David Jasper points out that in George MacDonald's fantasy, Phantastes, "Fairyland is not so much the goal of the traveller's quest as the location of the spiritual journey which itself enables the quester to perceive something of the truth in God." (The Cambridge Companion to C. S. Lewis, 224)
Certainly C. S. Lewis learned that truth from MacDonald; so he wrote the exchange between Aslan and Lucy and Edmund near the end of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. As the children realize they are about to return to their world Lucy says, "It isn't Narnia, you know, it's you. We shan't meet you there. Aslan responds, "But you shall meet me, dear one." So Edmund asks, "Are—are you there too, Sir?" Aslan replies, "I am. But there I have another name. you must learn to know me by that name. That was the very reason why you were brought to Narnia, that by knowing me here for a little while, you may know me better there."
So there are many examples of characters in fantasy literature going into a fairyland where they "perceive something of the truth of God" and lead us to do the same. I'll suggest a few in this post.
First, I think of the members of the Fellowship entering LothlĎŚrien in Tolkien's The Fellowship of the Ring (Chapters VI - IX). One could spend days or weeks mining the golden truths the questers received from Galadriel and others in her realm.
Then there's Smith in Tolkien's short story, Smith of Wootton Major. If you haven't read that glorious little story in a while, or at all, I urge you to spend an hour or so allowing Tolkien to mesmerize you. On second thought, it may take you longer if you linger on some of the glorious descriptions of the world of faery.
Don't forget George MacDonald's short fairytale The Golden Key that I believe is in the background of Lewis's glorious ending of The Last Battle. And of course there's MacDonald's other children's fairy tales, The Princess and the Goblin and The Princess and Curdie.
You can't stay in the faery-world forever you know. You have to come back and live in this world. But once you have experienced God there you will be enabled to see Him here.
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Let The Holidays Begin
C. S. Lewis was such a wonderful writer and storyteller. This morning I discovered a delightful detail of beauty he included in The Chronicles of Narnia.
In The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe the narrator tells us when the children—Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy—heard Aslan's name spoken the first time each one felt something jump in his inside. "Edmund felt a sensation of mysterious horror. Peter felt suddenly brave and adventurous. Susan felt as if some delicious smell or some delightful strain of music had just floated by her. And Lucy got the feeling you have when you wake up in the morning and realize that it is the beginning of the holidays or the beginning of summer" (chapter 7).
And, of course, those initial feelings proved to be significant in the story. Edmund was, by that time, loyal to the White Witch. So he had accepted the Witch's animosity toward the Lion. Peter became brave and adventurous in this story and throughout the series. Susan received the numinous quality of Aslan that she ultimately lost. Lucy's reaction was an inkling of the joy and satisfaction she would know "in Aslan" in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
Yet, Lucy's reaction was also an inkling of ultimate joy, for near the end of The Last Battle Lucy says to Aslan, "We're so afraid of being sent away, Aslan. And you have sent us back into our own world so often." Aslan assures Lucy and the others listening that he will no longer send them back to their world. "No fear of that. Have you not guessed?" The narrator comments, "Their hearts leaped and a wild hope rose within them." So Aslan tells them, "There was a real railway accident. Your father and mother and all of you are—as you used to call it in the Shadow-Lands—dead. The term is over: the holidays have begun. The dream has ended: this is the morning."
After seven stories and several years of writing, did Lewis remember Lucy's initial response to Aslan? Did he include it purposefully in The Last Battle to provide symmetry? We don't know. Perhaps that detail was part of the inspiration Lewis was under as he wrote the Chronicles. Whatever happened, I am grateful for that little stroke of beauty in the tapestry.
More than that, I am grateful that this beautiful detail will be true for us when Lord Jesus Christ brings this world to an end and takes us to our new home, the new heavens and the new earth. The term will be over: the holidays will begin. The dream will end: it will be the morning.
In The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe the narrator tells us when the children—Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy—heard Aslan's name spoken the first time each one felt something jump in his inside. "Edmund felt a sensation of mysterious horror. Peter felt suddenly brave and adventurous. Susan felt as if some delicious smell or some delightful strain of music had just floated by her. And Lucy got the feeling you have when you wake up in the morning and realize that it is the beginning of the holidays or the beginning of summer" (chapter 7).
And, of course, those initial feelings proved to be significant in the story. Edmund was, by that time, loyal to the White Witch. So he had accepted the Witch's animosity toward the Lion. Peter became brave and adventurous in this story and throughout the series. Susan received the numinous quality of Aslan that she ultimately lost. Lucy's reaction was an inkling of the joy and satisfaction she would know "in Aslan" in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
Yet, Lucy's reaction was also an inkling of ultimate joy, for near the end of The Last Battle Lucy says to Aslan, "We're so afraid of being sent away, Aslan. And you have sent us back into our own world so often." Aslan assures Lucy and the others listening that he will no longer send them back to their world. "No fear of that. Have you not guessed?" The narrator comments, "Their hearts leaped and a wild hope rose within them." So Aslan tells them, "There was a real railway accident. Your father and mother and all of you are—as you used to call it in the Shadow-Lands—dead. The term is over: the holidays have begun. The dream has ended: this is the morning."
After seven stories and several years of writing, did Lewis remember Lucy's initial response to Aslan? Did he include it purposefully in The Last Battle to provide symmetry? We don't know. Perhaps that detail was part of the inspiration Lewis was under as he wrote the Chronicles. Whatever happened, I am grateful for that little stroke of beauty in the tapestry.
More than that, I am grateful that this beautiful detail will be true for us when Lord Jesus Christ brings this world to an end and takes us to our new home, the new heavens and the new earth. The term will be over: the holidays will begin. The dream will end: it will be the morning.
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Jewel's Jubilance
Last Sunday evening I completed an eight-week discussion of Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia for a church in the Anglican tradition. At long last we came to The Last Battle. Part of our experience was to listen to expressions of joy by characters who had just arrived in the real Narnia. Not least is Jewel's euphoric declaration as he began to experience the glory of his new home:
"I have come home at last! This is my real country! I belong here. This is the land I have been looking for all my life, though I never knew it till now. The reason why we loved the old Narnia is that it sometimes looked a little like this. Bree-hee-hee! Come further up, come further in."
Is it a coincidence that Jewel's jubilance is a seven-fold amen, as it were? No doubt Jewel spoke many words after that. He had an eternity to declare the glories of Aslan's Country. Given his loyal friendship with Narnia's last king, Tirian, I'm sure Jewel's vocation in his true home included friendship, loyalty and the unique glory of a unicorn.
"I have come home at last! This is my real country! I belong here. This is the land I have been looking for all my life, though I never knew it till now. The reason why we loved the old Narnia is that it sometimes looked a little like this. Bree-hee-hee! Come further up, come further in."
Is it a coincidence that Jewel's jubilance is a seven-fold amen, as it were? No doubt Jewel spoke many words after that. He had an eternity to declare the glories of Aslan's Country. Given his loyal friendship with Narnia's last king, Tirian, I'm sure Jewel's vocation in his true home included friendship, loyalty and the unique glory of a unicorn.
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