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Year of the Classics: Chachic Goes through the Wardrobe to Narnia

3/18/2012

15 Comments

 
Narnia front page
                                                                          


 Year of the Classics: Chachic from Chachic's Book Nook Talks about The Chronicles of Narnia

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:
Front of omnibus Narnia edition and postcards
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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. 
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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!
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15 Comments
Catie (The Readventurer) link
3/18/2012 05:30:25 am

Chachic, that omnibus that you ordered (accidentally) is GORGEOUS! To my great shame, I still haven't read The Last Battle (even though I've read ALL the other ones!). Someday, someday...

Thanks so much for hanging out with us this week! And now to head over to the Book Nook for a little Marchetta Madness. :)

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Chachic link
3/18/2012 09:54:11 am

Catie, you want me to start chanting "The Last Battle! The Last Battle!" to encourage you to read it? :P And yes, I think my copy is beautiful! Although it's hard to lug it around because it's huge.

Yay, thanks for checking out the Marchetta Madness posts. I may be biased but I think it's off to a great start.

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Sam @ Realm of Fiction link
3/18/2012 09:07:34 am

Brilliant post! I'm not much of a classics reader myself but I absolutely love C.S. Lewis's books. I've read all the Narnia books and love them all, especially Voyage of the Dawn Treader. I feel a re-read coming on... ;)

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Chachic link
3/18/2012 09:55:29 am

Sam, have you seen the Dawn Treader movie? I just remembered that I haven't seen it yet. If I had to choose a favorite, it would probably be The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. :)

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Chachic link
3/18/2012 09:42:58 am

Flann, thanks for inviting me to do a Year of the Classics guest post AND suggesting that I write about the Narnia books. It was fun to look back on how much I love this series. :) Also had fun taking those pictures.

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Tina link
3/18/2012 11:40:48 am

Wow that's a beautiful version! :) I have a boxed set but it's the cheap paperback version -- I'd love to have a copy like this too.

Anyway, I only really started reading Narnia the past year -- I wasn't able to read this in school or when I was kid for some reason. :( I'm really liking Narnia now, and I think it's different when you read it when you're young and when you're older. I like that I am reading it now because I think I see what Lewis wants to say. :)

Like I said in one review, I think every household with book lovers should have a copy of Narnia at home. When I have kids, I'm making sure they read this. :)

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Chachic link
3/19/2012 08:11:20 pm

I agree, Tina, it would be nice for all book lovers to read the Narnia books. They're very easy to get into and they're great for kids. Can't wait for my godson to grow a bit older so he can start enjoying these books.

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Maja link
3/18/2012 06:50:56 pm

I find it interesting how kids here (in most of the Europe) are oriented towards completely different classic. I don't think most children in Croatia would even know about The Chronicles of Narnia if not for the movies. I certainly didn't until i was old enough to discover them for myself.

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Chachic link
3/19/2012 08:09:27 pm

Maja, I find things like that interesting as well. What are the children's classics that are most popular in Croatia? Hmm I'm not even sure if Narnia is popular in general here in the Philippines - it's just that I read ALL THE BOOKS that our grade school library had (and they really didn't have a lot).

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jowearsoldcoats link
3/18/2012 09:15:59 pm

I've only ever read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. I've always wanted to go and read them all though.

The book is stunning, Chachic. I love coffee table books. Knowing me I'd spill something on it! :)

I love this post!

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Chachic link
3/19/2012 08:07:34 pm

Jo, hope you get to read the other books soon! What did you think of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe?

I like pretty books too although I'm always afraid that I will just get them dirty. :P I only have a couple of beautiful books because they're also quite pricey.

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Tatiana (The Readventurer) link
3/19/2012 01:46:51 am

What a gorgeous book you have! I wish I had that when I was young. My books were cheap paperback with no pictures, and yet I was in love with them. Narnia books don't have the same effect on me now, but still, sweet memories.

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Chachic link
3/19/2012 08:05:49 pm

I couldn't even remember the editions of the Narnia books that I borrowed from my grade school library - I'm pretty sure it didn't have any pictures. So I think we don't need the pictures to fall in love with the stories (although they do help). :) Wonder what I'll think of them now if I do a reread?

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Jasprit link
3/20/2012 12:50:00 am

That copy of Narnia is gorgeous and the illustrations are so beautiful! I have to confess that I haven't read the Narnia books, I can't even remember them being read in class! We were just read Roahl Dahl's books or Macbeth. I've seen the films though and Prince Caspian has to be absolute favourite! I should try and get into the book, but I found that once I'd seen the first film, I couldn't get into the book.

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Heidi link
3/21/2012 04:40:50 am

Yay Chachic! I'm sorry I'm just getting around to this post now, it's been open as a tab in my browser for several days now waiting for attention. I'm so happy that you shared your thoughts of Narnia! It's probably not what would have popped to mind for me if I was asked to write about 'classics' either, but it completely fits! Your omnibus edition is beautiful, I love all of the illustrations! I purchased an omnibus edition several years ago for my mom, and it's not nearly so pretty. I think that these might have been the first books I ever reread. I used to be very anti-rereading because it seemed like a waste of time. Now I reread my favorite books all of the time!

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