Figure 1.--One of the books in the Narnia series is Prince Caspian. The line illustration here in the original book is by Pauline Baynes. |
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C.S. Lewis created a wonderful fantasy land filled with wonder and chalenging adventure which he named Narnia.Readers of course entered it through the back of the wardrobe which werdea t the time common in closerless houses. Today modern children may not even know what a wardrobe is. Nonetheless the imaginative diversity of beings populating Narnia will appeal to modern children. They are a mixed lot, some realistic, some derived from well-known myths and legends, and others purelu imaginative. 'The Chronicles of Narnia' are not unlike Tolkiens 'middle earth' where the classic battle of good versus evil is fought over in epic proportions in a fantasy setting.
C.S. Lewis is very well known author who's fantasy stories have been compared to Tolkien. He lived in the first half of the 20th century and was a renowned academic. Lewis was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland in 1898. His father was Albert Lewis, a lawyer, and his mother Flora Hamilton Lewis. He had an brother 3 years older named Warren Hamilton and was called Warnie. C.S was known as Jack. Lewis describes a happy and carefree early childhood. Theircfather made a comfortable income and they lived in ahome called Little Lea, a large, gabled house with dark narrow passages which was great for games and adventures by small children. Rathrer than closets, the home had wardrobes. There was also an overgrown garden which the children loved.There was also a well-stocked library. Two especially fvorite books were Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson and The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett. Jack's idyllic boyhood ended when his mother dued of cancer in 1908. Their father sent the boys a month later off to boarding school in England. Jack hated it, especially the strict rules. The school had a stern, unfriendly headmaster. The school closed in 1910 and the boys returned to Belfast. A year later Jackn was sent to another school in England whichb he liked much better. He developed a special ingterest in poetry. Good at languages hee read Virgil and Homer. He mastered modern languages as well, including French, German, and Italian. Lewis entered University College in 1916. It was a prestigious school the oldest college (founded 1249) at Oxford. Britain was at war and Lewuis felt compeled to volunteer for military service and fought in thectrenches on the Western Front. Unlike many, he survived the War. He returned to Oxford and resumed his studies in 1918. He graduated graduating with first-class honors in Greek and Latin Literature, Philosophy and Ancient History, and English Literature in 1925. Lewis was appointed to a teaching post in English at Magdalen College, Oxford where he remained for 29 years. He leftv Oxford in 1955 to become a professor of medieval and renaissance literature at Magdalene College, Cambridge, in 1955. While to the general public heis best known for his Narnia Chroinicles, he published many erudite books on Christian theology and ethics. His relationship with American poet Joy Davidman was written up as a play--Shdowlands.
C.S. Lewis created a wonderful fantasy land filled with wonder and chalenging adventure which he named Narnia.Readers of course entered it through the back of the wardrobe which werdea t the time common in closerless houses. Today modern children may not even know what a wardrobe is. Nonetheless the imaginative diversity of beings populating Narnia will appeal to modern children. They are a mixed lot, some realistic, some derived from well-known myths and legends, and others purelu imaginative. 'The Chronicles of Narnia' are not unlike Tolkiens 'middle earth' where the classic battle of good versus evil is fought over in epic proportions in a fantasy setting. It is covered over several stories. Amongst others are 'The Magician's Nephew' and 'The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe'. Lewis uses anthroiporformism with the animals taking on human characteristics and can speak--often used in Disney movies, children's stories and elsewhere. Such is the case in Lewis's stories where animals converse with the characters. This is of course a popular approach in children's literature.
There are seven books in Lewis' Narnia Chronicles.: THE MAGICIAN'S NEPHEW; THE LION,
THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE; THE HORSE AND HIS BOY; PRINCE CASPIAN; THE VOYAGE OF THE DAWN
TREADER; THE SILVER CHAIR; and THE LAST BATTLE.
The basic plot involves four children traveling repeatedly back and forth from a world reached through their wardrobe--Narnia. The children in Narnia are transformed. They are no more mere children and everything in Narnia is odten more than it seems. Narnia itself is filled with a wide range of fascinating characters. The children encounter great obstacles and are chalenged by the dark forces of evil.
Lewis is a spell-binding story teller. Children will be attracyed by the advebnture and wimsey. The Chronickes are, however, mych more than a children's fairytale. The books are deeply allegorical whichb can only be fully understood by the adult reader.
One especially evocative cover was a fine example of the airbrush technique which was made so popular by artists such as Steve Howe and Stanley Mathews on LP covers during the 1970s and 80s. (Genesis, Yes, Nazareth and so on). I am not sure who the artist was. Other illustrators who have worked oin Narnia include D'Achille and Pauline Baynes. The line illustration here is the work of Baynes.
This is the first major production of the classic C.S. Lewis novel, "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe". The film was directed by Andrew Adamson and was released in 2005. The story concerns four siblings (children of Penvensie family) who are sent away to the country to live with an eccentric professor during the World War II Blitz of London. The children are Lucy, age 9 (played by Georgie Henley), Edmund, age 11 (played by Skandar Keynes), Susan, age 12 (played by Anne Popplewell), and Peter, age 14 (played by William Moseley). All the children are beautifully played. This was a very popular children's book in Britain, but less familiar to American children. There have been TV productions of the book, but with rather ameturish special effects. This film has the sophisticated special affects needed to bring the Lewis story to life.
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