Into the Wardrobe: C S Lewis and the Narnia Chronicles

The release of the first Narnia film just before Christmas resulted not only in a flood of related T-shirts, stickers and plastic dolls. Publisher after publisher cashed in with picture books of the film, guides to Narnia and biographies of Lewis. Professor Downing blends the latter two approaches in his short but scholarly work.

After an introductory biographical chapter, he follows a thematic path that leads him to consider the genesis of the seven stories, their spiritual vision and the morality they teach. These chapters are followed by analyses of Lewis’s classical and medieval references and his literary style. Assuming knowledge of the entire saga, it is a book for fans and Christian ones at that. As Downing says, Lewis may have dismissed as ‘moonshine’ the idea that he set out to write a Christian allegory, but he rapidly saw how he might develop the theology.

He explains that the latent racism and sexism in the books were ‘orthodox’ for an Oxford don at the time of writing and also why someone like Lewis should have bothered to tackle such a ‘humble’ genre as children’s fiction. And nearly 80 pages of this volume are devoted to notes and a glossary of ‘unusual terms’. We are told that Sherlock Holmes was a fictional detective, St Paul’s is a cathedral, a dais is a raised platform and a pillar box is a pillar-shaped mailbox. Yes, this is a book for Christian fans of the saga who also happen to be American and unread.