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
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