The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis

[lightreads]

The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


Yikes. I was feeling like another childhood nostalgia reread adventure, though I should confess up front that I was never more than lukewarm on Narnia even as a wee thing. But I was pretty excited about it until the collection I grabbed put this book first. It was written sixth, but is chronologically the beginning, telling as it does the story of the creation of Narnia.

And look, I never got all bent out of shape about the Christian allegory the way a lot of my peers apparently did. It is what it is, even in this late volume where it frankly swallows much of the story.

But I do get bent out of shape by just how Conservative this book is. Stop laughing. Thematically, this book is about how evil consists centrally in believing that there are rules in the world, but that they do not apply to oneself. Digory's Uncle believes this – he's a genius, therefore he is not bound by morality – and the Witch believes this – she just doesn't give a fuck. And Digory's central act in this book is to be the inadvertent author of great and spreading evil by way of – you guessed it -- ignoring explicit strictures.

So rules are good, and following them is good, everyone got that? Okay, so then we get to the creation (I keep wanting to write 'founding,' but, uh . . . no) of Narnia. A pristine world born from nothing. But born with defaults. Rules, if you will. Software pre-installed. And it is really telling stuff about Lewis and his world. Like 'male creatures are invited by the creator to attend councils of state, female creatures are not.' And 'the natural state for a female creature and a male creature is marriage.' And here's a biggie – 'there is a natural hierarchy in which certain types of creatures are superior to other types by virtue of anointment by the creator, and the superior types must rule.'

It is what it is. He was what he was. And oh man, how much do I wish they hadn't put this book first.




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Comments

[malka]

Thank you for the warning. I imprinted hard and weirdly on this book in childhood, but I haven't re-read it in years.

The idea of having a secret tunnel in one's attic, and of magic rings that would take one from world to world -- it was very appealing. (It took me a decade or two to realize that the secret tunnel in the attic was because the houses adjoined. I assumed that they had a separated house with a magic tunnel.) I'm not sure I actually paid attention to the deeper plot, and I know I missed all the Christian allegory. Who wants plot when you can have magic rings?

[lightreads]

I remember feeling similarly about The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe -- other worlds hidden in furniture! take me there! but then somehow I failed to imprint on Narnia itself, even when I was ripe for the picking. Weird.

[the_rck]

Have you read Ana Mardoll's Narnia deconstruction? She hasn't hit The Magician's Nephew yet because she started with The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and has advanced through part of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. She has some interesting things to say about the books, a lot of things that never occurred to me but that are in line with what you're saying about this book.

[lightreads]

Wow, I had not seen that, thank you! I'm one of those weird people who more often than not avoids reviews of things until I've gotten my insta-reaction down in a couple hundred words, but I'll totally make an exception for this kind of awesomeness.

[norah]

Is your objection to the central premise that "rules are good" or to the rules themselves? The latter I can get behind, the former seems strange given your profession!

[lightreads]

It's mostly the latter, though I think you'd be surprised on the "rules are good" premise in my professional corner. Put it this way -- I'm far more interested in functional governments than I am in 100% rule obedience. And on an existential level, I am very often in life the special case/exemption to other people's rules, which gives one a fair amount of cynicism about just how useful they are to start with.