The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis are a huge part of my childhood mythology. I remember Dad reading them to me as bedtime stories (no doubt more than once!), watching the BBC series, playing Narnia with my friends, Mum making me a coronation outfit so I could be Susan at the end of The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe at a friend's Narnia birthday party and vowing to continue the series and write the stories after The Last Battle where every chapter is better than the one before! Surfice to say I missed the point of those iconic last lines and never did pen those great works of literature! But more on that another time.
The new film adaptations once again bring Narnia to the forefront of my mind and even though they lack the charm of the beloved BBC version they still leave me with an emotional lump in my throat. It's as if as a child I went to Narnia and was eventually told I was too old to visit again and to put it out of my mind. But every so often a half memory breaks through. Like remembering a dream the details are vivid but illusive. However unlike the children of the books I don't need to rely on memory - hurrah! So armed with the family boxset and the shocking realisation that I've never read these books myself (!!!) I'm taking a trip down memory lane.
The Magician's Nephew is one of the lesser known Narnia books having never been adapted for the screen, big or small. In fact it wasn't even published first, but as a prequel to the very famous The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe. It tells of the origins of Narnia and how what sounds like a utopia fell under the power of the White Witch. If this book is ever adapted then I imagine it will get a fairly lukewarm response because it is fairly slow paced, but a fascinating backstory. C.S. Lewis is a master of children's story telling. From the first page I was transformed back to a young child being read to sleep. Written in the third person Lewis addresses the reader directly with the fondness of a parent making up a bedtime story. However the story isn't sugar coated, the world described is very real, but he effortlessly skims over details unsuitable for children. This gives the story depth and allows adults to engage too, we can see what Lewis is hinting, but it is not inappropriate for the younger reader. At times Lewis speaks directly to the child, saying that some things children understand, but adults do not. I think this is a lovely technique as it gives children a feeling of superiority, for once they know something that the adults don't know!
Obviously this book has dated a lot, a few more "greats" need to be added onto the grandfather mentioned on page one, but in other ways it is timeless. Uncle Andrew, the "magician" of the title, is the perfect power hungry villain who turns out to be a coward in way over his head and Digory and Polly are the child hero and heroine who stumble on an bigger adventure than they ever imagined. However Digory and Polly are still children and still act like children, unlike some protagonists of children's literature. Travelling into magical worlds and sent on an important errand by Aslan himself they still squabble, act without thinking, become grouchy when they're tired and hungry and in the end, despite all the wonders they've seen, just want to go home. Without this though the story would never have happened, it is because Digory and Polly are children that their inquisitiveness leads them to Charn and awakens Jardis. Their attempt to fix their mistake leads to them taking Jardis, Uncle Andrew, a coachman and a horse into the brand new world of Narnia and to Diggory learning an important lesson.
I could not end this post without briefly mentioning Aslan and the creation of Narnia. C.S. Lewis was a Christian and while I don't think the whole series is Christian allegory to say that it isn't influenced heavily would be false. I'm a firm believer in writing what you know and what you believe will inevitable find it's way in somehow, but that does not mean the author had an agenda. That said I think Lewis had an oppurtunity to write a description of creation and didn't pass it up - I can't say I blame him! The description of the great lion Aslan singing the world into being is just lovely and contrasts starkly with the dying city of Charn and our world in between. This seems to be a warning to us that our world is heading away from Narnia and towards Charn. The world of Charn was destroyed when Jadis uttered the Deplorable Word, but Lewis reminds us that this isn't just a mythical concept. Aslan tells the children that people in our world could one day find a secret to destroy all life like the Deplorable Word. Considering this book was written after the Second World War and with knowledge of the effects of nuclear weaponry I think it is clear what Lewis is warning against.
So in conclusion I really enjoyed this book. It may not be the most action packed of the series, but for a backstory nerd like me it was great to see how it all began and has definitely whet my appetite for the rest of the series!
