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I'm not much of a classics reader. When Flannery first asked me to write a post about classics for The Readventurer, I told her I couldn't think of anything that I'd like to talk about. She then pointed out that the Narnia Chronicles is in my list of favorites and I realized that it would be easy to share my thoughts about C.S. Lewis' most popular series. I first found out about the Narnia novels in grade school because our school library had copies of some of the books. I remember falling in love with the series even though I wasn't able to read all of the books. I even tried to convince my grade school friend to read the books by constantly chanting, "The Last Battle! The Last Battle!" in between classes. I don't think I was able to convince her.
I was finally able to read all of the Narnia books back in high school, when my dad gave in and let me order a copy through Amazon. Now, ordering from Amazon is pretty expensive because usually shipping costs just as much (if not more than) the book that you ordered. So I made sure that the books that I ordered were not locally available (bookstores in the Philippines back then weren't so great) and they were books that I really wanted. I ordered a complete set of the Narnia Chronicles together with a boxed set of The Lord of The Rings. I didn't even know it was an omnibus edition until it arrived. I regret nothing though because it's a beautiful copy. Here, I even took some pictures so you can see them:
I was finally able to read all of the Narnia books back in high school, when my dad gave in and let me order a copy through Amazon. Now, ordering from Amazon is pretty expensive because usually shipping costs just as much (if not more than) the book that you ordered. So I made sure that the books that I ordered were not locally available (bookstores in the Philippines back then weren't so great) and they were books that I really wanted. I ordered a complete set of the Narnia Chronicles together with a boxed set of The Lord of The Rings. I didn't even know it was an omnibus edition until it arrived. I regret nothing though because it's a beautiful copy. Here, I even took some pictures so you can see them:
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I love how the cover features a map of Narnia. There are also several maps included inside the book:
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While going through some old files, I found a paper that I wrote for a philosophy class in college relating The Narnia Chronicles to our lesson. I'm sharing a snippet here because I find it funny that I wrote about one of my favorite books for a class:
"It wasn’t until I recently read the Narnia books again that I came to understand that C.S. Lewis is trying to re-create what the religious feel about the Holy. Narnia experiences can best be understood using discussions involving Otto’s Mysterium-Tremendum-Fascinosum and Marcel’s idea of hope."
And I proceeded to give specific examples to show how Narnia is C.S. Lewis’ way of spreading the God story the way he understood it. Here's another snippet:
"In Narnia, Aslan is the King of the wood, the son of the great Emperor-beyond-the-Sea, which can be compared to the Wholly Other for us. He is the creator, the savior, the absolute being. Otto describes the religious experience of the Holy as something that fills the believer with tremor and fascination. This can be applied to Aslan who seems terrifying at times, being a ferocious lion and all that but he can also be as playful as a large cat. Another aspect of the Holy or the numen is that we only have the courage to view the Holy through the vantage point of our finitude, because the Holy lies beyond our comprehension. This is repeatedly seen across the whole span of the chronicles. People in Narnia did not question Aslan’s actions nor did they seek to understand him as anything but something that lies beyond what they understand. The mere mention of his name already evokes feelings that people have no way of understanding. When his name is first mentioned by the Beavers to the four Pevensie children, they felt a strange feeling come over them. Without knowing why, they longed to see him yet at the same time, were afraid of the prospect of doing so. He comes and goes as he pleases because after all, it’s not as if he is a tame lion. The Mysterium aspect of the human experience of the Holy involves the Wholly Other as something that is beyond the sphere of familiar and fills us with blank wonder and astonishment."
What the heck was I talking about back then?! I can't even remember. I'm sure it made perfect sense while I was writing it. I have no idea what grade I got for the paper though since I only have an electronic copy. I believe it was a philosophy of religion class. I just love that I've reread the series several times since I first discovered it - I think that's the mark of a true favorite: how you can still enjoy reading the book over and over again.
"It wasn’t until I recently read the Narnia books again that I came to understand that C.S. Lewis is trying to re-create what the religious feel about the Holy. Narnia experiences can best be understood using discussions involving Otto’s Mysterium-Tremendum-Fascinosum and Marcel’s idea of hope."
And I proceeded to give specific examples to show how Narnia is C.S. Lewis’ way of spreading the God story the way he understood it. Here's another snippet:
"In Narnia, Aslan is the King of the wood, the son of the great Emperor-beyond-the-Sea, which can be compared to the Wholly Other for us. He is the creator, the savior, the absolute being. Otto describes the religious experience of the Holy as something that fills the believer with tremor and fascination. This can be applied to Aslan who seems terrifying at times, being a ferocious lion and all that but he can also be as playful as a large cat. Another aspect of the Holy or the numen is that we only have the courage to view the Holy through the vantage point of our finitude, because the Holy lies beyond our comprehension. This is repeatedly seen across the whole span of the chronicles. People in Narnia did not question Aslan’s actions nor did they seek to understand him as anything but something that lies beyond what they understand. The mere mention of his name already evokes feelings that people have no way of understanding. When his name is first mentioned by the Beavers to the four Pevensie children, they felt a strange feeling come over them. Without knowing why, they longed to see him yet at the same time, were afraid of the prospect of doing so. He comes and goes as he pleases because after all, it’s not as if he is a tame lion. The Mysterium aspect of the human experience of the Holy involves the Wholly Other as something that is beyond the sphere of familiar and fills us with blank wonder and astonishment."
What the heck was I talking about back then?! I can't even remember. I'm sure it made perfect sense while I was writing it. I have no idea what grade I got for the paper though since I only have an electronic copy. I believe it was a philosophy of religion class. I just love that I've reread the series several times since I first discovered it - I think that's the mark of a true favorite: how you can still enjoy reading the book over and over again.
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Thank you, to The Readventurer for having me here! Feel free to share your thoughts about the Chronicles of Narnia in the comments.
Thanks, Chachic, for sharing some of your experiences with the Narnia books. I'd never seen this edition until you shared pictures and I can just imagine how fascinating it would be for children to pore over its pages. I used to hoard David Macauley and Graeme Base's books because they were large and full of beautiful illustrations. If I'd had this omnibus edition, I probably would've read the entire series and not just The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. And how fun that you had the chance to write about books for your philosophy paper in college. I never got the chance to write about books--all my papers were about history and politics.
Visit Chachic at her blog, Chachic's Book Nook, to read more of her thoughts on books!
Visit Chachic at her blog, Chachic's Book Nook, to read more of her thoughts on books!
