Narnia’s Wardrobe or Magician’s Nephew: Which Comes First?
— Wednesday, April 1st, 2009 —
Before their bedtime each night, I’m reading C.S. Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe to my three oldest sons. I’m doing this because it’s a great story. But I’m also doing it because Lewis’s Narnia stories are, I believe, what shaped and molded my moral imagination as a child. I believe they are directly part of the means the Spirit used to point me to the truer Narnia in Christ. But by starting with the first book in the series, I realize I’m walking into a debate as well as into a wardrobe.
Some fellow Lewisphiles insist the series begins with The Magician’s Nephew. I disagree, emphatically.
The Magician’s Nephew is what would be called in today’s film lingo a “prequel,” rather than a beginning. The narrative takes place chronologically before the other stories. But it makes sense only when read after them. That’s because it ties together loose ends and throws further light on the origins behind some of the characters and plotlines readers have already grown to know.
The Magician’s Nephew, then, is not like Genesis in the biblical canon. That’s the place of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, providing the foundational story.
The Magician’s Nephew is like Revelation 12 or the entire Books of Ephesians and Hebrews. These biblical books explain the archetypes behind things to which we’ve already grown accustomed. They make the reader exclaim, “Ah, that’s why there’s marriage and childbearing” or “Oh, so that’s why the people of Israel kept being pursued to the point of death” or “Hmm…so that was the point of the furniture in the Tabernacle.”
The first books of the Narnia series offer mysteries (Where did the White Witch come from? Who is the professor, really?), but they’re mysteries one doesn’t notice as mysteries. That waits until later.
26 Responses to “Narnia’s Wardrobe or Magician’s Nephew: Which Comes First?”
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Wow Dr. Moore, I didn’t know that by a simple comment on your Facebook status, I would inspire you to write an entire blog on it. Good to know I inspire something. I will agree that it is a prequel…but it is still numbered 1 in the series….and personally, that is the way I read them. :)
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There are two arrangements for the books. The publishers release order — numbered corresponding to the order in which they were written and published, and then the Narnian Chronological order (corresponds with Narnian history).
If memory serves correctly, after all had been published, Lewis said he preferred the Narnian Chronological order.
I myself like the published order best. It’s how my box set came.
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Yes, it was written as a prequel. But once written… Would you really rather start with mystery once the fullness of revelation has come? I certainly don’t point people to OT Jewish sacrifices as a way to live until I am sufficiently convinced that they are ready to hear about Jesus!
And as long as we’re getting into this discussion, is there anyone else who puts aside The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe just a few pages before the end to read The Horse and His Boy? If you can’t tell, I love the chronological arrangement where I can manage it (i.e., in book series like The Chronicles of Narnia).
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I was thinking of in that light, but don’t think that I could have put it that way. Very encouraging.
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I agree with you. You lose so much of the literary enjoyment if you read Magician’s Nephew first. Also, a point of clarification Lewis never actually endorsed the chronological order. In his “Letters to Children” he referenced that it could be good to read it that way but he didn’t say that it was his preference. I still stick with the published order even though it’s hard to find them in that order anywhere.
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Dr. Moore,
Having enjoyed Narnia for going on 20 years of my 26 year old life, I must say that Wardrobe DEFINITELY comes first, and Magician’s Nephew comes 6th. I have the hardback collection set by HarperCollins, and I am looking at them now laughing because my set goes 2, 4, 5, 6, 3, 1, and 7 according to their order - I will gladly keep mine in the published order and will proudly tell any newcomer to Narnia to do the same. This order simply maintains the wonder and suprise element found in the books. More importantly, one of my best friends, your favorite student Raymond Johnson, would agree! Raise up your boys in the right order, and when old, they won’t read Narnia any other way.
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I’m glad you see it this way. I was very thankful that the movie producers decided to do the films in their original order. I think Lewis’ remark needs to be taken as off-the-cuff.
I always read the series in the order they were released.
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Agreed. Actually, having just read The Magician’s Nephew to my kids (after reading LWW, Prince Caspian, and Voyage of the Dawn Treader)—the most pressing mystery that is revealed is the answer to the question, “Why on earth is there a lamppost in the middle of the forest?”
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Reading The Magician’s Nephew first is akin to watching Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, and Revenge of the Sith before watching the classic Star Wars Trilogy. I had our daughter do that, thinking that it would all make better sense that way–but, then, when watching the climactic scene in Episode V (”I am your father”) that so shocked me as a child and kept me arguing with my friends for two years, Hannah’s response was, “Well, yeah, I already knew that.”
Much of the magic in watching or reading a prequel comes from feeling you’re getting the “inside joke” because you already know the ending. I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch to say that our lives are like that: When I reflect today on certain moments in my past (”the prequel”) in light of my present, I see how God was working even then, and I am on the inside of a joke that is the greatest joke of all because it is true and beautiful and good, a joke wherein the punchline is the very providence of God.
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Thanks for the blog. I’m a huge fan of the books. I first read them in 7th grade. A great Christian English teacher gave me a copy of the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. After reading it I asked my parents to buy me the whole set for Christmas. “You want books for Christmas?” was the reply. Not that they were against it. But usually it was video games and ninja turtle action figures. That book definitely started my love affair with reading.
I also am a fan of reading them in the order they were released. But I have a question that is slightly off topic. I’m glad you are reading it to your sons. Do you plan on reading them all the books? And if so, how do you plan on explaining the inclusivism in The Last Battle? I know it confused me in 7th grade, well before I knew big fancy words like inclusivism. I was blessed with good Christian parents who took me to church and made sure I knew Jesus is the only way. It did wind up breaking some of the “magic” of the books for me then and now.
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Wardrobe should definately go first. Magician’s Nephew makes much more sense when you do it that way, and it also leaves some of the best moments in Wardrobe a mystery until you read Magician’s Nephew. What is that lampost doing there? Where did the Wardrobe come from? Why is the professor open to the idea of this whole adventure? These things are more enjoyable if you read Wardrobe first.
I always think you should read them in published order, although I don’t mind moving Horse and His Boy after Wardrobe if you want. But Wardrobe belongs first, in my opinion.
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@Kevin: Of course, even Lewis’ “inclusivism” was more an “agnostic exclusivism” than inclusivism: “The truth is God has not told us what His arrangements about the other people are. We do know that no man can be saved except through Christ; we do not know that only those who know Him can be saved by Him.” (Mere Christianity). We may (and should) validly disagree with such a statement; however, it provides a great jumping-off point to discussing Romans 1 with your child, how condemnation rightly comes both upon those who have heard the name of Jesus and those who have not.
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The published order makes the most sense for a first time reader. As far as Horse and His Boy goes, it should be saved for later simply because there is a sense of continuity between Wardrobe and Prince Caspian. Horse doesn’t add to it and reading it between them would serve only to break the continuity.
For a “second time through” reading, though, I’d read the series in chronological order (including the interrupted Wardrobe per Matt above).
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Dr. Moore is right (as he usually is). LWW is far and away the first to be read. This is true if for no other reason than the introduction of Aslan is completely ruined otherwise. The readers feel the same expectation and wonder as the kids are introduced to him in LWW and all of that would be lost if one read MN first. Besides seeing my son explode with gleeful excitement at the revelation that young Diggory grew up to be the professor in LWW (i.e., the end of MN) was too good to miss. :-)
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@TimothyPaulJones: Thanks for the reply. Tough, but worthy subject for bedtime. :)
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It’s like watching the Star Wars Prequels before the originals. The Prequels make no sense, until after one views the original films.
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I agree with you so strongly. It would be impossible to articulate how much I agree.
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YES! Finally, articulation for my own debate with people ever since I started seeing all those chronological editions start surfacing. I remember seeing the first chronological set and thinking,”Are you kidding me?!” Well Done and thank you so very much! And to Derek B, I totally understand you and second your post. For Narnia and for Aslan!
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Absolutely - Wardrobe comes first. I remember getting mad years ago when the first new editions came out with Magician’s Nephew first. You don’t get the mystery and excitement of the books reading them that way.
Having recently read them to my children, Magician’s Nephew even references the “earlier” books - and the references don’t make sense unless the book was intended by Lewis to be read later.
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I agree, Dr. Moore! Prequels are not the same as foundations. I feel the same way about the viewing order of the Star Wars movies, by the way. . . . minus the spiritual ramifications, of course. :-D
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I agree that ‘Wardrobe’ should be read before ‘Nephew,’ for similar reasons.
I also recommend Michael Ward’s Planet Narnia (with a caveat: it discusses literature and symbolism and Lewis’s writing methods fairly heavily, and could steal away a bit of the “magic” from the series for those who aren’t interested in these topics).
Ward also prefers “Wardrobe” being read first, as he argues that it conveys a sense of Christ as King, whereas “Nephew” conveys a sense of Christ as Lifegiver. Both true (Rev 17:14, Col 1:16), but one perhaps more relevant to a reader.
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Kevin, I’ve been out of town and just am looking through the comments. I do not plan to read the comment you mentioned aloud to my boys at this time. They’re too young to really get the argument at this point, so I probably will just skip over it. I’ll read it when they’re older and explain why I think explicit faith in Christ is necessary for salvation.
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