"Today many readers come to the Chronicles aware that they have Christian overtones, and they are tempted to look for one-to-one parallels between characters, objects, and events in Narnia and corresponding ones in the Bible. However, that is not the way Lewis wanted the Chronicles to be read. "You are mistaken when you think that everything in the books 'represents' something in this world," he wrote to a fifth-grade class in Maryland. "Things do that in The Pilgrim's Progress but I am not writing in that way. I did not say to myself 'Let us represent Jesus as He really is in our world by a Lion in Narnia': I said, 'Let us suppose that there were a land like Narnia and that the Son of God, as He became a Man in our world, became a lion there, and then imagine what would happen.' If you think about it, you will see that it is quite a different thing." In another letter a few years later, he explained that he was using not allegory but "supposition."
- an interesting quote from The Way into Narnia: A Reader's Guide, by Peter J. Schakel
3 comments:
So there are multiple levels of this type of writing?
Pilgrim's Progress, an allegory, has detailed correspondence between characters / events in the book and real life as the Bible describes it.
Narnia, as a supposition, loosely relates the characters and events to Biblical reality.
And Lord of the Rings, which Tolkien explicitly denied had a Christian correlation to it, takes only the broadest themes to tie to reality: Good vs. Evil? Good wins.
Now ... I know next to nothing about these things. Is that a fair (even if extremely elementary) way to talk about them?
(One of these days I'm gonna get myself edu-ma-cated and know all about real litter-chure. Them gummint skools didn't teach me hardly nuttin'.)
After a good deal of mulling over this... here's what I've come up with so far.
Pilgrim's Progress, as an allegory, has one on one connections in our world.
Narnia, as a "faery tale" is in a way another world, but principles of Lewis' Christian worldview are there as well as other Christian elements and symbolism. I think that supposition is a good word, because the story supposes that God worked in another world in a way similar to the way He works in ours.
Lord of the Rings...hmm... I think that there is more to it than just a good versus evil battle. There are lessons in LotR about power, homelands, tyranny, and the blessings of good beer.
Now, I think there is less correlation between our world and Middle Earth than between our world and Narnia.
Also, in Narnia the creatures more closely resemble the people in our world in their natures- it seems impossible to think of one of Tolkien's noble elves sinning (or of an orc repenting), but not impossible to think of a heroic Narnian sinning, or a bad one repenting. Edmund sinned, repented, was forgiven, and in later books is presented as a good king. In Narnia, characters aren't always all evil or all good, but are more like sinful humans.
Still, I think that in essence the categorization you suggest is fair.
Thanks for answering my question! Perhaps one of these days I won't be so ignorant about Narnia and LotR ... but I've got too many other irons in the fire now.
and the blessings of good beer.
Your father has taught you well. Pray for my sanctification in the conversion of my taste buds from baptist to Christian.
Post a Comment