Contrary to columnist Mark Morford’s rather dim view of the Narnia Chronicles, our intrepid writing group determined this week that Narnia still holds a beautiful, breathtaking wintry magic for us. After choosing to reread the series this past month (some of us beginning with The Magician’s Nephew, the first book, and others of us going with the more traditional entry into Narnia via the second book The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe), we found that there was a lot we had forgotten.
The brooding background of the World War which was the dim and grim reality on the other side of the wardrobe doors hadn’t made a big impression on our childish minds, the strong flavor of allegory, the strange Professor Digory with his tricky ways and Edmund’s annoying condescension hadn’t really impacted us quite as much when we were children. But what kept us reading was the clean, spare beauty of the story, with its and straightforward simplicity of tone combined. This, combined with the lush imagery allowed our imaginations to take over and infer. And imagination is the truest treasure.
We’ll be chatting about our further forays into Narnia, critiques we’ve read (did you know that Phillip Pullman thinks the series is racist and misogynistic? What say you?) and more. Welcome. Feel free to join Lucy by the lamppost!
