Narnia
Fantasy in fur coats
Tumnus the faun ©
The very first element of Narnia came to Lewis when he was sixteen. He saw in his imagination a faun (a mythological creature like a man with goat legs) carrying parcels in a snowy wood. The image stayed with him, and many years later it found a place in one of his stories.
Lewis began writing The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe in 1948. The inspiration is not difficult to guess. A few years earlier, during the Second World War, Lewis's household had played host to a group of children evacuated from London and other cities: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe begins with four evacuees staying in the house of an old professor.
One of the girls provided another piece of inspiration when she asked to play in a wardrobe in Lewis's house. He soon set out to write a story for the children, who, he thought, did not read enough. One can detect the author's own voice behind the professor's repeated cries of "What do they teach them at these schools?"
Narnia gave Lewis an opportunity to indulge his love for animals and mythological creatures. In Narnia there are both normal animals and intelligent, talking ones; valiant Mice and proud Horses live alongside giants, unicorns and satyrs.
The Pevensie children are evacuees ©
It may surprise readers who imagine that Lewis set out from the beginning to re-tell the Christian tale to find out that Aslan, the Christ-like lion, was not even thought of until some way into the story. Then, as Lewis put it, he "came bounding into it" and brought with him all the ideas Lewis needed to finish the book.
Lewis's friend J.R.R. Tolkien did not like the finished work. He disapproved of the mixture of mythological creatures inhabiting Narnia and did not care much for the quality of the writing. Lewis's publisher had doubts about whether it would sell, and thought there was more chance if the book were part of a series. Lewis soon obliged, and wrote one Narnia book a year until the seventh brought the series to a definite end.
At the time of publication, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe went against a trend towards realism in children's stories. Reviews of the books were not sympathetic; many were highly critical. This did not discourage its intended readership, who loved the books: they remain popular today.