Chronicles of Narnia

I like Charles Williams alot. Tolkien, I seem to remember, did not. Wasn't it Lewis who brought him into the Inklings?

I don't think Williams wrote the Narnia books to explain anything. (I've heard it said that he wrote them to explain Christianity to his Jewish step-sons. But since they weren't his stepsons yet, and I'm wondering if they were even Jewish by the time they were his stepsons, considering all the religious permutations the Gresham family went through, that can't be true.)

It seems to me that the Christian allegory came into Narnia because that was just how Lewis wrote; he wrote about things that moved him deeply.
 
Beside the christian allegory, is there any reason why I should not read the Narnia's book?

Also, is the book too child-orientated?
 
well obviously (if you know me) the allegory angle is not a reason not to read the books. There are some allegories out there even non-christians enjoy. In the case of Narina many people never notice it.

The books are youth books but I think most adults (who enjoy this type of lit.) will (would) enjoy them.

Yes, I believe you're right, Lewis and Williams were close. Lewis really enjoyed his work. I have tracked some of Williams down and enjoyed them. An example would be The Place of the Lion it has a wierd sort of power, Williams trying (I believe) to show the spiritual intersecting with the material....

Ever read George Macdonald? His children's books are still fairly easy to find. Lilith is one of his best however, great book, well, I like it.:)
 
thepaladin said:
Ever read George Macdonald? His children's books are still fairly easy to find. Lilith is one of his best however, great book, well, I like it.:)
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Yes, I've read quite a bit of MacDonald -- his short fiction, mostly. Couldn't get involved with Lilith or Phantastes, maybe I wasn't in the mood, or was looking for something different at the time. I read The Princess and the Goblin as a teenager and The Princess and Curdie a few years later. Loved the first (some parts of it were a bit cloying, but the Great-Great Grandmother was marvelous), and was disappointed in the second. Years later, I reversed my opinion. The Princess and the Goblin was just too juvenile in the worst sort of Victorian way (I like Victorian writers, but their children's literature can be a bit much), and The Princess and Curdie has some real depth and some splendid bits of writing. I've actually read it twice quite recently.

I've never really seen any direct influence on Lewis, maybe I've been reading the wrong stories for that, but as a general inspiration, yes.


sgal.83, to bring us back on track and to answer your question, I know many adults who love the Narnia books. I think most of them read the books as children though, so there may be some influence of fond childhood memories. I read them in my late teens and in my early adulthood. They weren't available in this country when I was a child. (They weren't readily available when I first read them, either. There was some obscure reason why they weren't supposed to be importing them, and you had to know which small bookstores decided to carry them anyway, and then you to go to shelves practically hidden away at the back of the shop, or ask for them directly -- all very furtive.) I had read Tolkien, was hungry for more fantasy and there wasn't much that was good that had come my way. A schoolmate suggested that I try Narnia, lent me The Silver Chair and told me where I could get some of the others, and I was hooked.

I still reread them, but I have since found other children's fantasy that I love even more.
 
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Yes you can see more of Macdonald in Lweis's nonfiction....

Narnia is a series of books that were in a way not constructed as "a series". Lewis simply bgan writing the stories and they were built on the history of Narnia. They fit together ina history now. The alagory angle shows up far more heavily in some places than others also. My favorite is The Last Battle , but it's very much to each their own on that score.
 
Since the first two books I read were The Silver Chair and The Horse and His Boy I don't think the order matters so much, except I think The Last Battle really should be last.

I haven't read any of Lewis's non-fiction. Of his adult fiction, Out of the Silent Planet and it's sequels, and The Screwtape Letters have been it.
 
Although The Magician's Nephew is chronologically first , I would reccomend reading that later , certainly after The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe anyway , as its quite enlightening
 
I love The Great Divorce it's one of my favorite books, but it is more overtly Christian, closer to Screw Tape Letters.
 
I read them at about the time the first film came out. Overall, I thought the series quite good but not at the level of Tolkien.
 
I love and adore Narnia and cry at The Last Battle without fail. I actually like his sf too - the Space Trilogy is great. His Christianity work is thought provoking. He lived in Belfast and is well known here with an arts festival named after him so he’s kind of essential (NI) Reading.
 
I read 'Wardrobe' as a schoolkid, my main impression was Edmund ratting out his siblings for Turkish Delight
 
I never got around to reading the Narnia books and my only exposure to it remains the wonderful cartoon of The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe.

My sisters and I would be enthralled with it every time it came on.
 
I read them out of order, but I'd say The Magician's Nephew and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader are the most fascinating. I never read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe because I watched the cartoon adaptation of it too many times.
 
Rodders said:
I never got around to reading the Narnia books and my only exposure to it remains the wonderful cartoon of The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe.

My sisters and I would be enthralled with it every time it came on.
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The Disney films were not bad. :)
 
On another board, not to be named, they addressed the question of what SFF would you give to children.
Along with the Hobbit, (which should be read out loud, not given to any but a very nerdy kid) Narnia was #1.
I read them as an adult, and good atheist that I am, gave them to my kids. Adventure, bravery and loyalty are pretty good things to appreciate whether in a Christian context or other.
My spouse was raised in a pretty fundamentalist home. When she read the books at a very young age, she got the symbolism right off. Gave The Lion - - - to her mother because she was afraid that somehow using Christian symbolism was wrong. My ma-in-law was religious but not closeted. She approved of the book.
Wife (she is 75 now) wrote a fan letter to C.S. Lewis in which she asked him a couple of questions. He responded and and spoke to her questions.
This was somewhen in the 50s. Times were simpler then. She does not remember the questions or the answers. Just the gentle tone of Lewis' response.
 
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Try and watch it, Baylor. It really was fantastic. Not sure how it's aged though.
 
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