to live in Narnia
19:42 20/08/2004
Dear Reader,
the Chronicles of Narnia, written by C.S. Lewis are a series of books that had a huge impact on my childhood. Probably first in the form of the BBC dramas and then the books themselves. With the exception of Irish folklore, the chronicles were my first skirmish with the fantasy genre, a genre that has consumed much of my reading time over the years. Before Tolkien entered my life, there was Lewis. It is interesting that the two authors who have probably had the greatest affect on my life were good friends at one time. This is a fact that I learned many years after I had read their stories. In fact they encouraged each other to write their books of fantasy, even if Narnia was not to Tolkien’s taste. Too much allegory I suppose.
But I remember with fondness Narnia, the sense of magic that it created, how can one look at a wardrobe in quite the same way after reading The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Swords, magic and acts of heroism were always to my taste, so it does not surprise me that I always wanted to be Peter, High King of Narnia. Even now the dream lives on, that I will be whisked away by Aslan, but I suppose that I am getting too old now. Oh, to live in Narnia…..
A couple of months ago, there was a documentary on C.S. Lewis and his works with particular attention made of course to the Narnia books. In the programme an old friend of the Lewis brothers, Jack (C.S.) and Warnie, gave an anecdote of a holiday he made with Warnie to Northern Ireland, where the Lewis’ came from. They went for a walk one day on the Mourne mountains and stopped to look at the view. They were looking down on Warrenpoint and the surrounding countryside. Warnie turned to the friend and told him to remember this view for this was what Narnia looked like, that this is what his brother saw when he thought of Narnia.
All those years of wanting to live in Narnia, I never knew how close I have always been.
“Once a king or queen in Narnia, always a king or queen.”
Regards,
The Writer.