Libraries NI Just Jillian blog: The Chronicles of Narnia

The Chronicles of Narnia

Click on the play button for the audio version of this post.

I came to the Narnia stories late only reading them in my early teens. I had little knowledge then of the author’s connections with Belfast and NI but was easily caught up in the legend of Aslan the compassionate, loving but fiercesome lion whose elusive presence dominates the fantasy series.

I, like many other youngsters, love to read everything written by a newly discovered author and was frustrated to find that he had not written any other novels for young people, with most of his books being non fiction, but I did find out that he had also written a trilogy of science fiction novels, Out of a Silent Planet, Perelandra and That Hideous Strength. Not being a SF fan it took me a while to get round to them but I quite enjoyed them. Having revisited them recently they seem very dated when compared with the modern SF/Fantasy genre which have absorbed the vast advances in world building and science that have occurred since the 1930s when the trilogy was written. The Narnia stories where not published until the 1950s

Interestingly, the SF trilogy, as well as the Narnia series, where conceived during the period of time when the author C S (Jack) Lewis was meeting regularly with a group called the Inklings in Oxford University. They were literary enthusiasts who valued the use of narrative in fiction and encouraged the writing of fantasy and the creation of fantastical worlds. Their number included JRR Tolkien who went on brilliantly to write first The Hobbit – aimed at children, then developing the age range of his audience through the epic Lord of the Rings. You can see how much Jack Lewis was influenced by his connection to them in his early writing but interesting to note that Jack never returned to writing children’s fantasy or science fiction after. It served as a stepping stone for him to write for the adult audience that he was more used to.

The Narnia stories, and Aslan. have captured generations of children’s imagination over the years with interest in the adventures of the Pevensey children being sparked again and again by a number of screen productions including a series on the BBC in 1988 and films released in 2005-2008.

Now a new series is being released on Netflix soon and hopefully it will inspire another generation of children to embrace the magical world of Narnia on screen –as well as turning them back to the source material which has stood the test of time – the 7 titles which make up the Narnia series. I think it is important to make sure that these books are kept to the forefront of our childrens’ reading as Narnia is a significant part of our cultural heritage. They are great for bedtime stories – and even if you think your child is too old to be read to, it is worth trying it.