The Chronicles of Narnia: The Magician's Nephew

[starlady]

So I'm rereading the seven Chronicles of Narnia, in internal chronological order. It's been probably a dozen years since I read all of these books, and in the following entries my thoughts are a jumble of reactions on at least four levels: Watsonian, Doylist, and fannish of both a critical and laudatory variety. I loved these books as a child, and I still do; it's still possible for me to access, dimly, the spirit of following the author's lead in which I first read them in fourth grade, but that doesn't preclude criticism, not anymore at least; like so many other books of children's fantasy, I do find them in some ways flawed, or at least, they're not everything I want them to be on the page. So, you know, depending on your reaction to Narnia, you may just want to look at this cat macro instead. But I shall do my best to be honest about my own reactions, and the reasons behind them.

Lewis, C.S. The Magician's Nephew. New York: Harper Collins, 1994. [1955]

I used to think that this was my favorite of the Narnia books, and though I'm withholding judgment on that now until I've reread all seven, I can see why I liked this one so much; I think it still might be my favorite in the end. swan_tower asked me why I thought that, and what I told her at the time was what I liked about it this time too: I find Jadis' backstory, and Jadis herself, to be fascinating (I bet her sister was just as titanic), and the bits about the creation of Narnia, and Polly and Diggory wandering around in the Wood Between the Worlds (Polly names it that, incidentally), and Uncle Andrew being such an idiot, and most of all the fact that Diggory's mother is dying, and he makes the choice he does anyway, and is rewarded for it, beyond thought and hope--I still find that interesting and affecting.

This time around I also noticed how Polly Plummer is MADE OF AWESOME; I also noticed the, well, preachiness (and also classism) that Lewis indulges in at times, particularly via Aslan, to say nothing of Uncle Andrew's greedy, colonialist impulses, and the implication of the Kirke family in British imperialism via India and the Raj. Also too this time I noticed that the Narnia books canonically take place in Sherlock Holmes' world, which is just screaming for a well-done crossover fic, preferably with Holmes getting the better of Uncle Andrew, who I actually despise a lot more now. But this is clearly the most Tolkienic of the Narnia books, and as a kid I was fascinated with the worldbuilding of Middle-Earth; around the same time that I read the Narnia books (fourth grade) I devoured the books of Tolkien's published papers despite not really fully understanding what was going on in them ever, and there are some things in TMN that simply have to have come by way of conversations with Tolkien, particularly the Trees of Gold and Silver (and the guardian white Tree) that are briefly mentioned before Frank and Helen's coronation. I enjoy it when books link up to each other, and I've always enjoyed knowing the origins of things (is it surprising that I am now going for a history Ph.D.? No it is not), and this book was explicitly written to link up to the later ones and to provide an origin story for Narnia, and I love it for that. It's probably best not to peek too far behind the 'creation by the Lion in a day' curtain, but even on this side of that barrier, it's a memorable story.

I was talking with my roommate about Narnia, and she pointed out that Jadis and the White Witch aren't terribly similar characters, which I hadn't really considered before but which I think is definitely true to an extent. Jadis in TMN is, well, passionate in a way--darkly, cruelly passionate, but passionate all the same, whereas the Witch is so--frozen. You can see it in their coloring, even, and Lewis does a decent job of lampshading the differences between them by having Jadis eat the apple wrongfully, but the White Witch has swallowed Winter, to borrow Michelle West's phrasing, in a way that Jadis hasn't and the apple doesn't account for in-text. More than anything, it's interesting to consider that Lewis thought that Jadis was the alpha point for the Witch.

Comments

[recessional]

who are a son of Adam and a daughter of Eve, why they children of Adam and Eve themselves?

Because they intermarried with naiads and river-gods, as they couldn't marry each other (incest). So much like Jadis is not a Daughter of Eve (being descended from Lilith), the "humans" of Narnia aren't Sons and Daughters of Adam and Eve because they're descended from non-humans as well.

Conversely, the Telmarines fell into Narnia as a whole society, men and women both, and then stayed isolated and insular, so their stock remained solely human.

[starlady]

Oh yeah, good point. Though of course there aren't any humans left in Narnia at the end of the Winter.

[recessional]

Yeah, here "Narnia" is referring to the whole world rather than merely the country. It's always frustrated me that there aren't separate world-and-country names for that one. :|

This of course begs the slight question as to how Frank and Helen's grandchildren were allowed to reign in Narnia before the Winter, but you could handwave that one as, there being no threat, it wasn't quite such a Big Deal. Or even as part of why the Witch could invade: with no true Son of Adam or Daughter of Eve on the throne, she had as much claim as any.

[starlady]

Ah, okay, right. I think that explanation does make sense in-world, but I think my fanon explanation for it is that as well as being human (Sons & Daughters) there's also a blood-right aspect, the same as any monarchy, and that when Frank & Helen's line fails, there's no one in Archenland who fits the four thrones requirement--in other words, possible intermarriage with non-humans doesn't obviate the Sons & Daughters thing. The Calormenes are excluded in TLB since they don't have that blood-right of Caspian's line, but Caspian can reign because he is a Son and because he's been bestowed the blood-right by Aslan, under Peter.

I mean, we're basically on completely fanon ground here, but I think the Witch probably killed the Tree and then went after the realm. Basically, cofax7's The Last Defense of Cair Paravel is my default assumptions about how the Winter started.

[epershand]

Yeah, I always assumed that the downfall of Frank and Helen's line was what allowed her to come back. Or possibly that she arranged it from afar. Now that's a story I'd like to read....

[epershand]

But there are at least partial humans just over the border in Archenland! I have also never understood the magical detectors the Narnians have for Sons of Adam and Daughters of Eve. Why didn't Tumnus et al. just assume that Lucy was a lost Archenlander? The Doylist in me says "ugh, all the retcon in A Horse and His Boy." The Watsonian continues searching for an answer and is unsatified.

[starlady]

Oh yeah, it's totally a hodgepodge. My own personal Watsonian explanation is that no one from Archenland or wherever has gotten in without the Witch's say-so since the Winter began, or if they have, they were summarily killed. And if no one fit the four thrones requirement in Cair Paravel, and Narnia was known to be ruled by the Witch, then there'd be precious little reason to try. Particularly if the Witch made any sort of threats or demonstrations of her power.

[epershand]

Ah, that makes a lot of sense. The Telmerines' cultural insularity ironically helped them fit into the traditional ruling class of Narnia even as it kept them from finding out about Narnia's traditions and what they were.