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C. S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia: The "Correct" Order for Reading? Peter J. Schakel, Hope College For a number of years the "correct" order in which to read C. S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia has been a matter of controversy. Early editions numbered the books in the order of publication: 1. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe: A Story for Children 2. Prince Caspian: The Return to Narnia 3. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader 4. The Silver Chair 5. The Horse and His Boy 6. The Magician's Nephew 7. The Last Battle: A Story for Children. So they were listed in the original hardcover and paperback British editions, and in the early hardcover and paperback editions in the United States. Later reprints of the paperback editions and the uniform, worldwide edition issued in 1994 renumber the books to follow the order in which events occur in the stories (or nearly so: the events of The Horse and His Boy actually occur during, not after, those of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe): 1. The Magician's Nephew 2. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe: A Story for Children 3. The Horse and His Boy 4. Prince Caspian: The Return to Narnia 5. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader 6. The Silver Chair 7. The Last Battle: A Story for Children. The cover of the 1994 trade edition of The Last Battle describes it as Athe conclusion of the saga that began with The Magician's Nephew. Although the "chronological" arrangement has become the "official" order for numbering the Chronicles, it may not be the best order for reading them. I believe, as do a number of scholars who have written about the Chronicles, that several artistic and thematic effects in the stories depend on reading The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe first, and are lost when The Magician's Nephew is read first. People who purchase new copies of the Chronicles may never become aware that The Magician's Nephew was not always treated as Book 1, and that the series may be more satisfying and meaningful when it is not. Those who place The Magician's Nephew first do so in order that the reader may become familiar with the origins of Narnia and of the wardrobe before encountering them in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Clyde S. Kilby treats The Magician's Nephew first in The Christian World of C. S. Lewis, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1964, p. 117); Anne Arnott suggests that it be first in The Secret Country of C. S. Lewis (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1975, p. 125); Kathryn Lindskoog follows chronological arrangement in Journey into Narnia (Pasadena, CA: Hope Publishing House, 1998); and Walter Hooper, in C. S. Lewis: A Companion and Guide (London: HarperCollins, 1996), calls it "the sequence in which Lewis meant for them to be read" (p. 408). Lewis gave qualified approval to the chronological arrangement in a letter to Laurence Krieg, 23 April 1957: "I think I agree with your order for reading the books [chronologically according to events] more than with your mother's [in order of publication]. . . . [But] perhaps it does not matter very much in which order anyone reads them" (C. S. Lewis: Letters to Children, New York: Macmillan, 1985, p. 68). Walter Hooper says Lewis later reaffirmed his preference for the chronological sequence (Past Watchful Dragons: The Narnian Chronicles of C. S. Lewis, New York: Collier, 1979, p. 32). However, as Lewis himself wrote, "Of a book's meaning [or effect on the reader] . . . its author is not necessarily the best, and is never a perfect judge" ("On Criticism," On Stories and Other Essays on Literature, ed. Walter Hooper, New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1982, p. 140). In suggesting that The Magician's Nephew be read first, I think Lewis forgot about or was unaware himself of the artistic techniques and thematic patterns which have their fullest effect when the books are read in order of publication. The only reason for reading The Magician's Nephew first is for the chronological sequence of events, and that, as every storyteller knows, is quite unimportant as a reason. Often the early events in a sequence have a greater impact or effect as a flashback, told after later events which provide background and establish perspective. So it is, I believe, with the Chronicles. The artistry, the archetypes, and the handling of Christian themes all make it preferable to read the books in the order of their publication. Several artistic effects in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe are undercut when one of the other books is read before it. The careful use of details to enable readers to share Lucy's initial experience in Narnia and the equally careful buildup before Aslan's name is mentioned work best and have their fullest impact if this book is one's introduction to Narnia. The first reference to Aslan is by Mr. Beaver, when he meets the children in the woods: "They say Aslan is on the move--perhaps has already landed." The passage, significantly, assumes that readers have not already read other books about Narnia: "And now a very curious thing happened. None of the children knew who Aslan was any more than you do; but the moment the Beaver had spoken these words everyone felt quite different" (ch. 7). Of course no other books had been written--or even planned, apparently--when these words were penned. But the fact that other books came later, filling in previous events, does not alter the artistry of the first book. The introduction to the lion is not at all the same, artistically or emotionally, in The Magician's Nephew: it assumes, on the contrary, that readers do have prior knowledge of him. When the voice first begins to sing in chapter 8, Lewis emphasizes the beauty, not the mysteriousness, of it. And when the sun rises and the singer becomes visible, the story says simply, "It was a Lion. Huge, shaggy, and bright it stood facing the risen sun" (ch. 8). There is no buildup like "Don't you know who is the King of Beasts? Aslan is a lion--the Lion, the great Lion" and no introduction to him as "the son of the great Emperor-Beyond-the-Sea" as there is in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (ch. 8). There are no characters in The Magician's Nephew who could have such knowledge of him (Lewis never does bother to identify him until the animals, as soon as they are given the gift of speech, say his name somehow they just know it, without being told). Readers who have already read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe enjoy the pleasure of understanding something the characters in the story do not know. Artistically and emotionally, then, The Magician's Nephew fits in better as a flashback, filling in the background of places and people already known, than as a first book introducing those places and people. The archetypal pattern of The Magician's Nephew also fits better as sixth than as first in the series. The Magician's Nephew and The Last Battle, intertwining the accounts of two endings (of Charn and Narnia) and two beginnings (of Narnia and the New Narnia), depict through interlocking images a seasonal cycle which mirrors the full cycle of Narnian history. The autumn/spring story of The Magician's Nephew, as it moves from tragedy in the first half to comedy in the second, complements the winter/summer story of The Last Battle, moving from antiromance in the first half to romance in the second. The symbolism reinforces plot detail in unifying the beginning of Narnia with the end. This archetypal pattern is most effective if The Magician's Nephew and The Last Battle are read together: the immediate juxtaposition of the two books brings out well the completeness and unity of Narnian history. And that completeness, the point that the Narnian world has a beginning and an ending, along with a creator who existed before the beginning and will continue to exist after the ending, is a central part of the meaning of the stories, a part that is more easily missed if five other books separate The Magician's Nephew from The Last Battle in the reader's experience. Finally, the presentation of Christian ideas in the Chronicles is most meaningful if the stories are read in the order of publication. This can be seen, first, in the systematic ordering of Christian ideas through the series. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe lays a theological foundation for the succeeding books, much as Book 1 of Mere Christianity lays a foundation for the other three parts. Book 1 of Mere Christianity demonstrates the need for salvation; Book 2 explains the plan of salvation; Book 3 deals with morality, explaining how Christians should live in light of their salvation; and Book 4 clarifies theological issues that cause difficulties for Christians. The arrangement of the four books is deliberate and receiving their full effect depends on reading them in order: "It is after you have realised that there is a real Moral Law, and a Power behind the law, and that you have broken that law and put yourself wrong with that PowerCit is after all this, and not a moment sooner, that Christianity begins to talk (Mere Christianity, bk. 1, ch. 5). The discussion in Book 3 (Christian Behaviour) could not have the same meaning it has now if it were the opening section of Mere Christianity. Coming as it does after the sections on ARight and Wrong as a Clue to the Meaning of the Universe and What Christians Believe, it grows out of the premises about law, grace, and faith laid out in the earlier parts. The same arrangement is embedded in the Chronicles of Narnia. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe begins, as Mere Christianity does, by establishing the existence of moral law, or Deep Magic from the Dawn of Time, and the fact that Edmund has broken that law and thus needs to be rescued. As Aslan dies in Edmund's place, the story moves on to Book 2 of Mere Christianity: Deeper Magic from Before the Dawn of Time represents the love and grace which saved Edmund from the penalty of the law. Other themes from Mere Christianity are imaged in succeeding Chronicles, including the theme of Christian morality in The Magician's Nephew. When The Magician's Nephew is read in the order of publication, the other books create a context for the theme of morality, just as Books 1 and 2 of Mere Christianity establish a context for Book 3. The themes of law, faith, growth, and divine guidance and care provide a Christian basis for the moral instruction; the morality grows out of faith, not just out of a desire to do better.< In presenting Christian ideas, the Chronicles also develop a theme of the spiritual journey. It also depends for effect on reading the books in order of publication. Professor Doris Myers, in a fine essay on the Chronicles, argues that the seven books, taken in order of publication, describe the emotional climate of Christian commitment at various ages, from very young childhood to old age and death ("Growing in Grace: The Anglican Spiritual Style in the Chronicles of Narnia," in The Pilgrim's Guide, ed. David Mills, p. 185). The Chronicles present, Ain a form attractive to young and old alike, the whole scope of a Christian life according to the Anglican style of gradual growth rather than sudden conversion, of love of tradition, and of emphasis on codes of courtesy and ethical behavior (p. 202). This is not an allegorical way of reading the stories; it holds that the characters and events in and of themselves depict and convey religious feelings at different stages of life, not that the stories point outside themselves to parallel characters and events which add a deeper meaning to what one is reading. The foundation for following the stages of spiritual development according to the Anglican pattern is laid in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe; this important theme and effect of the series is lost when the books are rearranged according to internal chronological order. The order of publication, thus, is supported by the literary artistry of the books and the development of Christian themes and ideas within them. These seem to me significantly to outweigh the only justification for the chronological ordering, encountering the earliest events first. It is unfortunate the current edition does not indicate that a different numbering existed in earlier editions, that it remains an alternative order for reading the stories, and that it is the order preferred by many Lewis scholars, as more satisfying and meaningful than the "new" chronological arrangement. --adapted from Peter J. Schakel, Reading with the Heart: The Way into Narnia (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1979), pp. 143-45. BIBLIOGRAPHY: selected studies of the Chronicles which recommend reading The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe first: Ford, Paul F. Companion to Narnia. San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1980. Rev. ed., 1994. Gibson, Evan K. C. S. Lewis, Spinner of Tales: A Guide to His Fiction. Grand Rapids: 1980. Hannay, Margaret Patterson. C. S. Lewis. New York: Ungar, 1981. Manlove, Colin. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Patterning of a Fantastic World. New York: Twayne, 1993. Myers, Doris E. T. "Growing in Grace: The Angelican Spiritual Style in the Narnia Chronicles," in The Pilgrim's Guide: C. S. Lewis and the Art of Witness, ed. David Mills. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1998. 185-202. -------. C. S. Lewis in Context. Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 1994. Schakel, Peter J. Reading with the Heart: The Way into Narnia. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1979. ************************ Peter J. Schakel is Peter C. and Emajean Cook Professor of English at Hope College in Holland, Michigan. He is author of two books on C. S. Lewis, Reading with the Heart: The Way into Narnia (1979) and Reason and Imagination in C. S. Lewis (1984). He is editor of The Longing for a Form: Essays on the Fiction of C. S. Lewis (1977) and coeditor with Charles A. Huttar of Word and Story in C. S. Lewis (1991). He teaches courses on Lewis at Hope College and has given many lectures, classes, and workshops on Lewis throughout the United States. http://www.hope.edu/academic/english/schakel/narniaorder.html *********************** Paul D. Birkby Media Specialist Penfield High School 25 High School Drive Penfield, NY 14526 Paul_Birkby@penfield.monroe.edu "I really didn't realize the librarians were, you know, such a dangerous group. They are subversive. You think they're just sitting there at the desk, all quiet and everything. They're like plotting the revolution, man. I wouldn't mess with them." Michael Moore -------------------------------------------------------------------- Please note: All LM_NET postings are protected by copyright law. You can prevent most e-mail filters from deleting LM_NET postings by adding LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU to your e-mail address book. 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