I realize that these books were written mainly for children. Has anyone read them? Is the story of interest to an adult?
And, did C.S. Lewisinterject any Christain themes into these stories?
Yes, they have a HUGE Christian theme, particularly the first and last books (by the original numbering, with The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe being Book 1).
I am 37, and I just finished reading them again, and I still enjoyed the series very much. Afterward, I loaned the set to my 12-year-old neice, and she devoured them. She and I have had a few wonderful discussions on Narnia, Aslan, and the children.
Whether you’re 12, 37, or 79, I heartily recommend them.
-David
I read them as a kid, then read them again when I was in my mid-20s. I’m reading them again now (36) to my 6 year old son. Everytime I read them, even though I know what’s going on, I enjoy them.
As for the Christian theme…yes, they definitely have that, but it doesn’t come straight out and hit you in the eye. If you are familiar with the Christian religion, you will see the analogy.
I have an friend who is an atheist who loved the books. She understood the religious analogies, but chose to focus more on the story at face value.
They are definitely an easy read, and as a catholic kid I ate them up.
Read them back to back with ‘His Dark Materials’ and you’ll have an interesting contrast.
I wouldn’t go so far as to stop my kids from reading them but wouldn’t encourage it either.
MiM
I loved them as a child and re-read them all every now and again. They’re definitely not just for children.
I did not know these books as a child, first read them as an adult. They are wonderful, classics suitable for people of any age. Good guys, bad guys, sword swinging derring-do, self-sacrifice, humor, it’s all there.
Honestly, one of my favorite characters was Reepicheep, the mouse king. A valiant warrior, even if he is vain! 
Christmas of 1999, I participated in a gingerbread building display. I did my own version of the castle of Cair Paravel, decorated for Christmas. In one corner I even had a frozen stream, with a beaver lodge and a teeny Christmas tree topping it, with Mr. and Mrs Beaver looking it over. Won first prize in the professional category.
Shoot, now Aslan is going to have to rebuke me for my vanity, the way he did Reepicheep!
I went back and reread them a couple of years ago. The christian theme is definitely there throughout all the books, but it doesn’t hit you over the head until the last book “The Last Battle”. In that book, Lewis goes into a clear anti-Darwin rant, evidenced by the ape who’s determined to convince people he’s a human. Outside of that they were okay. I wouldn’t call them good reading for an adult, but they’re great as something for an adult to read to a kid.
Not to be missed: The book “Voyage of the Dawn Treader” includes several adaptations of the hokum stories Crusaders told after returning from the Holy Lands. Apparently, the way to make a quick buck after returning from the crusades was to go on the medieval lecture tour circuit, telling stories about the faraway lands you had seen. Several ex-crusaders caught on to the fact that the more outrageous the stories you told, the better the audience. They promptly invented stories of islands in the Mediterranean populated with one-legged people who slept on their backs, using their enormous single foot as an umbrella, rivers which turned anything immersed into them into dense gold, which sank to the bottom, out of reach, dragons, mystery ships, etc. Lewis cleverly took these stories and adapted them into “Dawn Treader”, the best of the series, IMO.
Beware: There has been an annoying trend in recent years to re-order the books, so they are read in chronological order, rather than the order in which Lewis wrote them. The collected stories of Narnia book I bought lists “The Magician’s Nephew” as the first book in the series, which is just WRONG! Always start with “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” or you’re just a dirty sinner, sez me.
I found them almost unreadable as an adult. Unlike others in this thread, I found the Christian imagery to be incredibly annoying and non-subtle. Chacun a son gout.
Just FTR, Lewis meant for the Christian themes to be neither subtle nor allegory-- in his universe, the Son of God came to Narnia as Aslan the lion, just as He came to Earth as Jesus the Man. At one point, Aslan said 'I have a different name over there", referring to Earth.
Good adult read? Yes!… I re-read them every ten years or so.
Christian? Sure… but, whatever. I ain’t no stinking Christian :D, but the stories, even The Last Battle (my favorite), are just good stories. BTW, Christian mythology isn’t the only mythology that’s referenced… unless I missed the chapter in the Bible about dryads.
Agreed. I loved them when I was young. I tried rereading them a couple of years ago, and didn’t get more than 50 pages into the first one. For me, the magic was gone. Then again, so is most of my zeal for religion.
Coincidentally I am reading these right now. Someone had suggested them for my kids in another thread, so we’ve been working through them. I did read “The Magician’s Nephew” first, not knowing any better. It didn’t ruin the story by any stretch, but it might have been better to read them in the other order so that it became backstory instead of introduction.
I was brought up Catholic but gave that up ages ago. The Christian allegory is obvious throughout, but not as annoying as I thought it might be. I wouldn’t mind discussing what drove Lewis regards how it’s a mix of sometimes very silly stuff and Christianity. So far I’ve actually liked “The Horse and His Boy” the best. They are very easy reading and most can be knocked out in a single sitting.
I’ve re-read them all every few years since I was in grade school, and despite their simplicity, I always seem to find new things to appreciate about them.
(Come to think of it, that reminds me of one of my favorite scenes: in Prince Caspian, when Lucy gets lost from the others and finally sees Aslan again, for the first time since their previous visit to Narnia.
Anyway, the Christian themes were always a bonus for me – I remember when I was young being grateful to know that it was okay to read fantasy literature! And Lewis opened the door for me to Tolkien, Chesterfield and others I’ve come to appreciate as well. My son is only two months old, but I look forward to the day I can read the series to him.
Final thought – READ THEM IN THE ORIGINAL PUBLISHED ORDER. Reading them chronologically would be a great travesty.
I really enjoyed them as both a pre-teen and as an adult.
Lewis was definitely Christian but he wasn’t a believer in the “one true and apostolic church,” if you will. There is one passage in the final book where one of the characters (a Prince? Sorry, it’s been awhile) who didn’t believe in Aslan is finally enlightened in the end and comes to believe that as a non-believer, he is doomed. Aslan assures him that he is unconcerned whether or not people worship him because every time this man treated someone kindly, he was indeed honoring Aslan. In other words, actions speak louder than words.
I took this to mean that Lewis believed in an afterlife, but didn’t necessarily believe that you had to be a Christian to enjoy an afterlife.
Regarding the order in which the books should be read, the man himself recommended the order in which they were published. In a letter to his young American reader Laurence dated 23 April 1957, Lewis wrote that ‘the series was not planned beforehand’. He notes that when he wrote The Lion he didn’t know he was going to write any more. After writing Prince Caspian as a sequel (his word), he thought the same; ditto with the third to be written, Dawn Treader. Presumably because he was such a busy man, and wrote so quickly, and wrote them one after the other (more or less), and relied on his brother to do much of his admin work, he writes ‘I’m not even sure that all the others were written in the same order in which they were published’!
I’m taking ages to read Horse and His Boy to my daughter (8). Although it’s perhaps my personal favourite (I need to re-read Dawn Treader), the vocab in that book is both advanced and rather dated - more so than in The Lion, at any rate. I have to translate as I go. Not sure that ‘prig’ and whatnot would resonate with someone raised on Westlife and Cantopop!
Lewis is a wizzard with animal characters. He clearly deeply loved them - for what they were. I need to check, but I don’t think Lewis was anti-Darwin. The mockery of the ape who’s determined to convince people he’s a human sounds consistent with one of Lewis’s themes - the need for each one of us (including animals) to know our place and to be ourselves. To a child correspondent who wrote to ask what happens to Peter and Susan - this was after five of the series had been published - he wrote (in 1955): ‘Peter gets back to Narnia. I am afraid Susan does not. Haven’t you noticed in the two you have read that she is rather fond of being too grownup. I am sorry to say that side of her got stronger and she forgot about Narnia’.
The desire for power, to belong to the in-group, the even stronger desire to exclude others, was something Lewis kept coming back to. One of his collected works, actually an address to those on the brink of graduating, was called ‘The Inner Ring’.
Neither does the Catholic Church. Lewis was a very solid Catholic.
Neither does the Catholic Church. Lewis was a very solid Catholic.
Has anyone else thought that it was Oxford, one fo the great Protestant Universityies, whose literary repute would ultimately be represented best by two Catholics? ;j
Lewis was CofE, actually. Tolkien was Catholic.
As Tengu points out, Lewis was Church of England (Anglican). And as I never tire of pointing out, most Anglicans do consider themselves Catholic (but not Roman Catholic, of course, which is probably what smiling bandit meant). And for the sake of full disclosure, most of them consider themselves Protestant as well. Via Media, baby!