I have no memories of The Horse and His Boy although I have a copy of the book and I know I read them all. Some I must have reread several times as I know them well but I have some memories of all the others. You’ve made me think that perhaps I’d better reread this one, even though it wasn’t a favourite.
I was struck, last time round, by how different all the Narnia books are. The only structural commonality is entering the other world and leaving it at the end, and of course this one doesn't even have that. I think if Lewis were writing now, he'd be under much more pressure to follow a consistent pattern.
It's fascinating isn't it? I really enjoyed both The Magician's Nephew and TLTWATW but they're very different kinds of story. I agree that modern editors would probably be much harder on his drafts but they'd have probably lost some of the freshness and magic in the process.
I loved The Horse and His Boy. It's got such wonderful humour - one of Lewis's great gifts. (I do agree about wonder and awe being another, but I think those kind of moments need the more down to earth humour for contrast). The awful Lasaraleen and her incomprehension at Aravis's refusal to marry the ancient vizier ("oh but darling!" "You'll have such nice things!") is a particular favourite.
All the colonialism/race criticisms are hard to unpack but I might cheekily suggest that criticising THAHB because it's the only Narnia book not framed through the adventures of white, upperclass English boarding school pupils and therefore not so relatable is a bit ... umm ... Inconsistent?! (This isn't really directed at you so much as Narnia critics in general.) I do feel it's better just to take the story as a fantasy in its own terms. But then I happen to love the story!
Oh, and then there's Aravis! Such a great heroine!
I'm so glad THAHB has fans (I'm just not one of them!) and I love hearing about why you enjoy it. Your point about framing is an excellent one but doesn't, to my mind, diminish the north / pale / good versus southern / dark / bad equation that runs through the book - although some critics do make far more of it than I think was ever consciously intended.
Ultimately, it's just not my kind my story (I always have prefered low fantasy to high fantasy so a fantasy book that behaves like a closed world is never going to be a winner for me, I don't like Tolkien for the same reason) so perhaps I am more inclined to see the flaws in it.
It’s a fair point – I love Tolkien, so no surprise that a closed world doesn’t bother me! It is fascinating how differently we all respond to the same books. I’m looking forward to reading your take on Prince Caspian and Dawn Treader because those are the two that don’t really work for me - always stayed unread on the shelf. Although I have enjoyed Dawn Treader more as an adult. Maybe I’ll understand their appeal at last!
I'm in two minds about whether to do Caspian / Voyage as one post or two, largely because (oddly more than with TLTWATW) my memory of the books is bound up with the BBC adaptation which treated them as one unit, with the bulk of the screen time given to Voyage.
Ah, never saw those adaptations. I do like the film of Prince Caspian - even though I don't much like the book. It made me go back to the book ... but I still struggle with it. Will look forward to your post.
I deliberately avoided getting too far into that topic in this post, but yes I do think it's difficult to ignore the Narnia / north / pale / good equation versus southern and darker skin is bad. I'm not sure Lewis deserves quite the level of criticism he sometimes comes in for because there's more nuance in some of the passages than is supposed but the basic point stands. It's not so much that I condemn Lewis as that I would agree with parents proceeding with caution if they are going to read it with children today.
As I recall, when this book was written, slavery still existed throughout most of the Arabian Peninsular. And in much of it there was a tradition, dating back to Victorian times, that if a slave escaped, and made his or her way to a British diplomatic residence, they would hold little ceremony in which the slave held a Union Jack, or perhaps just the flagpole that flew it. And was held, by this act, to have been forever freed from slavery.
Admittedly, I doubt they could have been freed by touching the Hammer and Sickle or the Stars and Stripes.
I have no memories of The Horse and His Boy although I have a copy of the book and I know I read them all. Some I must have reread several times as I know them well but I have some memories of all the others. You’ve made me think that perhaps I’d better reread this one, even though it wasn’t a favourite.
It's dated quite badly in some ways but there's enough of Lewis' trademarks to make it interesting and some of the descriptive passages are lovely.
I was struck, last time round, by how different all the Narnia books are. The only structural commonality is entering the other world and leaving it at the end, and of course this one doesn't even have that. I think if Lewis were writing now, he'd be under much more pressure to follow a consistent pattern.
It's fascinating isn't it? I really enjoyed both The Magician's Nephew and TLTWATW but they're very different kinds of story. I agree that modern editors would probably be much harder on his drafts but they'd have probably lost some of the freshness and magic in the process.
I loved The Horse and His Boy. It's got such wonderful humour - one of Lewis's great gifts. (I do agree about wonder and awe being another, but I think those kind of moments need the more down to earth humour for contrast). The awful Lasaraleen and her incomprehension at Aravis's refusal to marry the ancient vizier ("oh but darling!" "You'll have such nice things!") is a particular favourite.
All the colonialism/race criticisms are hard to unpack but I might cheekily suggest that criticising THAHB because it's the only Narnia book not framed through the adventures of white, upperclass English boarding school pupils and therefore not so relatable is a bit ... umm ... Inconsistent?! (This isn't really directed at you so much as Narnia critics in general.) I do feel it's better just to take the story as a fantasy in its own terms. But then I happen to love the story!
Oh, and then there's Aravis! Such a great heroine!
I'm so glad THAHB has fans (I'm just not one of them!) and I love hearing about why you enjoy it. Your point about framing is an excellent one but doesn't, to my mind, diminish the north / pale / good versus southern / dark / bad equation that runs through the book - although some critics do make far more of it than I think was ever consciously intended.
Ultimately, it's just not my kind my story (I always have prefered low fantasy to high fantasy so a fantasy book that behaves like a closed world is never going to be a winner for me, I don't like Tolkien for the same reason) so perhaps I am more inclined to see the flaws in it.
It’s a fair point – I love Tolkien, so no surprise that a closed world doesn’t bother me! It is fascinating how differently we all respond to the same books. I’m looking forward to reading your take on Prince Caspian and Dawn Treader because those are the two that don’t really work for me - always stayed unread on the shelf. Although I have enjoyed Dawn Treader more as an adult. Maybe I’ll understand their appeal at last!
I'm in two minds about whether to do Caspian / Voyage as one post or two, largely because (oddly more than with TLTWATW) my memory of the books is bound up with the BBC adaptation which treated them as one unit, with the bulk of the screen time given to Voyage.
Ah, never saw those adaptations. I do like the film of Prince Caspian - even though I don't much like the book. It made me go back to the book ... but I still struggle with it. Will look forward to your post.
So your conclusion is that it still stands condemned for its 1950s attitudes? Is it relevant that it was written at the height of the Cold War?
I deliberately avoided getting too far into that topic in this post, but yes I do think it's difficult to ignore the Narnia / north / pale / good equation versus southern and darker skin is bad. I'm not sure Lewis deserves quite the level of criticism he sometimes comes in for because there's more nuance in some of the passages than is supposed but the basic point stands. It's not so much that I condemn Lewis as that I would agree with parents proceeding with caution if they are going to read it with children today.
As I recall, when this book was written, slavery still existed throughout most of the Arabian Peninsular. And in much of it there was a tradition, dating back to Victorian times, that if a slave escaped, and made his or her way to a British diplomatic residence, they would hold little ceremony in which the slave held a Union Jack, or perhaps just the flagpole that flew it. And was held, by this act, to have been forever freed from slavery.
Admittedly, I doubt they could have been freed by touching the Hammer and Sickle or the Stars and Stripes.