# Narnia "in the order in which C.S. Lewis meant for them to be read"? Is this true? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 22, 2005, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/narnia-in-the-order-in-which-c-s-lewis-meant-for-them-to-be-read-is-this-true/327444 "2005-10-22T18:28:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2005, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/narnia-in-the-order-in-which-c-s-lewis-meant-for-them-to-be-read-is-this-true/327444/21 "2005-10-23T20:15:50Z")
Continuing the hijack, I’ve always liked _The Silver Chair_ best, especially after I saw the BBC version with Tom Baker as Puddleglum. He owned that role. Everytime I read it now, he’s the Puddleglum I see. ---
**Author:** ![Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2005, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/narnia-in-the-order-in-which-c-s-lewis-meant-for-them-to-be-read-is-this-true/327444/22 "2005-10-23T21:19:37Z")
I actually did a search for (without quotation marks) “lewis narnia order” and it turned up nothing. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have posted the thread. As some of you may have noticed, I was looking for the series in the original order, so I’m not in need of convincing. Since my original question has been well-answered, does anyone know of any good, original-order copies of the Chronicles still in print? ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2005, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/narnia-in-the-order-in-which-c-s-lewis-meant-for-them-to-be-read-is-this-true/327444/23 "2005-10-23T21:27:21Z")
> [@Speaker for the Dead](#): > > IAs some of you may have noticed, I was looking for the series in the original order, so I’m not in need of convincing. Since my original question has been well-answered, does anyone know of any good, original-order copies of the Chronicles still in print? You may be best off getting a box set that has each of the books separate and reading them in the original order. I don’t imagine you’ll find too many single-volume publications that don’t follow the new vogue. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2005, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/narnia-in-the-order-in-which-c-s-lewis-meant-for-them-to-be-read-is-this-true/327444/24 "2005-10-24T01:12:46Z")
Are you sure you did the right search? I just did a search on the set of words “Narnia Lewis order” and I got 14 threads, including this thread. You did specify that these words be in the body of the thread, not the title, didn’t you? Here’s one of the threads that came up: > **[I now have the final proof why it's wrong to reorder the Chronicles of Narnia](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=267332)** > > Well, maybe not proof but strong anecdotal evidence. In a previous thread, there was a discussion about the fact that the current publishers of The Chronicles of Narnia have made the dubious decision to order the books in chronological order rather... ---
**Author:** ![Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2005, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/narnia-in-the-order-in-which-c-s-lewis-meant-for-them-to-be-read-is-this-true/327444/25 "2005-10-24T01:21:34Z")
Strange. The search must have been messed up, because I checked everything. Each search took about five minutes to go through, so I didn’t have enough patience to try repeatedly. ---
**Author:** ![Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2005, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/narnia-in-the-order-in-which-c-s-lewis-meant-for-them-to-be-read-is-this-true/327444/26 "2005-10-24T01:24:10Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > You may be best off getting a box set that has each of the books separate and reading them in the original order. I don’t imagine you’ll find too many single-volume publications that don’t follow the new vogue. Oh, and thank you for your suggestion. I’d considered this, and I may have to do it. I have a feeling that most of the multi-book sets are numbered, which would bother me if I took them out of order. How’s that for picky? ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2005, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/narnia-in-the-order-in-which-c-s-lewis-meant-for-them-to-be-read-is-this-true/327444/27 "2005-10-24T02:19:06Z")
Perhaps you could put the books in their proper order and use labels to re-number them? ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2005, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/narnia-in-the-order-in-which-c-s-lewis-meant-for-them-to-be-read-is-this-true/327444/28 "2005-10-24T11:09:45Z")
Speaker for the Dead writes: \> Each search took about five minutes to go through . . . Five minutes? My searches never take that much time. I have just an ordinary dial-up connection, incidentally. Why are your searches taking so long? ---
**Author:** ![Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2005, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/narnia-in-the-order-in-which-c-s-lewis-meant-for-them-to-be-read-is-this-true/327444/29 "2005-10-24T21:33:23Z")
I don’t know. I re-did the same search I did before and it worked fine. I think I just caught the boards at a very high-traffic point in the day. Or, more likely, I caught my university’s Internet system at a very high-traffic point. ---
**Author:** ![Plynck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Plynck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Plynck)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2005, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/narnia-in-the-order-in-which-c-s-lewis-meant-for-them-to-be-read-is-this-true/327444/30 "2005-10-24T22:11:05Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > C.S. Lewis himself has [endorsed the chronological order](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronicles_of_Narnia#Numbering_the_books.2C_publication_order_and_internal_chronology). C. S. Lewis can kiss my butt. Who the hell does he think he is?\* Once upon a time, Sergio Leone released a movie entitled “Once Upon a Time in America”, comprised of flashbacks and memories. The American distributors (doubtless assuming that the intended viewers were completely brainless droolers) re-cut and edited the film in chronological order. Ebert gave the original version 4 stars, and the butchered version zero stars. Perhaps those arguing for chronological order would like to comment on [“Memento”?](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0209144/)There is nothing wrong in trusting your readers with a bit of intelligence. I think that if Lewis had later _really \* wanted them issued in chronological order, he would have taken the time to re-write them so that they didn’t rely on previously written books. Irrespective of what Lewis said to placate a child_\*, I think that the narrative unfolds much more magically in the originally published order. \*Oh dear, I’m going to Bism. \*\*This child went on to edit “Once Upon a Time in America” to his own satisfaction when he grew up. ---
**Author:** ![Kat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2005, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/narnia-in-the-order-in-which-c-s-lewis-meant-for-them-to-be-read-is-this-true/327444/31 "2005-10-25T02:09:26Z")
_snickers_ I have a nephew who has never read the CoN, and we were discussing TLTLATW movie this past weekend. I was trying to explain to him why TLTWATW movie was made first and why he should read that book first, and he wasn’t getting it until I told him that it’d be like watching Phantom Menace before Star Wars. 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/narnia-in-the-order-in-which-c-s-lewis-meant-for-them-to-be-read-is-this-true/327444.md?page=1)