slavers on the Lone Islands, from the sea-serpent, and on the Island of the Duffers he is clearly watching the whole time without interfering. He intervenes thrice: saving the ship from the Dark Island, returning Eustace to human form, and putting an end to the argument on Deathwater. And, of course, he sends Eustance & the Pevensies home, but that’s not a rescue either; it’s the end of the story, and they don’t particularly want to.

In The Silver Chair he appars very little, charging Jill with the quest at the beginning but otherwise letting the questors get further and further into a pickle born of not following his orders in the first place.

In The Horse and His Boy, he mostly acts subtly: prodding Aravis & Shasta to meet, and giving the horses speed born of fear so they warn Archenland in time, and punishing Aravis. But he allows (or forces) the Northlanders to fight the Calormenes on their own, appearing only at the end to judge Rabadash.

In The Magician’s Nephew he gives Digory his quest but doesn’t do much to help him accomplish it. In fact, as someone observes, he is deliberately UNhelpful, in that he doesn’t provide food for Digory & Polly because they don’t have the sense to ask him to do so. (Hey, maybe Aslan is a dick).

And, finally, in The Last Battle, he does nothing at all to prevent the conquest of the Northlands and the end of the world; he doesn’t even intervene when he is being outrageously slandered and blasphemed. (Of course, he never seems to give a damn about what people say about him anyway.) Even his usual role of keeping the travellers on the right path is relinquished to Jewel the Unicorn, who does not do the best job of it. 'Course, Jewel has the handicap of not being a god.

No, Aslan is no deus ex machina. One might even argue that, since he regularly lets the Narnians & Archenlanders fight and die in battles he could end in moments, he’s something of a dick.

Just kidding, Aslan! Please don’t eat me!

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1. When did you first read the Chronicles, and what prompted you to do so? Were you introduced by a parent, a teacher, the 70s’ animated cartoon, the recent movie, or something else?

It was elementary school… maybe around 3rd grade (which is when I read The Hobbit). We had a boxed set at home with artwork like that shown onthis page, though slightly different (the illustrations were the whole cover, not framed as they are there), which I thought were really cool pictures.
**2. Do you find the Chronicles’ Christian subtext an asset or a defect? If you are a Christian, do you feel the books have assisted you in your spiritual journey? If you are an atheist, how much does the subtext bother you? **

As a kid I didn’t notice it at all. Even though I really liked the books, I only read them for the second time in high school when someone mentioned the Christian subtext. “I guess I can kind of see that,” thought I, and read them again. Woah! Being a bit more aware, I was embarrased I hadn’t noticed it before. But, as an athiest, the subtext doesn’t ‘bother’ me. It is what it is; The Chronicles are great stories that allude strongly to religious themes.
3. Which of the books is your favorite, and why? Which is your least favorite, and why?

Hm… I’ve always loved Dawn Treader*, Magician’s Nephew, Silver Chair, and The Horse and His Boy, but of those I think Dawn Treader has consistantly been my favorite. A great adventure across the sea into the unknown. Love it. I do get a little tired of the Eustace changing into a dragon part.

My least favorite is definitely Prince Caspian. The Last Battle I used to love but, as others have said, everyone in it is just so darned stupid that I don’t like it much anymore. What redeems it though is the description at the end of Time bringing the world to an end. Prince Caspian, however, is a boring story in which nothing particularly inspiring happens. It’s a total snooze-fest.
4. Which of the books do you think is best written? If this one is not your favorite, why do you downgrade it?

Hrm. It’s been a while now since I’ve read these, but, um… I don’t know. In general I think Lewis can write some very enchanting and moving description, and I wish he did it more. In any of my favorites above (except for Horse, but including The Last Battle) he has some wonderful images.
5. Of the Chronicles’ eleven child protagonists–Peter, Susan, Edmund, Lucy, Caspian, Eustace, Jill, Shasta, Aravis, Digory, and Polly–whom do you like best? Whom do you most dislike? Whom do you identify with?

Whom do I like? Jill I think, mainly because she’s the non-jerk protagonist in my favorite of the series. The least? Eustace, for the oposite reason. :wink: Whom do I identify with? I think Susan. She just always seemed the most compasionate, level-headed, and reasonable of the initial bunch.
6. Do you think Susan went to hell? If so, does this reduce your enjoyment of the books? If you think she didn’t, why not?

Is it hinted that she did? I definitely didn’t pick up on that bit. But, regardless, I don’t think that Lewis would be sending any of his main characters to hell.
7. What do you think is the most valid criticism of the books? What is the series’ greatest strength?

The one thing I can’t stand are the occasional but blatant jabs at the various ‘social ills’ (in Lewis’ mind) of the time. Bits about the ‘new schools’ where kids got to wear horrible things and didn’t have to accomplish anything, and girls didn’t know how to behave like girls, blah blah blah. Culturally they’re a neat window into the mind and times of C.S. Lewis, but boy do they detract from my immersion in the rest of the story.
8. Did you like the recent movie, dislike it, or refuse to watch it?

I liked it. Nothing to write home about. I also will say that that book is far from my favorite of the bunch as well.
9. A few years ago there were rumblings that HarperCollins might hire writers to add on to the Chronicles, possibly requring that the stories have less religious subtext. What do you think of this idea?

I think that idea is stupid.
10. So what IS the proper order for reading the books? Publication order or internal chronology?

Publication order. Allusions in The Magician’s Nephew makes no sense as the first book in the series, as introductions and descriptions in TLtWatW lose a lot of meaning coming after the afore mentioned book.

18

opens mouth
sees Skald’s answer

Yup, that’s right - Skald’s nailed it.

19

Well, he’s not a tame lion!

My first exposure was to the book collection 8 months ago. Read them in order beginning with The Magician’s Nephew. I can’t imagine starting with TLTWandTW, there’d be too many holes. Kinda like trying to get into LOTR without first reading The Hobbit.

Can someone give me the basis for the “Susan Went To Hell” angle? I never came up with anything like that. In fact, I got the idea that if Lewis had a Hell, it was damned difficult to get into. Even a good-spirited servant of an evil god had a place in paradise above misled/mean-spirited followers of Aslan, the latter of which were still in a good place, just ignorant of the truth they refused to accept.

20

This reminds me of a question that struck me when I was watching the BBC miniseries of The Silver Chair. Was there some particular reason mentioned that Jill and Eustace couldn’t just write the directions down? Jill managed to produce them at Cair Paravel, but after some uncertainty - that would have seemed an excellent time to make a record of it!