Summer of Lewis

The night I was on a plane over the Atlantic, Prince Caspian premiered in America. For four weeks, I probably didn't go more than a day or two without mentioning how much I wanted to see it. Every now and then I would check surfthechannel.com or tv-links.cc to see if it was available--it was each time--but I knew I would never watch it bootleg on a scratchy internet connection.

Though I didn't even take myself seriously half the times I said that Prince Caspian was number 1 on my to-do list for when I got back to the States, I did go see it the day after I got back. Not even a full 24 hours had passed since I landed in Columbia to when I bought my ticket! There were a few major changes, one subplot in particular, from the book to the film. I vaguely expected to be annoyed, even angered by the changes from the book I loved so much, but I was utterly swept away by the movie. I knew the new subplot (nope, I won't be writing any spoilers) and other changes had not been taken lightly by the actors or the crew, and they were changes I understood. I am intrigued to see how the changes Disney and Walden made to Prince Caspian will affect the next movie they plan: Voyage of the Dawn-Treader.

I just finished the Dawn-Treader today-- I loved it, of course. I read the Narnia books as a child in a haphazard order with little attention to more than the plot, and certainly without the critical eye (in the literary sense) that I have today, nor an appreciation for the religious symbolism and allegory. So I have been rereading the series from beginning to end this summer. I even reread the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, which is the one I've read so many times since childhood. In Ireland, I read The Horse and His Boy, and reread Prince Caspian.

Next is the Silver Chair, of which I remember very little from my childhood reading. Though Eustace isn't my favorite character, I did grow fond of him after finishing Dawn-Treader. I'm excited to revisit his story and meet Jill again.

I'm wary to approach The Last Battle again. I remember it broke my heart as child, because I was too distracted by Peter's words about Susan to see the beauty in the ending. But I read a remark from C.S. Lewis himself on her:

"The books don't tell us what happened to Susan. She is left alive in this world at the end, having by then turned into a rather silly, conceited young woman. But there's plenty of time for her to mend and perhaps she will get to Aslan's country in the end... in her own way."

Lewis wrote this in his Letters to Children. Lewis's remark makes it unmistakably clear that she either survived or was not involved in the train crash, but is the lone Pevensie left in the world after it. I tend imagine the process of grieving would have been harsh and long, but that when she was lonely and old enough to be a child again, she would, like Lewis said, mend, and get to Aslan and the others. Her story is not a tragedy because it is not finished, and that is the greatest hope for Susan.

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The Narnia series will always be dear to me, but this summer, I'm not just revisiting Narnia but studying Lewis' other works as well, such as Mere Christianity and others. These are more difficult, but I take joy in reading these works as well. Leaving the glitter of fantasy for gritty reality is much like leaving Narnia for England, I suppose.

On that note, one of my favorite moments in all of Narnia-verse came at the end of The Dawn-Treader. Aslan tells Edmund and Lucy that they will not be returning to Narnia.

"You are too old, children," said Aslan, "and you must begin to come close to your own world now."

"It isn't Narnia, you know," sobbed Lucy. "It's you. We shan't meet you there. And how can we live, never meeting you?"

"But you shall meet me, dear one," said Aslan.

"Are-- are you there too, Sir?" said Edmund.

"I am," said Aslan. "But there I have another name. You must learn to know me by that name. This was the very reason why you were brought to Narnia, that by knowing me here for a little, you may know me better there."