[from EmmaG]:
>Calormen is a pretty obviously Arab world, is Lewis telling us that Allah
>= Tash = a cruel devil god? I imagine he was not keen on inter-faith
>understanding!
Do you find it at all interesting that Lewis used a Turkish word for god-like creature in the book? I'm not talking about Tash of course, but the other guy. "Aslan" is the Turkish word (or at least a variation of) for "lion", and it is this creature who is the Redeemer of the Narnian world.
>In the context of a children's story it is perhaps allowable
>to have a 'good' country and a 'bad' country
I wonder which country you see in the book as the "bad" country? In The Revelation of John in the Bible we read that God would that we were either hot or cold. But if we are luke-warm he will spit us out of his mouth. In The Last Battle, it is Narnia itself that is the luke-warm country. The Calormenes are able to invade Narnia because the Narnians have become luke warm and complacent.
One of the common errors people make in reading the Chronicles of Narnia is that they see the stories as we good people against those bad guys out there. But it is almost never true in the books. In LWW, it is not the White Witch that causes the primary problem, but Edmund's betrayal that prevents the children from fulfilling the prophesy easily. In Magician's Nephew it is not Jadis that initiates the bad things, but Digory in striking the bell. Jill and Eustace in not reciting the four signs as they have been commanded are the ones who hinder the task they are on by missing the signs, etc, etc. Yes there are "bad guys out there" too in the books, but it is "we good guys" who invariably "bring it on" to ourselves.
And isn't it interesting that at the end of The Last Battle, when Lucy is surveying the New Narnia in Heaven, she sees afar off, Tashbaan as part of the new creation.
--Stanley
