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edenfallingDecember 13: So, why cs lewis/narnia? What is it you like about the author/world? (for jen) [Tumblr crosspost]
I talked about Lewis yesterday, so today I will ramble a little bit about Narnia itself.
As I've said before in various places, I acquired a complete box set of the seven Chronicles when I was eight or nine, as a prize for winning a reading contest in my elementary school. I lost the actual box at some point in the intervening years, but I still have the books themselves -- a bit battered, and in several cases reinforced with Scotch tape around the edges of the covers, but intact and perfectly readable. The books would therefore have a special place in my heart even if I didn't love the world and stories as much as I do.
I fell in love with Narnia for what I suspect are the usual reasons. The allure of going to another world where you are wanted and important. Girls my age (remember, I was almost exactly Lucy's LWW age when I first read the books) getting to have adventures. The sheer variety of mythologies Lewis crams into his world, all higgledy-piggledy, without worrying about consistency. (This very much matches most children's imaginations, I think.) The idea that magic is possible. The idea that redemption is possible -- that people can screw up without that being the end of everything, ever. The importance of fairness and responsibility and kindness and treating all other people -- whether they're the same species, or the same social class, or whatever -- as people.
It never occurred to me that Narnia had any Christian elements. I assumed Aslan was a god -- that's fairly obvious -- but I thought he must be a pagan lion god, and occasionally spent an idle hour or two wondering how to get information on Mesopotamian or African religions to find his real-world analogue. (This was pre-internet. I genuinely had NO idea how to go about that research.) In a random turn of events, it was Neil Gaiman (via his Elric of Melnibone tribute story, "One Life, Furnished in Early Moorcock," which I have no clue why I read since I'd never read any of Moorcock's own work and therefore a collection of tribute stories by other writers is, um, an odd reading choice) who pointed out to me that hey, there was something going on here. I don't think Narnia is allegorical, though. For one thing, the stories plainly work as stories without any knowledge of Christianity, and for another, the characters are mostly just people rather than abstract ideas incarnate.
So that's Narnia as a part of my childhood. And aside from watching the BBC filmization of LWW once or twice, rereading the books was my entire experience of Narnia until late 2008/early 2009. At that point, I discovered that Narnia fanfiction existed. I am fairly sure the Disney filmization of LWW was out by then, and possibly their version of PC also? Those seem to have been what tipped Narnia from a Yuletide-eligible niche fandom to an actual significant fic-writing fandom.
I then spent a couple months telling myself I would NOT start writing Narnia fanfiction, because I knew the combination of passionate and enduring childhood love with equally passionate religious and ethical disagreement over various elements would suck me down and never let me back out again.
Obviously I gave in, and equally obviously I was right about never getting out. *wry*
What I didn't expect to love so much about writing in Narnia -- though in retrospect I probably should have -- was the vast potential for world-building. A side effect of Lewis's disinterest in continuity is that he'd create fascinating places, sketch them in just enough detail to be convincing, and then never deal with them again. He pulls a similar trick with mentions of events in Narnia's history that he isn't going to talk about now because A) there's no time and/or B) they're not pertinent to the main plot. So there are all these little sketches just begging to be filled out into proper paintings, so to speak. This gives me the freedom of original fiction -- I get to create All The Things! -- while still allowing me to remain within a fandom, with its built-in readership and sense of community. It's the best of both worlds.
And now I will stop so as to be able to post this on its assigned day. :-)
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December Talking Meme: All Days
I talked about Lewis yesterday, so today I will ramble a little bit about Narnia itself.
As I've said before in various places, I acquired a complete box set of the seven Chronicles when I was eight or nine, as a prize for winning a reading contest in my elementary school. I lost the actual box at some point in the intervening years, but I still have the books themselves -- a bit battered, and in several cases reinforced with Scotch tape around the edges of the covers, but intact and perfectly readable. The books would therefore have a special place in my heart even if I didn't love the world and stories as much as I do.
I fell in love with Narnia for what I suspect are the usual reasons. The allure of going to another world where you are wanted and important. Girls my age (remember, I was almost exactly Lucy's LWW age when I first read the books) getting to have adventures. The sheer variety of mythologies Lewis crams into his world, all higgledy-piggledy, without worrying about consistency. (This very much matches most children's imaginations, I think.) The idea that magic is possible. The idea that redemption is possible -- that people can screw up without that being the end of everything, ever. The importance of fairness and responsibility and kindness and treating all other people -- whether they're the same species, or the same social class, or whatever -- as people.
It never occurred to me that Narnia had any Christian elements. I assumed Aslan was a god -- that's fairly obvious -- but I thought he must be a pagan lion god, and occasionally spent an idle hour or two wondering how to get information on Mesopotamian or African religions to find his real-world analogue. (This was pre-internet. I genuinely had NO idea how to go about that research.) In a random turn of events, it was Neil Gaiman (via his Elric of Melnibone tribute story, "One Life, Furnished in Early Moorcock," which I have no clue why I read since I'd never read any of Moorcock's own work and therefore a collection of tribute stories by other writers is, um, an odd reading choice) who pointed out to me that hey, there was something going on here. I don't think Narnia is allegorical, though. For one thing, the stories plainly work as stories without any knowledge of Christianity, and for another, the characters are mostly just people rather than abstract ideas incarnate.
So that's Narnia as a part of my childhood. And aside from watching the BBC filmization of LWW once or twice, rereading the books was my entire experience of Narnia until late 2008/early 2009. At that point, I discovered that Narnia fanfiction existed. I am fairly sure the Disney filmization of LWW was out by then, and possibly their version of PC also? Those seem to have been what tipped Narnia from a Yuletide-eligible niche fandom to an actual significant fic-writing fandom.
I then spent a couple months telling myself I would NOT start writing Narnia fanfiction, because I knew the combination of passionate and enduring childhood love with equally passionate religious and ethical disagreement over various elements would suck me down and never let me back out again.
Obviously I gave in, and equally obviously I was right about never getting out. *wry*
What I didn't expect to love so much about writing in Narnia -- though in retrospect I probably should have -- was the vast potential for world-building. A side effect of Lewis's disinterest in continuity is that he'd create fascinating places, sketch them in just enough detail to be convincing, and then never deal with them again. He pulls a similar trick with mentions of events in Narnia's history that he isn't going to talk about now because A) there's no time and/or B) they're not pertinent to the main plot. So there are all these little sketches just begging to be filled out into proper paintings, so to speak. This gives me the freedom of original fiction -- I get to create All The Things! -- while still allowing me to remain within a fandom, with its built-in readership and sense of community. It's the best of both worlds.
And now I will stop so as to be able to post this on its assigned day. :-)
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December Talking Meme: All Days
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(no subject)
Date: 2014-12-16 11:14 pm (UTC)A while ago some of my friends were passing around a meme online which went something like "You see seven doors that lead to seven places: Narnia, Neverland, Wonderland, Hogwarts, Camelot, Middle Earth, and Westeros. Which door to you go through?" And it was obvious to me that Narnia was the right choice (also that the seven places aren't all parallel to one another). For me, as a place to go Narnia wins hands down.
(no subject)
Date: 2014-12-17 06:18 am (UTC)I mean, I wouldn't mind briefly visiting some of the other places -- well, Middle Earth, Wonderland, and Neverland, at any rate -- but for an extended stay, definitely Narnia. :-)
jen
Date: 2014-12-14 09:08 am (UTC)Re: jen
Date: 2014-12-14 09:16 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2014-12-15 02:01 pm (UTC)Lewis reminds me a bit of the OT Star Wars with all these massive gaps and bits and pieces that are just begging for expansion, random things thrown in and never mentioned again, fake history, fake geography, fake religion -- really the Star Wars notions of time in space travel are no better than Lewis' own.
(no subject)
Date: 2014-12-15 06:39 pm (UTC)It is the most irrelevant reference in the series. And every other one blew right over my head. *wry*
I hadn't thought of them as anything alike, but you're right that there are similarities in construction between Narnia and Star Wars. There's the same sense of a vast, expansive universe with a deep history that readers/viewers only catch tantalizing glimpses of. And the in-story time gaps between movies or books practically shout that there are other adventures we are not being shown. It's practically irresistible territory for fic and meta. :-)