This forum was closed on October 1st, 2010. However, the archives are open to the public and filled with vast amounts of good reading and information for you to enjoy. If you wish to meet some Wardrobians, please visit the Into the Wardrobe Facebook group.

Additional writings about Narnia not in the 7 books????

Please don't close the door behind you.

Additional writings about Narnia not in the 7 books????

Postby lhaaheim » August 18th, 2009, 5:13 am

Hello, I wanted to know if there are additional writings about Narnia from C.S. Lewis, things like short stories, appendices, poems etc. I'm not really looking for interpretations of his writings, influences or how he went about doing it (but more then happy to have it if included/accompanying what I'm looking for). I'm interested in finding finished and unfinished writings additional to the 7 novels about Narnia that give background info, other stories, info that ties up loose ends etc. It doesn’t have to be written by C.S. Lewis himself as long as it’s directly from him or corresponding to a close relationship with him. I'm not sure how much is out there but I would appreciate it if someone could point me in the right direction or tell me if/what such pieces exist. I've looked around for this info myself but I'm not having much luck figuring it out. There doesn't appear to be as much compared to say all of Tolkien's additional writings about Middle Earth but that's the sort of thing I'm looking for. I want to soak in as much of Narnia as I can. Thank you very much for taking the time to read this, I hope you have a lovely day.

Elizabeth
lhaaheim
 
Posts: 2
Joined: Aug 2009

Re: Additional writings about Narnia not in the 7 books????

Postby Sven » August 18th, 2009, 7:46 pm

Welcome, Elizabeth!

In addition to the seven books, there are two poems, titled Narnia Suite 1: March for Strings, Kettledrums, and Sixty-three Dwarfs and Narnia Suite 2: March for Drum, Trumpet ,and Twenty-one Giants. Narnia Suite can be found in the collection Poems, by C. S. Lewis, ISBN 978-0156027694. Also, there is the Lefay Fragment, Lewis' first start on the book that would become The Magician's Nephew. It can only be found in the out-of-print book Past Watchful Dragons, by Walter Hooper. You should also read the essay by Lewis On Three Ways of Writing for Children, collected in Of Other Worlds: Essays and Stories, ISBN 978-0156027670. Lastly, you can glean a lot by reading Lewis' letters, written both to children asking questions as well as to adults, in Collected Letters Volume III: Narnia, Cambridge, and Joy 1950-1963, edited by Walter Hooper.

Hope this helps.
Rat! he found breath to whisper, shaking. Are you afraid?
Afraid? murmured the Rat, his eyes shining with unutterable love.
Afraid! Of Him? O, never, never! And yet -- and yet -- O, Mole, I am afraid!
Then the two animals, crouching to the earth, bowed their heads and did worship.
User avatar
Sven
 
Posts: 2883
Joined: Aug 1996
Location: Greenbelt, MD, near Washington DC

Re: Additional writings about Narnia not in the 7 books????

Postby The Quangle Wangle » August 21st, 2009, 5:30 pm

Isn't there also a timeline?
User avatar
The Quangle Wangle
 
Posts: 29
Joined: Feb 2009

Re: Additional writings about Narnia not in the 7 books????

Postby Sven » August 21st, 2009, 7:12 pm

Good catch, QW. That's also in Past Watchful Dragons, though Paul Ford has an excellent illustration of it as Appendix 3 in the latest edition of his Companion to Narnia.
Rat! he found breath to whisper, shaking. Are you afraid?
Afraid? murmured the Rat, his eyes shining with unutterable love.
Afraid! Of Him? O, never, never! And yet -- and yet -- O, Mole, I am afraid!
Then the two animals, crouching to the earth, bowed their heads and did worship.
User avatar
Sven
 
Posts: 2883
Joined: Aug 1996
Location: Greenbelt, MD, near Washington DC

Re: Additional writings about Narnia not in the 7 books????

Postby carol » August 21st, 2009, 11:46 pm

The timeline was never seen until Hooper published "Past Watchful Dragons". We have to accept it as authentically Lewis, as we have no alternative.
That timeline has been copied into all sorts of places since - my Brian Sibley/Pauline Baynes book from late 90s "The land of Narnia" used it, and I quoted from that here ten years ago. Several websites have it, some people have reworded the comments presumably to avoid copyright issues?
Image
carol
Wardrobian
 
Posts: 3673
Joined: Apr 1999
Location: New Zealand

Re: Additional writings about Narnia not in the 7 books????

Postby lhaaheim » August 30th, 2009, 4:19 am

Thank you, you all have been most helpful! Furthermore this site has been very helpful, for example I had no idea the publishers changed the order of the books or that it caused such great debate. I am curious as to when the change occurred since I'm 23 and I grew up with the original publication order being the order the books were read. Then again I was basing this off my school library's books which were old at the time and the guidance of my school librarian. So why they had to switch it after so many years makes little sense to me. After thoroughly reading the arguments available online I came to the conclusion, quite passionately, that the books should be read in the original publication order. I never thought I would feel so strongly about such a thing but alas I do and will thus raise my future children accordingly. I think it all rests on personal experience and memories, especially fond recollections of a childhood introduction into the land of Narnia through the wardrobe. Well I digress from my original topic but if someone would humor me and please share with me when the order changed from publication to chronological I would appreciate it.

Elizabeth
lhaaheim
 
Posts: 2
Joined: Aug 2009

Re: Additional writings about Narnia not in the 7 books????

Postby Julesmerope » February 24th, 2010, 1:42 pm

I think press, radio, tv interviews with CSL would also be a good source.
I am hoping to track these down myself and have located one, dated 1963, i think for time magazine and another BBC radio interview but there are others, im sure.
where is the best place to look or at least find an index/list of them?
Julesmerope
 
Posts: 1
Joined: Feb 2010


Return to The Chronicles of Narnia

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered members and 17 guests