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For over half a century, scholars have labored to show that C. S. Lewis's famed but apparently disorganized Chronicles of Narnia have an underlying symbolic coherence, pointing to such possible unifying themes as the seven sacraments, the seven deadly sins, and the seven books of Spenser's Faerie Queene. None of these explanations has won general acceptance and the structure of Narnia's symbolism has remained a mystery. Michael Ward has finally solved the enigma. In Planet Narnia he demonstrates that medieval cosmology, a subject which fascinated Lewis throughout his life, provides the imaginative key to the seven novels. Drawing on the whole range of Lewis's writings, Ward reveals how the Narnia stories were designed to express the characteristics of the seven medieval planets-Jupiter, Mars, Sol, Luna, Mercury, Venus, and Saturn-planets which Lewis described as "spiritual symbols of permanent value." Using these seven symbols, Lewis secretly constructed the Chronicles so that in each book the plot-line, the ornamental details, and, most important, the portrayal of the Christ-figure of Aslan, all serve to communicate the governing planetary personality. Planet Narnia is a groundbreaking study that will provoke a major revaluation not only of the Chronicles, but of Lewis's whole literary and theological outlook.… (more)
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Ward's thesis seems at first sight to be far-fetched: linking the seven books of the Narnia Chronicles to the seven "planets" of medieval cosmology (Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus,
The key comparisons for the analysis of planetary images in Narnia are Lewis's poetry, particularly the alliterative poem "The Planets", and the Cosmic Trilogy, especially That Hideous Strength, and Ward sheds useful light on the planetary imagery in these other works. But the discussion ranges far and wide among Lewis's writings, from Miracles to Studies in Words, the Oxford History of English Literature, and The Discarded Image, expounding Lewis's view of symbol and allegory, and showing how each of the seven books presents the spiritual character of the planet with which it is associated. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is permeated by images of joviality and the return of the rule of Jove, dispeller of winter; Prince Caspian is thoroughly martial; The Voyage of the 'Dawn Treader' solar; while the deceptive influence of the moon pervades The Silver Chair. The mercurial qualities of quicksilver and of language (Viritrilbia in the Cosmic Trilogy) underlie The Horse and His Boy, the fertility of Venus is found in The Magician's Nephew, and the maleficence of Saturn is exemplified, and overcome, in The Last Battle. The astrological scheme does not detract from the books' Christological intent, for in each case, the Christ-figure Aslan is presented in the corresponding planetary aspect.
Ward argues that Lewis would inevitably have concealed such a schema, both for literary-philosophical reasons (true Enjoyment is hindered by looking at rather than through the object of contemplation) and because of his own secretive tendencies; and that scholars less deeply familiar than Lewis with medieval imagery, or reluctant to engage seriously with astrology, have almost universally overlooked it. He also debunks the claim that Lewis retreated from apologetic into children's fiction after his debating defeat by the philosopher Elizabeth Anscombe, presenting the stories as outworkings in a different medium of Lewis's theological beliefs.
The author's Lewisian wit -- for example, in coining the term "donegality" for the peculiar spiritual atmosphere of each book -- is occasionally irritating, but overall the book is well-argued and well-written, and the author's deep knowledge of Lewis's thought is constantly apparent. It is hard to see how anyone can now write a literary or theological study of Narnia without taking Ward's ideas very seriously indeed.
MB 22-i-2009, rev. 2-ii-2009
The author asks why the Chronicles of Narnia have been so beloved? Why did Lewis write them, a childless never married older man, were they a response to the difficulties he encountered in his debate on his book Miracles or was it an escape from the difficulties of apologetics? If there is a tie between the medieval idea of the cosmos and these books why didn't Lewis ever talk about it?
The initial and most of the chapters making up the book are pretty dense as he talks about each individual planet in the medieval cosmos and each of the books in the Chronicles of Narnia. But the closing chapters draws it all together very well.
I purchased my copy used and was happy to note it is autographed by the author.