Mirrors, Wardrobes, and Other Magical Worlds

[tEN]

For all your magical world reachable only by a strange portal needs, whether the allegory be religious or mathematical.

 

[BookishWyrm]

Spoiler: Relevant

 

[tEN]

Sidenote: Fillory is fucked up.

 

[The MMR]

Since this apparently moved to a different thread, I post this here rather than there:

The MMR the chronological order is vital for a complete and nuanced understanding of both the characters and events of Narnia.

The publication order is a mere accident of happenstance, and one which Lewis himself deliberately endeavored to correct.

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I WILL FIGHT YOU. I WILL FIGHT YOU UNTIL YOU DIE.

But seriously, I don't care about what Lewis said. To steal from another source:

The case for reading the books in published order includes the following:
1: The Lion is presented very much as the first of a series. It concludes with the words 'That is the very end of the adventure of the wardrobe. But if the Professor was right, it was only the beginning of the adventures of Narnia.' The 'second' book, Prince Caspian, is subtitled 'The Return to Narnia.'
2: The narrator of The Lion says 'None of the children knew who Aslan was, any more than you do.' But if 'you' are supposed to have read The Magician's Nephew, then you do know who Aslan was.
3: The charm of the opening of The Lion is spoiled if you already know, from Magician's Nephew, that the wardrobe is magical; that the Professor has been to Narnia, and why there is a street lamp in Narnia. Similarly, the 'shock of recognition' in Magician's Nephew is spoiled if you don't know the significance of the wardrobe.
4: Why should The Horse and His Boy, which happens during the final chapter of The Lion, be set after it? Could an equally valid case not be made for saying that it should be set after The Silver Chair where it is presented as a story-within-a-story?

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The chronological order is, yes, chronological, but it is not The Right And Proper Order To Be Read, especially not on the first read-through.

 

[Ugolino]

The alleged King in the Last Battle is an incompetent idiot.

 

[tEN]

Since this apparently moved to a different thread, I post this here rather than there:



I WILL FIGHT YOU. I WILL FIGHT YOU UNTIL YOU DIE.

But seriously, I don't care about what Lewis said. To steal from another source:



The chronological order is, yes, chronological, but it is not The Right And Proper Order To Be Read, especially not on the first read-through.

Click to shrink...

If you're reading it as a collection of fairy stories with a shared background, Last Battle ought to be thrown in the rubbish. It is a capstone, and a finale. Without the strict progression of the chronological order, the book changes from a closing of the curtains and a shutting off of the lights to a collection of pointless cruelty and death. Whatever order you want to read the other six in is correct, but if you want to read all seven it must be in the chronological order. I will, however, hear an argument for the written order, presupposing you place Magicians Nephew in the second slot where it had its false start. Strangely enough, this maintains an odd sort of balance between the magic of the fairy story and the structure of the history, much in the same way that watching Star Wars in the Machete Order works.

 

[Dakkaface]

If you're reading it as a collection of fairy stories with a shared background, Last Battle ought to be thrown in the rubbish. It is a capstone, and a finale. Without the strict progression of the chronological order, the book changes from a closing of the curtains and a shutting off of the lights to a collection of pointless cruelty and death. Whatever order you want to read the other six in is correct, but if you want to read all seven it must be in the chronological order. I will, however, hear an argument for the written order, presupposing you place Magicians Nephew in the second slot where it had its false start. Strangely enough, this maintains an odd sort of balance between the magic of the fairy story and the structure of the history, much in the same way that watching Star Wars in the Machete Order works.

Click to shrink...

I'm mostly with The MMR on this. Publication order or written order is fine - chronological is right out for the same reason that trying to do Star Wars in chronological order sucks - it gives the game away in Wardrobe due to revelations in Nephew the same way that RotS gives away the twist in Empire. I read the series at around 8-9 years old, and didn't have any problems with the anarchic order of the fifth and sixth books.