The Chronicles of Narnia

The Chronicles of Narnia is a series of seven fantasy novels for children written by C. S. Lewis. They present the adventures of children who play central roles in the unfolding history of the realm of Narnia, where some animals talk, magic is common, and good is fighting evil. The books are also known for their illustrations by Pauline Baynes. The stories illustrate aspects of Christianity in a way that is accessible to younger children.

Christian parallels

Although the books contain allusions to Christian ideas, an allegorical reading of these books is quite confusing and reductionist. In the process of writing his fantasy works, Lewis (an adult convert to Christianity) eventually came to incorporate some elements of Christian theological concepts into the stories in a way that was accessible to the average reader.

Related Topics:
Christian - Reductionist - Christian theological concepts

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In this Lewis succeeds; The Chronicles of Narnia have become favourites with both children and adults. The books are not weighty, and can be read for their adventure, colour, and mythological ideas without concern for the Christian issues. Lewis maintained that the books were not allegorical, and preferred to call the Christian aspects of them "suppositional". This is similar to what we would now call alternative history.

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One of Lewis' early academic publications was The Allegory of Love (1936), about medieval allegories of courtly love. Consequently he kept a strict definition of allegory. As he states in one letter:

Related Topics:
The Allegory of Love - 1936

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:"If Aslan represented the immaterial Deity in the same way in which Giant Despair represents despair, he would be an allegorical figure. In reality however he is an invention giving an imaginary answer to the question, ‘What might Christ become like, if there really were a world like Narnia and He chose to be incarnate and die and rise again in that world as He actually has done in ours?’ This is not allegory at all."

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In Of Other Worlds Lewis dispels the myth that he originally fashioned the stories for the purpose of demonstrating Christian principles:

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:"Some people seem to think that I began by asking myself how I could say something about Christianity to children; then fixed on the fairy tale as an instrument, then collected information about child psychology and decided what age group I'd write for; then drew up a list of basic Christian truths and hammered out "allegories" to embody them. This is all pure moonshine. I couldn't write in that way. It all began with images; a faun carrying an umbrella, a queen on a sledge, a magnificent lion. At first there wasn't anything Christian about them; that element pushed itself in of its own accord."

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