the right kind of books have dragons in them

[aria]

Since I am apparently still having lots of Thoughts (& FEELINGS) About Narnia, I decided it was time for a poll. Have at it!

Poll #5874

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 61

View Respondents

Favourite book?

View Answers

The Magician's Nephew
6 (10.3%)

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
7 (12.1%)

The Horse and His Boy
15 (25.9%)

Prince Caspian
4 (6.9%)

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
19 (32.8%)

The Silver Chair
4 (6.9%)

The Last Battle
3 (5.2%)

Favourite kid protagonist? (Ticky boxes this time because I am not cruel.)

View Answers

Digory
5 (8.9%)

Polly
9 (16.1%)

Peter
2 (3.6%)

Susan
12 (21.4%)

Edmund
27 (48.2%)

Lucy
29 (51.8%)

Eustace
14 (25.0%)

Jill
15 (26.8%)

When I was little, I ...

View Answers

believed in Aslan
15 (25.0%)

went looking for magic countries in closets
32 (53.3%)

already knew the lion was Jesus
25 (41.7%)

hadn't actually been exposed to Narnia yet
9 (15.0%)

PS if you answered 'The Last Battle' to the first question, you will have to defend your answer in comments. DISCUSS.
PPS the order in which I listed the books is not in fact the order in which you should read them. Publication order all the way, yo.

Comments

[nextian]

INCORRECT, you forgot Aravis and Cor and also, Aravis, and have I mentioned, Aravis.

That damn book.

[aria]

Fine, child protagonists FROM OUR WORLD then.

Also obviously no one would answer anything but Aravis.

And Edmund.

That damn book indeed.

[endofthewest]

Lucy was my instant favorite when I first read LWW when I was seven, but Edmund has really grown on me over the years. I love them equally now. :D

[aria]

This answer is like you are ME. I mean, I imagine that lots of little girls instantly glommed onto Lucy, and I will pretty much still defend her to the death. But Edmund is so My Character Type that it's not even funny.

[juniperphoenix]

Question 3 needs a ticky box for "built Aslan's walled garden in the yard." :D

[aria]

Part of me is really delighted by this! Part of me is also still a bit freaked out by the Last Battle, and so mildly alarmed. Unless I suppose it's the version from Magician's Nephew, in which case, less alarmed. :D

[maevele]

I never Liked Eustace, but he was still the one who stayed in my head longest.

[aria]

Huh! That makes quite a lot of sense, actually.

[genarti]

Same -- Eustace was never a favorite character of mine, then or now, though I liked him in The Last Battle. (I'm afraid I disliked The Silver Chair nearly all through except for the salamanders, although nowadays I love Puddleglum at least. I liked that Eustace was more sympathetic, but I kept being annoyed by the kids getting sidetracked, which I have more sympathy for now.) But I think it was the first time I'd run into a character with that kind of dramatic character arc from unsympathetic to sympathetic, which stayed true (continuity! no magic reset button!), and that stuck with me.

[juniperphoenix]

Also, I knew that Aslan was like Jesus in many ways, but I don't think I really understood that it was on purpose.

[aria]

See, whereas I didn't know anything about Jesus (besides "a major religion is made up of people who believe in him") until I was ... eleven or twelve? I'd heard the whole allegory thing but didn't connect the dots until ages after I'd first read the books.

[feverbeats]

I cannot actually remember the books well enough to answer the first question! It might have actually been The Magician's Nephew. But I think it was Dawn Treader!

[aria]

REREAD THEM. I mean, they are a bit rubbish, but they only take a couple of hours. Also, I would be really unsurprised if your favourite was Magician's Nephew, but Dawn Treader is lovely.

[epershand]

Oh man, the next time I go home I am going to have to do an epic photo post of the fantasy landscape of my childhood. I didn't look for Narnia in closets, I strode into the woods and told myself I was there already.

[aria]

!!! APPROVE. I mean, of the epic photo post certainly, but mostly of you pretending to be in Narnia already. <3

[alpheratz]

When I was a kid, it was Lucy, obvs, but it's been Edmund all the way for years now. And Susan is a close second, because she's meant to be this Example of how Atheism Will Make You Alone In The World. I'm not even focusing in on the lipsticks and nylons stuff, which IMO is kind of a distraction from the real issue here - that it's made clear in Prince Caspian that Susan just doesn't believe in Aslan as much as the others, and then her lack of capacity for faith is conflated with her shallowness as a person. And I happen to empathize with her lack of capacity for faith, because I don't feel that inside me either, and that conflation makes me want to tear my hair out. tl;dr

[aria]

I never liked Susan much until the films, and now I adore her, because -- Narnia is a bit mad, and they get jerked around a lot, and I remain mildly horrified upon rereads to find that Susan is getting punished for being a certain kind of sensible. Plus, as you say, there is the shallowness = lack of faith thing, and ugh, yes.

[tei]

Oh god I checked the ticky box before I read the PS! (And... I'm the only one? REALLY?) Okay, I think The Last Battle just stuck most in my brain because, although I totally did not get that Aslan was Jesus (Like. For a decade.) I remember finishing that book, or rather my dad finishing reading that book to me, and being like "That was really weird! What just happened?" And then I reread it so many times trying to figure out why I was so weirded out by the ending that I accidentally started liking it. Also, the phrase "farther up and farther in" stuck in my brain to the point that I accidentally said it just the other day. I don't know, I cannot defend my younger self's tastes!

[aria]

Heh. Actually "you will have to defend your answer in comments" is less "YOU HAVE BAD TASTE" and more "I still want to understand what people like about Last Battle!" Because ... I first read Last Battle (or had it read to me, I'm sure) when I was, I dunno, five? Six? Six at the oldest. And the notion that this world I'd grown to love and really wanted to go to could just be destroyed was horrifying to me. Neither was I comforted by the idea that everyone could get there when they were dead, therefore I could too -- because the idea that they were dead horrified me. I didn't care if Lewis was telling me that they were going to have lovely new adventures; in my child mind, dead was dead, and they were going to remain happy and static forever, and it freaked me the hell out.

I do like the idea that one can accidentally start liking it from lots of rereads, though. I do reread the later bits of Last Battle a lot, and I even like some parts of them, and I see what Lewis was trying to do, but still, sdkldjhfd :(

[thornyrose42]

Magician's Nephew because Polly and Digory are my favourite for their awesome teamwork and snarking and falling out and making up. Also the imagery of Narnia coming to life is so beautiful. And the animals trying to plant Digory's Uncle and debating which way up to stick him. Also Jadis driving the handsome cab...

Actually, did anyone else have the editions with the pictures in them? Cause I find now that those are the source of so many of the really clear images I have of the books. Unfortunately that isn't so great when it means that I can still picture clearly to picture in the Last Battle which shows Aslan dividing the Good and Bad Narnians. I remember staring at it for so long wondering what would have happened if I'd been one of the Black dwarves or a warg? I mean did all of them have to be evil? Why were they evil? Why did they have to be banished to utter darkness. Talk about scarred for life.

I might not have cared that the Lion was Jesus but I would say that that picture put me off the idea of Judgement Day for life. Well done Lewis!

[aria]

I am also very fond of Magician's Nephew! I think I imprinted too hard on the kids from the other books to be as deeply fond of Digory and Polly as they perhaps deserve, but I do really like them.

I hope that most of the editions have the pictures in them! But yes, I definitely see a lot of things in the books so clearly because of those illustrations. My mental image of Charn in particular is really influenced by them.

And ugh yes, everything about The Last Battle. :/

[sophia_sol]

My favourite Narnia book, I have to say, is unduly influenced by my traditional Small Female Child adoration of horses. The Horse And His Boy? I WAS SO THERE.

Also, I actually had to think about who my favourite child protagonists were, because...I didn't really ever imprint on specific ones, that I can recall? I mostly just thought they were all awesome, except for Jill who made me ungleblarging ANGRY for FORGETTING THE INSTRUCTIONS HOW COULD SHE.

Actually when I look at the list of books to try to think about favourite/least-favourite, I can convince myself with relative ease of ANY of them being my least favourite...and yet I love the series so much. WHAT.

[thornyrose42]

Oh I was so annoyed with Jill! I mean how difficult was it? And at the start as well, if she'd only talked to Caspian!

[starlady]

I voted for The Magician's Nephew, though Dawn Treader is still my #2 favorite, despite its flaws. About which I just wrote that whole long post.

I think I liked Lucy best as a kid--obviously I was highly influenced by her portrayal in HHB--but these days it's all Edmund. With Jill, Polly, and Digory tied for #2.

[aria]

Yes! Incidentally, I am loving your book posts, and I've been thinking about the islands as sins and virtues all day, as one does. :D

I can never not love Lucy, although I do see new, interesting, and not always likable things about her now when I reread the books. Actually Edmund and Polly are the ones who hold up best -- who become more likable, or stay likable, under scrutiny.

[travels_in_time]

Lucy was my favorite from the books (also Aravis!) but Edmund is definitely my favorite in the movies.

[aria]

I definitely sympathize with this! Not only did the movies make Edmund absolutely my favorite, but they also convinced me to like Peter and Susan as well, which was delightful.

[oliviacirce]

I did almost answer Last Battle, because it was my favorite for years, but I HAVE NO IDEA WHY. I need to reread it at some point and see if I can figure out my seven-year-old psyche, but I am afraid it will just freak me out.

Also, what do you mean "when I was little" in that last question. Are you telling me you don't still go looking for magic countries in closets?

[aria]

I am very curious to know why this would be! I just, The Last Battle, ugh. I love arguments in its favor!

Don't be silly, of course I don't go looking for magic countries in closets! I just keep hopefully taking the Wizard's Oath; surely one day it'll stick, at which point I can worldgate to magical countries through whatever closets I like without waiting for any specific Power to extend special invitation.

[owlmoose]

I am very glad for your PPS; otherwise this comment might have been the start of a passionate argument. >.> I'm not inflexible or dogmatic about very many things, but the correct order in which to read the Narnia books is definitely one of them.

The book was an easy choice (Horse and His Boy, all the way, although Dawn Treader is a close second), but it was very hard to not just check all the children except for Digory (I have never liked The Magician's Nephew very much, which is part of why I think it's such a bad idea to start with it). The characters have always been one of the strengths of the series, for me.

[aria]

Hah, yes. I first read them in publication order, and the idea that one should read them for the first time in chronological order kind of horrifies me. I will have fights to the death about it.

I witter about whether Horse and His Boy or Dawn Treader are my favorite! I usually say Dawn Treader, but I reread HHB just as often and I kind of adore both of them.

[myalexandria]

1) I checked "The Horse and His Boy," which is sort of interesting to me, since when I was a kid it was "Voyage" and later it was "The Last Battle" (really! see next comment), and at various points in the last few years I would have said either "Lion" or "Caspian". The crazy racism is a huge problem, duh, and I'm not crazy about the way he writes the grown-up Kings and Queens of Narnia. But Aravis's and Cor's storylines are quite sophisticated, and I keep going back to them, especially Cor's.

2) "The Last Battle": I am in favor! A thing I like about the Narnia books, in general, is that they don't shy away from the central Christian theological contentions that (1) everything in creation is finite and (2) everything in creation is destined to be drawn up in to the being of God, and is therefore in some sense eternal. That paradox, the reality of death and the reality of resurrection, is really the core, but it's a hard contention. "Lion" gets distracted by the Anselmian satisfaction argument, but "The Last Battle" really hits it--the awe and grandeur of the scene at the gate is tremendous to me, and really sticks with me. I think it's rather courageous of Lewis to write a book that faces up to the reality of death. (Of course, some people would argue that since he then immediately resurrects his favorite characters, he's copping out. But I think he's on solid theological ground here; Christianity is pretty clear, as I said, that death and life are intimately related.)

[aria]

One of the reasons I love Horse and His Boy is that in a lot of ways it has the best structural narrative, not to mention that I love getting to see more of the landscape of the world of Narnia. Of course it's also full of issues, and I still can't imagine how they could possibly make a movie of it without failing just as hard as the book, but man, I love it despite its flaws. (Dawn Treader remains my very favorite, though; in a lot of ways it's pure delightful distilled Essence of Narnia for me.)

I love your thoughts on Last Battle! I can see why you'd really like it, and I can also conceive of loving it myself if I had a really different construction of death than I do. As is, Lewis' vision of the afterlife crashes up really hard against most of the things I believe, which is weird, because I read Narnia at an age where a lot of the things I believe are also entwined with ideas put forth by the earlier Narnia books. It's a mess! But I love hearing about people genuinely liking Last Battle.

[sentientcitizen]

Aw, crap. I voted before I realized I was going to have to defend my choice of "The Last Battle" in comments. Um. If it helps, I liked "Voyage of the Dawn Treader" almost as much?

I think I was just one of those rare kids who actually LOVED Lewis's version of heaven/the apocalypse. EVERYTHING ENDS. (As my fairly morbid childhood self had secretly suspected it all, eventually, must.) But then there is a NEW and SHINY world where you can go, and all the best stuff comes with you (including all the good stuff from history that I was bitter about having missed out on), and all the bad stuff gets left behind, and Narnia and Earth are in the same place, which means I could go VISIT, and and and...! Further in and father up!

Also, the whole "good things done in the name of Tash/evil done in the name of Aslan" distinction stuck with me so strongly as a fundamental truth that it was a core aspect of my theology pretty much right up until I lost my faith and became and atheist.

In other, related news: I loved Susan best as a kid (and was FILLED WITH HORROR when she didn't get into the new Narnia) and Lucy best when I'd grown up a bit. I think this is the opposite of how you're supposed to do it? I also did not vote for either Edmund or Eustace, but I loved them less, but I still loved them both, probably because they had such very real flaws. I think even my tiny self suspected that whatever I might like to think, I'd probably have been more of a Eustace than a Lucy, in that situation.

[genarti]

Also, the whole "good things done in the name of Tash/evil done in the name of Aslan" distinction stuck with me so strongly as a fundamental truth that it was a core aspect of my theology pretty much right up until I lost my faith and became and atheist.

I was pretty much agnostic from before I knew what the word was, but all the same that was a fundamental truth to me too, and I was absolutely struck when I read that passage. Now I can look at it and see all the problematic levels of the entire Calormen nation (occasional virtuous ones aside), but at the time, all that struck me was the truth of that.

I didn't love all of Lewis's version of the afterlife, and I was always kind of bitter about there being one -- no ending your magical happy land in grinding misery, even if you make it better later! was the cry of my tiny heart -- but that aspect I loved too. That everything was there, England too, not just Narnia, and the good and loved things no matter which world they come from or how they saw it or whether they'd ever heard of Aslan at all -- yes, I loved that, because it was so inclusive, in a way that so much fiction (and especially allegory) isn't.

[genarti]

I answered that I already knew the lion was Jesus, but I didn't really; what I knew was that there was all of this imagery in there that I recognized from church (the lamb turning into the lion was the big tip-off for me), and so I went O I SEE WHAT YOU DID THERE, C.S. LEWIS! and felt myself very clever to have spotted it. But I didn't really spot the underlying allegory for a good while. I just thought it was, I dunno, little references like Easter eggs (yes, I do see the irony of this sentence) for readers to spot.

I didn't believe in Aslan per se either, though. I hoped for magical countries, but I imprinted on the genre of magical adventures much more than on Narnia in specific. My backyard was Sherwood Forest much more often than it was Narnia -- helped, no doubt, by the fact that my brothers and I didn't get along half so well as the Pevensies -- and I played at suddenly developing magic power or telepathy much more often than I played at being transported to another world.

Edmund is probably my favorite nowadays, though I have a soft spot for all of the later children, but in my childhood I preferred on Susan all through. I always did imprint on older sisters and goody-two-shoes, and Susan was both. Polly and Digory I liked all right, but Magician's Nephew never really fit with the rest of the books for me, and I rarely reread it.

[aria]

I believed in Aslan so much! But I also played at developing magic or telepathy. I guess I was keeping all my options open? :D

I'm curious as to what your reaction to Susan staying behind in Last Battle was, then, if Susan was your favorite. I never much cared for her until recently, although I was a little startled when she was left out, but I didn't have that visceral horror that I know a lot of people did.

[mergatrude]

I was going to pick The Silver Chair, because it has TOM BAKER in it!!!! Also, Pole! Whom I believe to be a precursor for Amy Pond, at the very least.

Then I realised that my sentimental favourite had talking horses in it, because as a kid I grew up on books where horses talked, either to humans or to each other. Also, Aravis!

And I totally didn't care about the Jesus stuff. The Jesus stuff was just an AU.

[aria]

It's funny; I reread Silver Chair less than the others, but I've watched it much more than the other BBC adaptations. Because, as you say, TOM BAKER!! I am curious re: the Jill --> Amy connection in your mind, though!

Talking horses + Aravis is indeed an excellent combination! For all the problems Horse and His Boy has, I'm still hugely fond of it.

The Jesus stuff is absolutely an AU. :D I believed in Aslan, and it never made me also believe in Jesus. Poor Lewis.

[order_of_chaos]

My child self was perfectly happy to learn that Aslan was God and therefore real, albeit going by a different name in this world. And God, being omnipotent, could certainly be lion-shaped if he wanted - that was only logical, and at the very least couldn't be disproved.

[aria]

Oh, I like that! I had so little exposure to God as a child that "God is real, therefore Aslan is real" would never have occurred to me, but I am delighted that it occurred to you. :)