Step into the Wardrobe This peerless companion has served as an adventurer's passport to the land of Narnia for twenty-five years and was used by the cast and crew of the major motion picture The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe . From Aslan, the Great Lion, to Zardeenah, the mysterious lady of the night, this comprehensive, accessible book contains hundreds of alphabetically arranged and indexed entries covering all the characters, events, places, and themes that Lewis brilliantly wove into his timeless and magical world. For readers of all ages, this is the perfect guide for the enchanted world of C. S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia.

Companion to Narnia, Revised Edition
A Complete Guide to the Magical World of C.S. Lewis’s THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA

Introduction

The test of a good story, said C. S. Lewis, is whether it is oftenreread.

His own stories, the Chronicles of Narnia (also known as the Narniad,imitating the great chronicle of the siege of Troy, the Iliad),have surpassed that test for millions of readers. Most of us who havefallen under the spell of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe have not only stayed to hear or read the story of Narnia from its beginning toits second beginning (The Last Battle) but find ourselves returningagain and again, perhaps every few years, to appreciate anew its realbeauties. Each reader brings to the Chronicles his or her own storyand comes away with expanded horizons and renewed vision.

This Companion to Narnia has been written for those who knowthe Chronicles to be very good stories and who want to take a friendback with them to point out sights they haven't seen or want to seeagain through another pair of eyes.

If you have ever read the Chronicles aloud to a child or group ofchildren, you know that they raise questions you haven't even considered.This volume does not intend to give final answers (because nofinal meaning can ever be put to a work of the imagination), but tosuggest the direction in which answers and deeper meanings can besought. Companion to Narnia means to help you explore the various strands that Lewis weaves into the fabric of the Chronicles -- literary, religious, philosophical, mythopoeic, homely, and personal images --the same fibers out of which our own stories are woven.

With the encyclopedic format of Companion to Narnia you mayexplore whatever angle you wish to take on the books. Beginninganywhere, with a character, an object, or a theme, you may go asfar as you wish in pursuing a thread of curiosity. (See Using the Companion,after this Introduction, for more guidance.)

But no guide to Narnia can ever take the place of the sevenbooks themselves.

This book has been written for young people and adults whohave read the Chronicles at least once, and who now want to explorewhat one critic has called the "allusive sub-text" that Lewis, asscholar and Christian, delighted in providing older readers of hisfairy tales. Lewis was convinced that while an author intends, abook means, that is,

the meaning of a book is the series or systems of emotions, reflections, and attitudes produced by reading it.

... this product differs with different readers ... The ideallytrue or right meaning would be that shared ... by the largestnumber of the best readers after repeated and careful readingsover several generations, different periods, nationalities, moods,degrees of alertness, private pre-occupations, states of health,spirits, and the like cancelling one another out when ... theycannot be fused so as to enrich one another.

As far as is humanly possible Companion to Narnia tries to ascertainand reveal Lewis's intentions and only then proceed to suggest themeanings of Narnian events, characters, objects, and themes.

How to Read the Chronicles of Narnia

The best way to appreciate a story is to step into it and enjoy it. AsPeter Schakel tells us, the Chronicles need to be read with the heart.

One hazard in an encyclopedic study such as this is the everpresentrisk of analyzing the life right out of a story. Stories are livingthings, and the result of any vivisection is only data about thething and not the thing itself. The information and analyses in thisbook are meant to guide you to a deeper experience of the openendednature of the Chronicles and not to close off all debate.

Another hazard to be avoided is the desire to look for allegories,one-to-one correspondences between philosophical or religiousconcepts and the characters or events or objects in a story. Lewiswas adamant that he was not writing allegory when he wrote theChronicles.

C. S. Lewis himself was very careful not to decode the Chroniclesfor the young children who wrote him about their meaning ...

Companion to Narnia, Revised Edition
A Complete Guide to the Magical World of C.S. Lewis’s THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA. Copyright © by Paul F. Ford. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold.

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Excerpted from Companion to Narnia Rev Ed: A Complete Guide to the Magical World of C. S. Lewis's the Chronicles of Narnia by Paul F. Ford
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