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The Wreckage of Narnia - a failed legacy for our children?

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  • The Wreckage of Narnia - a failed legacy for our children?

    So I have to get this off of my chest.

    Does it bother anyone else that the world has become convinced that The Chronicles of Narnia should be presented in Chronological Order?

    I mean, since 1994, every copy in print goes in this order:

    1. The Magician's Nephew
    2. The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe
    3. The Horse and His Boy
    4. Prince Caspian
    5. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
    6. The Silver Chair
    7. The Last Battle

    This is so very, VERY wrong.

    The correct order, you see, is the order in which they were written and published:

    1. L, W, W.
    2. Caspian
    3. Dawn Treader
    4. Siver Chair
    5. Horse & Boy
    6. Magician's Nephew
    7. Last Battle

    What happened was that C. S. Lewis died. And someone somewhere unearthed a letter in which he was corresponding with a little boy, and the little boy said "I like to read these books in Narnian Chronological order" and C.S. Lewis said "yeah, I like that way too in fact maybe even BETTER than the original way". And so the publishers went "Oh that's the author's PREFERRED publication order!" and changed it.

    Here's the problem - Lewis was talking to a little boy who had ALREADY READ THE SERIES. He already knew all the characters, so reading them out of order wasn't such a problem. However, it WRECKS THE STORY to do so on a first read.

    LWW introduces us to Aslan, the White Witch, and the land of Narnia. The lamp-post, the wardrobe, and all the creatures. It's written from a point of view which encourages the reader to be amazed. It's written as though the reader has no idea who these characters are - and they don't!

    The Magician's Nephew, on the other hand, although it tells how Narnia was created, is written as though the reader already knows who Aslan is, who the White Witch is, and already knows about the lamp post and the wardrobe. It's more of a "ohh, so THAT'S how that got to be that way" book.

    If you read Magician's Nephew first, it wrecks LWW. You don't WONDER about anything. It doesn't make you think.

    And really that's one of my pet peeves - anything that encourages us NOT to think is a BAD thing.

    So then we have the movie - which THANK GOD is the correct first movie to do. But then you have dozens of online review sites going "well they DID choose to do the movies out-of-order, and that's confusing, but it's ok because it's a good story". ARGH!

    So back to my thread title...

    I have, in my possession, an OLD Scholastic version of the Chronicles of Narnia. It's ugly, it came in a little box and was purchased through one of those "buy books through your school and your school makes money" programs when I was in 3rd grade. That makes it nearly 25 years old now. It's falling apart.

    But I can't go buy a nice new leather-bound version, because they're ALL IN THE WRONG ORDER.

    Here I am, trying to build a library of literary classics for my children...
    The Internet - where men are men, women are men, and teenage girls are FBI agents!

    I'm the least you could do
    If only life were as easy as you
    I'm the least you could do, oh yeah
    If only life were as easy as you
    I would still get screwed

  • #2
    Originally posted by Gurm
    So then we have the movie - which THANK GOD is the correct first movie to do. But then you have dozens of online review sites going "well they DID choose to do the movies out-of-order, and that's confusing, but it's ok because it's a good story". ARGH!
    welcome to the internet. Intelligence was checked at the door prior to admission.
    "And yet, after spending 20+ years trying to evolve the user interface into something better, what's the most powerful improvement Apple was able to make? They finally put a god damned shell back in." -jwz

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    • #3
      I don't know this series but I do know that reading the Recluse series in time-chronological order would make it even borier (? more boring) than it is reading them in the order they were published.

      With some series that are written and published in time-chronological order it might even be worthwhile reading the last part first. Take WOT-Jorden, if I'd have read the last published book first I would not have bothered with the earlier ones, and that would have been to my benefit, or Feist, do the riftwar saga as published, then RODK and you simply know that anything in between is not worth while and that reading RODK should be considered a good investment (as it saved you buying the intermediate books).

      What can I say....I can see your point.
      Join MURCs Distributed Computing effort for Rosetta@Home and help fight Alzheimers, Cancer, Mad Cow disease and rising oil prices.
      [...]the pervading principle and abiding test of good breeding is the requirement of a substantial and patent waste of time. - Veblen

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      • #4
        So, uhm, are these books nice?
        Join MURCs Distributed Computing effort for Rosetta@Home and help fight Alzheimers, Cancer, Mad Cow disease and rising oil prices.
        [...]the pervading principle and abiding test of good breeding is the requirement of a substantial and patent waste of time. - Veblen

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        • #5
          This makes perfect sense. Who would want to read the Polgara and Belgarath addenda before the Belgariad and Malloreon? It would ruin the whole thing and be uninteresting to the uninitiated, though the events are essentially a prequel. Sounds like about the same situation.
          Last edited by KvHagedorn; 9 May 2005, 16:54.

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          • #6
            Originally posted by Gurm
            ...
            And really that's one of my pet peeves - anything that encourages us NOT to think is a BAD thing.
            ...
            Does that include BEER?
            Chuck
            秋音的爸爸

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            • #7


              You could always order a box set and change the order of the books yourself. As long as the books aren't numbered it's no big deal. Though if the giant leather bound edition you're talking about is in one huge volume, or numbered, then yes I can see that being an issue.

              Jammrock
              “Inside every sane person there’s a madman struggling to get out”
              –The Light Fantastic, Terry Pratchett

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              • #8
                The box set you linked to are numbered. Nothing a bit of paper, a pen and scotch tape can't solve. But it does ruin the sight.
                Join MURCs Distributed Computing effort for Rosetta@Home and help fight Alzheimers, Cancer, Mad Cow disease and rising oil prices.
                [...]the pervading principle and abiding test of good breeding is the requirement of a substantial and patent waste of time. - Veblen

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                • #9
                  Simply include a piece of paper with a notation of the correct date published order, and place it in a sleeve somewhere. With that, you get an increase in thought required to read them
                  “And, remember: there's no 'I' in 'irony'” ~ Merlin Mann

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                  • #10
                    On the topic of book mutilation:

                    I'm not so steamed at this that I'd physically rebind books. But I shouldn't have to. For many this particular series is just as treasured as LOTR or the Garion stories are to those of us who are into hard fantasy. And it has a special place in my heart since it was almost the first fantasy I read (with the exception of the Hobbit). It's right up there with Lloyd Alexander's Prydain Chronicles in the world of "fantasy that is good for kids to read".

                    And I wouldn't want to put tape over the bindings, or whatever. I mean, of course I can just tell Logan which order they're supposed to be in. That's not the point... it's the PRINCIPLE of the matter.

                    Umfriend:

                    Yes, they're good - in a sweeping, "we won't explain this" fantasy sort of way. It's written for children of all ages, which means of course that the language and concepts are a bit toned down compared to some of the other fantasy we all like. However, it's very good. Oh, one other thing to bear in mind - it's a REALLY thinly veiled Christian parable. It doesn't really beat you over the head with it, but there IS a Christ figure, and some extolling of Christian virtues. Not that that's necessarily a BAD thing, but just in case allegory isn't your thing...
                    The Internet - where men are men, women are men, and teenage girls are FBI agents!

                    I'm the least you could do
                    If only life were as easy as you
                    I'm the least you could do, oh yeah
                    If only life were as easy as you
                    I would still get screwed

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                    • #11
                      Originally posted by KvHagedorn
                      This makes perfect sense. Who would want to read the Polgara and Begarath addenda before the Belgariad and Malloreon? It would ruin the whole thing and be uninteresting to the uninitiated, though the events are essentially a prequel. Sounds like about the same situation.

                      Amen. Those are quite possilby my favorite books.

                      "I dream of a better world where chickens can cross the road without having their motives questioned."

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                      • #12
                        Man, I wish I knew what the hell you guys are talking about...

                        Fantasy? Not in my experience. Maybe I should try one, or for my daughter.

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                        • #13
                          Originally posted by Brian R.
                          Man, I wish I knew what the hell you guys are talking about...

                          Fantasy? Not in my experience. Maybe I should try one, or for my daughter.
                          What aren't you understanding?

                          *sigh*

                          You really SHOULD read the Chronicles of Narnia. Everyone should.

                          Fantasy is an excellent genre. There's plenty of drek in there, and maybe the "epic quest in tymes of mythe" isn't your cup of tea, but there are some literary classics to be found.
                          The Internet - where men are men, women are men, and teenage girls are FBI agents!

                          I'm the least you could do
                          If only life were as easy as you
                          I'm the least you could do, oh yeah
                          If only life were as easy as you
                          I would still get screwed

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                          • #14
                            There was a series of books I read when I was in fifth grade (IIRC) that I always remember as the Chronicles of Narnia, but as I hear them being talked about as books that are suitable for children, I'm starting to doubt that they're one in the same. See the books I remember have some rather obvious sexual overtones at times.
                            “And, remember: there's no 'I' in 'irony'” ~ Merlin Mann

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                            • #15
                              I vaguely remember reading some book from that series in grade school, and I only recognized that it was part of the Narnia thing now 'cause I saw a synopsis of it the other day on some web site.

                              Until The Fellowship of the Ring came out I thought the LOTR series was horrible, almost certainly because I saw the absolutely terrible Rankin and Bass version of Return of the King when I was a kid (although I didn't mind their version of The Hobbit.) When I first heard that there was a LOTR movie coming out I was like "Who the hell would want to see that crap?!?"

                              Couldn't have cared less about Harry Potter when it came out, and when we borrowed the DVD from a friend after they said it was good we decided it was really annoying and stopped after like 5 minutes. Borrowed it a few months later 'cause we were really bored and now I've seen all the movies and read all the books.

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