Narnia

I drew this map in coloured inks when I was 20. The larger text was created using Letraset transfers. The images are, of course, strongly based on Pauline Baynes' illustrations in the Narnia books. The original now resides in Alaska and has become somewhat of a family icon.

Image copyright Puffin Books

Coincidentally, but unknown to me at the time, Pauline created the above equivalent in the same year.

I suppose that a person's character is a smörgåsbord of their upbringing, beliefs, experiences and circumstances, relationships especially those in their formative years, and quotes. By "quotes" I mean that certain concepts we learn from others, for example when we read and appreciate a book, "stick" in our consciousness and become a part of our soul. Of course this effect is not restricted only to books but, of books, some are more "quotable" than others. Such quotes may be little more than amusing, anecdotal, but others can be life changing.

Narnia is important to me because the seven books that define Narnia are so richly quotable and have indeed changed my life.

What amazes me is the simple and unpretentious clarity with which Lewis describes foundational Christian truth, especially given his tendency toward high church. He had the gift of being able to cut through nonsense and get the pith of any matter.

My father was similarly infatuated with the stories and it was he, of course, who introduced Narnia to us children and I, in turn, have done the same with my children. I have mentioned elsewhere how he added marginal references to Bible verses in his copy of the books, and my surprise as to just how many references he was able to make.

I remember very clearly the day my father informed us that Lewis had died.

For what it is worth, my life bears some correlation with Narnia - the books were written around the time of my birth, both Lewis and I lived in Belfast, both of us went to Oxford. It stops about there: he was not a physicist and I wish, how I wish, that I could use language the way he did.

Narnia is now such a household word that you would think people hardly need introduction to it although there are surprisingly many people around, Christians too, who have not read the books.

While the title of this page is "Narnia" of course I do not mean to rule out Lewis' other writings of which I particularly love "Till we have faces", the Ransom trilogy and "The great divorce". In the latter MacDonald is the narrator's mentor, and in "Surprised by joy" Lewis refers to the importance of his faerie romance Phantasties. Indeed Lewis admits that, of MacDonald "I have never concealed the fact that I regarded him as my master; indeed I fancy I have never written a book in which I did not quote from him."

This knowledge drove me to drink at the MacDonald fountain and for years I searched in vain for a copy of Phantasties until at last my son found and sent it to me. Of course you can now download it for free as an ebook. MacDonald also had that ability to expose the pith, and was not concerned about standing against the flow of public opinion in upholding what he believed to be the truth. Such a quality is refreshing.