I was thinking about the re-numbering of the Chronicles of Narnia into their ‘chronological’ order in the current publications. I think it’s stupid. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is most definitely written as the first book in a series, even if C.S. Lewis himself did not realize that Narnia would even be a series. Reading the books in chronological order only makes sense if you’ve read them through once already, and The Magician’s Nephew takes away much of the magic of The Lion if it’s read first. It doesn’t much matter, after The Lion, which is read next, but I believe that placing The Magician’s Nephew before The Lion is doing readers a grave disservice.
Watching Narnia be created should carry with it at least a bit of history (or, in this case future) so that the reader has that sense of recognition and can make the connections to things he/she already knows. The creation of Narnia is awe-inspiring because the reader knows what happens later. That is why the creation story in the Bible is awe-inspiring as well. We live the future of creation, we know what’s happened since God separated the waters and called forth dry land and called the light ‘day’ and the darkness ‘night.’ And since C.S. Lewis wrote these tales as a Christian allegory, that comparison can be made.
I also think that placing The Magician’s Nephew just before The Last Battle is a very powerful literary statement. Intended or not, that particular juxtaposition lends credence to the fact that within all creations there is the seed of their own destruction. Everything has a beginning and an end. While that connection is probably beyond most kids who read the series, the underlying theme is still present. Just as talking with babies increases their ability to speak, presenting kids with complex ideas increases their ability to think. And really, sometimes I think we don’t give kids enough credit. I know I didn’t understand the juxtaposition of creation and destruction when I first read the series, but looking back on it, I would not have wanted to read the books in any other order. They were written in the order they were published, with the exception of The Silver Chair and The Horse and His Boy. Doesn’t it make sense, then, to read them in the order that the author created them? The emotional impact of the childred in The Magician’s Nephew bringing the White Witch into Narnia upon its creation does not impact the reader as much if they don’t know who the White Witch becomes.
If you want the argument put in a more sensical way, try this link: Aslan While not taking sides on the debate, the author does present some convincing evidence on both sides of the fence. According to him, I guess I’m a publicationist. And I do advocate enjoying these books first as entertainment and second as a loose allegory to the Christian story. My only true, unwavering feeling is that The Lion comes first. After that, it matters not how they are read.
