C.S. Lewis and The Chronicles of Narnia
Meghann Hillier-Broadley, a PHD student and associate lecturer in the Faculty of Education and Humanities, has written on the impact the Chronicles of Narnia had on her life.
My first memory of being introduced to The Chronicles of Narnia was watching the BBC adaptation of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe in the 1980’s when I was around eight-years-old. I do not remember in any great detail the quality of the production or the actors who starred in it, but I do know that the memory of it invokes within me several strong remembrances that have remained with me and influenced my childhood, my reading and my adult education. Firstly, I cannot be completely certain but I am convinced the series was televised on a Sunday as I immediately return to my childhood living room where my mum would iron mine and my three sisters school uniforms for the week ahead; I remember the steam from the iron, the smell of heat moving across cotton and rows of white shirts being hung on the curtain rail ready to be taken upstairs. Secondly, the fawn, Mr Tumnus standing next to the iconic lamp in the snow complete with scarf and parcels, and later when he gets turned into stone by the White Witch being concerned if he will be a casualty of war or saved by the children. Thirdly, the fact that the Pevensie siblings discovered Narnia through a wardrobe. To me this was important for two reasons, Lucy discovered Narnia first and she was the youngest as am I, so it confirmed for me at that time what I already knew, that as the youngest I was more important than my sisters, but also that adventure was accessible; if they had found a whole world in a wardrobe, what possibilities could be awaiting discovery when I put my school shirts away later that afternoon!
My second introduction to Narnia was through an edition of the book that my sister received as a gift that contained all seven books in the series. I remember coveting that book; ironically not because either of us actually read it, but the mere possession of it heralded potential. Inside that book was adventure and ‘owning’ it for me was akin to having that adventure. At that time my attention then turned elsewhere as I enjoyed lashings of ginger beer and caravanning holidays with The Famous Five and The Secret Seven, but I have returned to Narnia as an adult, for the enjoyment of reading and for my postgraduate studies and I have discovered an author who is as interesting as his stories.
Clive Staples Lewis was born in Belfast, Ireland on 29 November 1898 and the 22 November is the anniversary of his death in Oxford in 1963. As a child Lewis had a great imagination and affinity with animals and on the death of his dog, who was unfortunately killed after being hit by a car, he declared he was to be known as ‘Jacksie’, in his honour; this nickname stuck and as an adult his friends and family would refer to him as ‘Jack’. Along with his brother ‘Warnie’, Lewis created the fictional world of Boxen populated and run by animals, a precursor to the talking beasts which inhabit Narnia that is hard to deny. After spending his teenage years at boarding school Lewis commenced his studies at Oxford and in 1917 found himself on the front line at the Somme; returning injured in 1918 Lewis continued with his studies and eventually taught at Oxford for twenty-nine years. It was during this time that aspects of Lewis’s life have become the stuff of myth and legend. The friendship Lewis enjoyed with his Oxford colleague and fellow writer J.R.R. Tolkien and their participation in the informal literary group the Inklings, who would meet at The Eagle and Child pub in Oxford to read parts of their work to one another, has always garnered scholarly intrigue, nostalgia and a romanticism around a golden time of fantasy literature. It was also whilst at Oxford, influenced by Tolkien and Hugo Dyson that Lewis returned to his Christian beliefs that he had lost as a teenager. Alongside his works of fiction Lewis wrote numerous Christian apologetics espousing the virtues of Christianity and the moral lessons and ways of living which emerge from being within the faith.
It was not apparent to me as a child, but The Chronicles of Narnia have Christian parallels depicting the Gospel message. In ,The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Aslan is a representation of Christ and the Pevensie children all play their part. Lucy and Susan are Mary and Martha from the Gospel of Luke; Lucy staying true to Aslan throughout and Susan becoming distracted from what is important. Edmund is Judas, betraying his family for his own selfish wants whilst Peter is one of Christs original disciples St Peter, true and steadfast. These Christian parallels have been the subject of controversy most notably the author Philip Pullman referring to the series as “wicked”, and therefore in his own His Dark Materials trilogy rewriting much of his what he despises in Narnia. For me though, Lewis has created in Narnia a portal for the imagination, for what is possible through narrative and character; as an adult I recognise signs and symbols which were not relevant to me as a child, but it was the idea of Narnia that inspired me to get reading and to use my imagination.
