Nostalgia Trippin'
I recently downloaded onto my iPod the entire Narnian Chronicles by C.S. Lewis, and it's been rather a time warp to listen to them at this point in my life. When I was really young, my father read the entire series to me and my siblings in the evenings, so I thought it would be interesting to revisit them again and see if I remembered the stories correctly. Besides, I needed something (anything) to take my mind off of how boring it is to clamber onto the treadmill at the gym, and this seemed just the ticket.
The writing is better than I remembered -- vivid and descriptive without going completely overboard on depictions of landscape and character history (as in, say, much of The Lord of the Rings which, in my opinion, stretched on far longer than seemed really necessary). The mythology is vaguely Christian (though C.S. Lewis sometimes denied overtly crafting them so . . . but, really, does anybody believe him on that point?).
I just finished listening to "The Magician's Nephew", narrated by Kenneth Branagh. He does a terrific job of reading the novel, giving voice to each character and fleshing out what otherwise might have just been dry prose. And while I'm no great fiction reader (preferring non-fiction and biographies), I'm anticipating moving on with "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe". I'm not certain that Michael York will do near as good a job with it as did Branagh with "The Magician's Nephew", but I'll try and give him the benefit of the doubt.
Alex Jennings, Lynn Redgrave, Derek Jacobi, Jeremy Northam (whom I just saw last night in the film "Cypher" -- which was far better than one has any reason to expect) and Patrick Stewart round out the other narrators of the rest of the series, and I'm thinking it'll prove to be an interesting exercise in nostalgia, if not performance art.
I recommend the series, if you're so inclined -- especially if you have children. I recall being spellbound by all the fantastical happenings and descriptions when I was a child, though perhaps it might not translate as well to a more contemporary child's world . . . though I hear they're making "The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe" into a movie to be released sometime this year (?). If it proves successful, then I'm sure there will be six more movies on the way. And with the advances in computer graphics and rendering, the Narnian Chronicles might be quite the wonder to behold.
The trailer looks very Harry Potter-like, which, for the target audience, is possibly a good thing . . . ?
Comments
Yea, i am 18 and I went to see the latest star wars and saw the trailer, i decided i had to read te books (which i had never read before) so this summer i borrowed and read all of them (i think i might ahve missed the last one though). but they were excellent.
Posted by: hari | August 28, 2005 1:10 PM
is that actually YOU on that treadmill?
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Homocon sez:
No, but I did think the photo added some scenic value.
Posted by: libertarian observer | August 29, 2005 8:38 AM
I'm always thrilled to find other people who love the Narnia series. Lewis is my favorite writer, more for his theology than his fiction, but the Narnia series is pure magic. We've read the first three books in the series to our children this summer and they were absolutely spellbound.
As a Christian, a C.S. Lewis fan, and a Conservative, I think that the most important themes in Christianity are subtly woven into the Narnia stories. I have to admit, as odd as it might sound, that Aslan sometimes seems more accessible to me than Christ Himself does. I think that's because the Narnia series has such lasting resonance and communicate so well with the, ahem, "inner child" in each of us. (God, I hate that phrase, but it's the only one that fits.)
I'm glad you're revisiting Narnia, Homocon, and I hope your praise for the series gets some others to check it out for the first time. The books are wonderful for first-time adult readers as well as Children. I read them for the first time in my 30's and felt like a kid while I was reading them.
Posted by: Darrell | August 29, 2005 5:22 PM