C. S. Lewis - Narnia, etc.

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Courtenay
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Re: C. S. Lewis - Narnia, etc.

Post by Courtenay »

Sure, Sarah — go ahead. I've already made the piece for myself and don't know anyone else who would ask me for it, so you're welcome to have the chart.
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Re: C. S. Lewis - Narnia, etc.

Post by Spitfire »

Thanks Courtenay. I think I've sent you a PM - though as the message doesn't appear in my Outbox or Sent Items I'm wondering If I've managed to lose it instead of sending it! Let me know if you don't get it and I'll start again!
Sarah
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Courtenay
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Re: C. S. Lewis - Narnia, etc.

Post by Courtenay »

I haven't got it so far, Sarah. If it's sent, it should appear in your outbox until I open it. Have another go and I'll let you know if I get it. Otherwise, I can email you via the forum and give you my email address that way.
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Re: C. S. Lewis - Narnia, etc.

Post by Spitfire »

I've tried again and it's worked this time (I obviously hit the wrong button before!)
Sarah
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Re: C. S. Lewis - Narnia, etc.

Post by Courtenay »

I've just spent a couple of lovely days having a quiet break in Oxford — a beautiful city with an amazingly rich history and connections with a huge number of authors and scholars, including, of course, C.S. Lewis. Among other things, I deliberately went to see a few places particularly associated with him, including Magdalen College (where he taught) and his own home, The Kilns, just outside the city, where I joined a wonderful tour of the house with plenty of fascinating and often moving anecdotes of Lewis and his many years there.

The Kilns is now a residence for visiting scholars and is only open for tours three times a week by appointment, so I was glad my visit coincided with one of those open days and I was able to book a place on the tour. I would highly recommend it to anyone who loves C.S. Lewis's works, if you ever have the chance to visit — more information here: Tour C.S. Lewis's home It certainly gave me an even deeper appreciation of Lewis's life, the struggles he went through, the people he loved and what was important to him.

The woodland just beyond the house, where Lewis loved walking, is now a nature reserve and is a beautiful and peaceful place. Some say it may have been one of his inspirations for Narnia, and indeed I couldn't resist wondering if there might be a few Fauns or Dryads lurking just out of sight... :wink:

I can post a few photos if anyone's interested, but in the meantime, I'd like to share a poem by Lewis that I found at Magdalen College. It's inscribed on a stone plaque at the entrance to Addison's Walk, a circular path through the college's own woodland where Lewis often walked during his time there:

What the Bird Said Early in the Year

I heard in Addison's Walk a bird sing clear:
This year the summer will come true. This year. This year.

Winds will not strip the blossom from the apple trees
This year nor want of rain destroy the peas.

This year time's nature will no more defeat you,
Nor all the promised moments in their passing cheat you.

This time they will not lead you round and back
To Autumn, one year older by the well-worn track.

This year, this year, as all these flowers foretell,
We shall escape the circle and undo the spell.

Often deceived, yet open once again your heart.
Quick, quick, quick, quick! — the gates are drawn apart.
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Anita Bensoussane
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Re: C. S. Lewis - Narnia, etc.

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

Your visit to The Kilns sounds wonderful, Courtenay. I hadn't realised it was open to the public at all. If I go to Oxford I'll have to see if I can book a tour.
"Heyho for a starry night and a heathery bed!" - Jack, The Secret Island.

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Re: C. S. Lewis - Narnia, etc.

Post by Courtenay »

It's definitely worth it, Anita — just email them at the address given on the page I linked to. I asked at quite short notice (only a few days before) and they were happy to fit me in.

Here are a few photos I took of "Lewis's Oxford":

Image
Magdalen College

Image
Addison's Walk in Magdalen College grounds

Image
The Eagle and Child pub, favourite weekly meeting place for Lewis, Tolkien and their literary friends ("The Inklings") to discuss their writings and ideas
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Re: C. S. Lewis - Narnia, etc.

Post by Courtenay »

And some of Lewis's home:

Image
The Kilns

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Blue plaque at The Kilns

Image
Lewis's study, where he wrote the Narnia books and most of his other works
(The furniture in the house is not original, but through photos and memories of people who knew it in Lewis's time, they've recreated it as close as possible to how it was then.)

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C.S. Lewis Nature Reserve
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Re: C. S. Lewis - Narnia, etc.

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

Great photos, Courtenay. A lovely time of year to go there.
"Heyho for a starry night and a heathery bed!" - Jack, The Secret Island.

"There is no bond like the bond of having read and liked the same books."
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Re: C. S. Lewis - Narnia, etc.

Post by Paul Austin »

I wonder if they'll dramatise The Horse and His Boy if they ever get that far in the films?
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Anita Bensoussane
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Re: C. S. Lewis - Narnia, etc.

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

I had thought we weren't going to see any more Narnia films as it's six years since The Voyage of the Dawn Treader came out, but it seems that The Silver Chair is in the pipeline:

http://www.comingsoon.net/movies/news/6 ... tal-reboot" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I'd like to see the whole lot done. The Silver Chair and The Horse and His Boy have strong storylines and could work well as films. The Magician's Nephew and The Last Battle are likely to present more of a challenge, but I hope it's a challenge the film-makers will enjoy taking up!
"Heyho for a starry night and a heathery bed!" - Jack, The Secret Island.

"There is no bond like the bond of having read and liked the same books."
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Re: C. S. Lewis - Narnia, etc.

Post by Rob Houghton »

I would love to see The Magician's Nephew and The Horse and His Boy made into films - my two favourite books after The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. :-D
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'

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Re: C. S. Lewis - Narnia, etc.

Post by Courtenay »

I can see a major inaccuracy in the write-up (I hope not in the film itself!) — The Silver Chair doesn't take place "a decade after The Voyage of the Dawn Treader". I don't have the books with me, but I'm pretty sure there's less than a year between the two books as far as "our world" is concerned, since Eustace at the beginning is at school telling Jill about the adventure he had last summer that completely changed his character. In Narnia, on the other hand, there are several decades between the two stories. There would have to be, since Caspian is a young man in Voyage but a very elderly man in The Silver Chair.

"All original" also sounds a bit ominous to me, despite the assertion that it doesn't mean "inventions from the screenwriter" — considering how much of the film version of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe WAS invented by the film-makers and bore little or no resemblance to the original book. :( As I've said elsewhere, it was brilliant as a film in itself, but for me it just wasn't Narnia. On the other hand, maybe the new team will do a more faithful adaptation — you never know. 8)
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Re: C. S. Lewis - Narnia, etc.

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

You've made me wonder, Courtenay, whether the film-makers have decided on a gap of only a decade so that they can still have Caspian as a relatively young, hot-looking man! Mind you, it's important to the plot that he looks very different from before. Oh, and there's also Rilian to take into account!
"Heyho for a starry night and a heathery bed!" - Jack, The Secret Island.

"There is no bond like the bond of having read and liked the same books."
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Re: C. S. Lewis - Narnia, etc.

Post by Courtenay »

Anita Bensoussane wrote:You've made me wonder, Courtenay, whether the film-makers have decided on a gap of only a decade so that they can still have Caspian as a relatively young, hot-looking man!
:lol: Maybe, but during the interval between the two books he has to have had a son, who at the time of The Silver Chair is most definitely well over ten years old!!

Mind you, I'm just thinking maybe the ten-year gap is supposed to be in our world, so they can get away with using the same actor who played Eustace (who will be at least six years older than he was in Voyage), and then the time lapse in Narnia can safely be several decades more. I guess we won't know until they make the film.

That said, there is absolutely no consistency at all in the books between how much time passes in our world and how much passes in Narnia. There's a year in our world between The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Prince Caspian, but on reaching Narnia the second time, the Pevensies discover it's been several centuries since they were kings and queens there. Lewis did once write a timeline of events in Narnia — I can't remember how long he made the gap between the two books, but I have a feeling it may even be as many as 1,000 years. Anyway, it's meant to be a very, very long time.

On the other hand, one year again passes in our world between Prince Caspian and Voyage, and yet Lucy and Edmund are assured by a still young and recognisable Caspian that it's been "exactly three years" since he last saw them! :shock: I remember the old BBC series got around this by making Prince Caspian and Voyage follow on directly from each other — Edmund and Lucy, at the end of Prince Caspian, are on their way to stay with "horrible cousin Eustace", which would make it perhaps only a few days between the two adventures, instead of a year, hence the relatively short time that elapses in Narnia.

I don't think Lewis ever tried to explain the utter inconsistency in time differences between the two worlds, and it never really bothered me as a child (and still doesn't!)... it's magic, after all. :wink: It's more or less as if the children entering Narnia from our world appear wherever in Narnia's "time-stream" they're needed, however near to or far from the last time that was. It's almost getting a bit Whovian here. 8)

That said, if a year in our world could be anything up to several centuries in Narnia, I can't help thinking that decade in our world (for the new version of The Silver Chair) could end up being several thousand years in Narnia... after which I'm sure Caspian WOULD look very different from before!! :shock: :P
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