Lion, Witch, Wardrobe (1950) by CS Lewis
With the blockbuster film in the pipe, I thought I'd revisit this novel from my youth. When I first read this book the christian subtext was irrelevant to me (I was unaware of it)
Of course, the story is familiar to most. Four young English children sent to wait out the Blitz at a country house discover an alternate world reached through an old wardrobe. Lucy meets Mr. Tumnus, a faun, who is good and gentle but Edmund meets the White Witch who seduces him with Turkish Delight.
Upon all the childrens return to Narnia, they find Mr. Tumnus missing and they set off to meet up with Aslan, the rumoured savior of Narnia. Edmund has joined the evil White Witch but soon realizes her ways are wrong. Aslan tells the kids they are to become the Kings and Queens of Narnia. Finally, Aslan has to sacrifice his own life to save that of Edmund but he is ultimately resurrected. Huzzah! The children become the rulers of Narnia for years and while hunting the White Stag one day they come back through the wardrobe and are children again in England.
Reading this book again I was pleased to find that the overtly christian themes of betrayal, death, resurrection and redemption did not detract from it being a well written fantasy story. I hope that my children might one day want to read these books.
2 comments:
What do you do all day - just read? Man, I am struggling to get 20 books in the bag this year and you're well on your way to 50. Nice work villager.
I know! I was almost up to him, but that's just because he was away from the computer and hadn't updated. He jumped from 30 to 35 in a couple of days. Impressive.
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