by Johnny
Anyone reading the literary criticism of The Chronicles of Narnia will notice that C.S. Lewis scholars have no answers regarding the supposed disorganized, “hodgepodge” (as Tolkien referred to his friend’s creation) that characterizes the series. That is until Michael Ward and his seminal work, Planet Narnia came along. Ward believes that the popular explanation that the Narnia series are just random and chaotic does not do justice to the intricate mind of C.S. Lewis. Rather “there is an organising intelligence at work” and Ward spends his entire book showing exactly that.
Ward argues that each novel in the Narnia series corresponds to one of the seven planets of Medieval Astrology: Jupiter, Mars, Sol, Luna, Mercury, Venus, and Saturn. C.S. Lewis wrote back in 1939 that “[t]he characters of the planets, as conceived by medieval astrology, seem to me to have a permanent value as spiritual symbols”. Three years earlier, Lewis wrote a masterful poem (”The Planets”) and it is from this poem that Michael Ward noticed similarities between the descriptions of the planets and crucial plotpoints in the Narnia novels. Take for instance Lewis’ description of Jupiter, “Of wrath ended / And woes mended, of winter passed / And guilt forgiven,” which sounds like the basic plot of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, where winter passes as Aslan is on the move and his forgiving atoning work in the case of Edmund Pevensie.
Ward examines each of the planets in detail by exploring how they are portrayed in Lewis’ other works of literature and scholarship, before showing how each Narnia novel fully embodies their corresponding planet and the theological messages that result from each. In this instance Ward’s vast knowledge and respect for the C.S. Lewis corpus serves as a credit to his argument. Ward even covers his bases by tackling tough questions like did C.S. Lewis, as a Christian, believe in astrology or how come C.S. Lewis never revealed this planetary blueprint to anyone?
In the end Planet Narnia is a groundbreaking work by a C.S. Lewis scholar and is highly recommended.
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{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
revgeorge
03.06.08 at 8:25 pm
Johnny,
Thanks for the introduction to this work. Although that means I have to spend more money now!
I wonder if anyone has done anything examining the influence of Charles Williams upon Lewis. Lewis was a great admirer & friend of Williams & was devastated by his death. This idea of planetary influence in Narnia seems reminiscent of many of William’s works.
Travis Prinzi
03.06.08 at 8:38 pm
revgeorge, yes, there is some work out there on Charles Williams’ influence on Lewis. I’m only semi-familiar with it, but it’s been noted that Tolkien was not terribly happy with Williams’ influence on Lewis. Tolkien saw it was one of the factors that contributed to the cooling of their friendship, and he also thought that while the first two volumes of the Space Trilogy were excellent, the third was not as good; and he attributed the weaknesses to the influence of Williams.
I’ve gotten started on Planet Narnia, but I haven’t made much progress yet, so I’m sure Johnny can fill you in on whether Ward notes any significant Williams influences on Narnia.
revgeorge
03.06.08 at 8:48 pm
Well, I’d agree with Tolkien on the Space Trilogy. I absolutely loved Out of the Silent Planet. Perelandra I found to be good. And I did like That Hideous Strength, but it wasn’t as compelling for me. And yes, now that you mention it, I can certainly see what might be taken as William’s influence upon it, especially near the ending of the book. I guess for me, the Space Trilogy started off great & then kind of lost its umphh as it went along. Maybe it’s because of William’s influence, if any. I know that his books were really a bit deep for me.
Thanks for the info, Travis.
Travis Prinzi
03.06.08 at 10:10 pm
revgeorge, for me, the Space Trilogy started great, became tremendous with Perelandra, and I really need to do a re-read of That Hideous Strength.
What makes the Space Trilogy fascinating for Harry Potter readers is that it’s built on the alchemical Black-White-Red pattern that Books 5-7 of HP are built on. I wrote about Perelandra specifically way back in ‘05.
Johnny
03.08.08 at 1:48 pm
revgeorge, consider it money well spent. You won’t regret it. As far as Charles Williams, Ward actually mentions him several times in connection with Lewis, including from what I can remember, Lewis borrowing William’s sun imagery for the Dawn Treader.
Bob
04.24.08 at 11:04 am
Tolkien just couldn’t stand that Romanticism, could he? Pity.