Are the Narnia books by C S Lewis just for children or would an adult be able to read them without getting bored?
The Narnia books are as much exclusively for children as the Lord of the Rings is exclusively for children. There are a lot of subtleties in the Chronicles that children are almost sure to miss. There are a lot of places in the Chronicles that are obviously for adults.
At worst, I’d say the Chronicles are aimed (in modern terms) at young adult to adult audiences but suitable for younger ages as well.
Cool - thanks!
Interesting question. I read the entire Narnia series many times as a child and loved it. upon returning to it as an adult, I still enjoyed it, but not quite as deeply as for other childhood classics such as The Hobbit or The Phantom Tollbooth.
On the plus side, the story is always fast-moving, the characters are sharply drawn and accurate depictions of children’s behavior, and the resolutions of each story actually involve substantial changes within the characters rather than stereotypical ‘cheap’ solutions. On the minus side, I found the books rather lacking in the sorts of humor that adults can enjoy, and sometimes he was trying too hard to be cute.
To me, the boks are best read aloud to children. It’s easy for me having 5 kids. Are there any kids you can read to?
I didn’t read the Narnia books until I was in college and I enjoyed them.
I always thought that Lord of the Rings was written for adults (though The Hobbit might have been written for children).
But I do agree as with the point jayjay is making. It all depends how much you enjoy reading children’s books. Harry Potter books, despite editions with grown-up covers, are most definetely for children but a lot of people seem to enjoy reading them. I myself find Harry a drag but think Dr. Suess is great fun. With regards to the Narnia books there is a lot in them that adults can get something out of, but I think if I re-read now them I’d find the goodie-two-shoes kids and the moralising tone a bit annoying. Best enjoyed with kids, I think.
For what it’s worth…
I love reading children’s books, so maybe I’m biased, but I say go ahead and read them. It won’t take you long and then you’ll know what’s going on when people discuss them. (Which seems to happen pretty often around here.) As an adult, you’ll probably enjoy being able to pick up on the symbolism right away, and the stories are pretty good. Just please read them in the right order! The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe should be first, then Prince Caspian, The Dawn Treader, The Silver Chair, The Horse and His Boy, The Magician’s Nephew, and The Last Battle.
I bought my 12 year old daughter a volume including all 7 books for Christmas. I re-read them before I let her have it and enjoyed them. The series does get a little preachy and transparent as it goes on. The Last Battle is especially heavy-handed. Voyage of the Dawn Treader is probably my favorite.
I was looking at a Narnia website and I’m sure it had The Magician’s Nephew as the first book. Or is it just that it is the first in a time sense but you’re supposed to read Wardrobe first?
The Magician’s Nephew happens first chronologically, but The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is the first one Lewis wrote.
The question of what the correct order for reading is is a highly controversial one.
I suggest starting with The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, mainly because it is arguably the best in the series and a good place to discover whether or not you’d like the others.
Exactly, The Griffin.
Thanks, Fisher Queen.
I haven’t read them in several years but I have since I gained my majority and I agree with ITR champion that they hold up enough to be a worthwhile read – especially since you can probably power through the whole series in a lazy weekend. I also agree that the christian analogies get to be too much right at the end, but given the fact that they pervade the series but don’t come off as distasteful proseltyzing, Lewis can be forgiven for taking the story to its (mythologically) natural conclusion.
I too recommend reading them in the order in which they were written, not the chronological order adopted by more recent editions. For one thing, the Narnia origin story in book six isn’t all that affecting if you read it before you’ve grown to love the land by reading earlier books (that take place later). The preferred reading order, IMO, is:
The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe
Prince Caspain
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
The SIlver Chair
The Horse and His Boy
The Magician’s Nephew
The Last Battle
–Cliffy
P.S. Last weekend Mrs. Cliffy and I wandered into a persian market and we found turkish delight – I demanded that we get a box, and it’s pretty good, although I doubt it would drive me to, well, you know.
I also didn’t read them until I was in college, but I read them in the order which, according to the book version I had, was the order in which Lewis wanted them… not the order in which he wrote them.
I also got some Turkish Delight after reading the books and I must say that it was nothing near delightful.
I have read them both as a child, as a young adult, and recently.
I loved them as a child; I disliked them as a young adult; and I loved them again recently.
Why? First, they are good stories, no trouble on that score.
As a child, I didn’t understand their overt Christian symbolism and racist overtones; as a young adult, I understood them, and found it incredibly intrusive and smarmy; and now, it doesn’t bother me any more.
Though I still wish he went easier on the “ugly and cruel pseudo-Arab” theme, the Aslan=Christ stuff I don’t find so obnoxious - if C.S. Lewis wants to create a Christian allegory in the form of a fantasy, that’s okay, so long as it is interesting and moving. I don’t have to be a Christian to enjoy it.
Yeah, I wish the Arab-type people were treated better in the books, but he does at least have some good people who are from those countries. I think he was just from a more insular society. It’s like complaining that George Washington had slaves. It’s certainly not best, but considering the society that raised him, he was fairly egalitarian.
There is only one piece of evidence that he wanted them in chronological order. At one point, a fan wrote to him and expressed the opinion that it would be better to read the books in chronological order, rather than order of publication. In his reply to that fan, Lewis said that that was not an unreasonable way to read them.
On the other hand, the evidence that he wanted The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe to come first is that that’s the order in which he wrote them! If he wanted them read differently, then why the heck did he write them that way?
I am one of those that agree that one needs to read them in the order that where written. They are somewhat less magically if read cronologically.
A friend of mine who is actually a minister once gave a good anolgy of if you want to introduce somebody to the Bible, you’d start them off with the Book of John, not Genesis, even if Genesis takes place first. (She loves the books as well).
Clicked on this thread since I’m in the middle of the chronicles again. I think the OP’s question has been answered, but thought I would add the dedication from my copy of The Lion, The Witch, And The Wardrobe, since Lewis answers the question (in a way) himself.