C. S. Lewis: The Magician's Nephew

C. S. Lewis: The Magician's Nephew

"The Magician/' s Nephew is chronologically the first book in the Narnia series by C. S. Lewis. Set about 50 Years before the events in "The Lion- the Witch and the Wardrobe"- it describes how the Contd...

"The Magician/' s Nephew is chronologically the first book in the Narnia series by C. S. Lewis. Set about 50 Years before the events in "The Lion- the Witch and the Wardrobe"- it describes how the land of Narnia came into being.

If you watched the recent movie "The Lion- the Witch and the Wardrobe"- you might have wondered about two details: why does a wardrobe lead into the magical land of Narnia- and why does Lucy find a lantern burning in the middle of a forest?

"The Magician"s Nephew" answers these questions (though I will not give the answers away in this review) and many more. The novel contains the genesis (literally) of the entire Narnia cycle.

The story begins in late 19th-century London- when two children- Polly and Digory accidentally enter the secret study of Digory/' s eccentric uncle Andrew while exploring a passage that connects the attics of several houses.
The uncle is actually a magician- and he tricks Polly and his nephew into performing an experiment involving magic rings. These rings transport the children into the "Wood between the Worlds"- a quiet forest that contains numerous small pools serving as gates to other worlds. Polly and Digory jump into one of the pools and explore the ruined city of Charn- where Digory is faced with a great temptation. A sign on a small bell next to a sleeping woman proclaims:

Make your choice- adventurous Stranger-
Strike the bell and bide the danger-
Or wonder- till it drives you mad- What would have followed if you had.

Digory is unable to resist and strikes the bell- which has momentous consequences. The sound awakens the woman- Empress Jadis- who had destroyed the entire city of Charn with a curse thousands of years ago. She manages to follow the children to London- and scenes of hilarious mayhem ensue.

Eventually- the two children- the uncle- the cruel Empress and a cabbie and his horse are transported back to the Wood between the Worlds and from there to a new world that is just coming into being - Narnia.
The creation of Narnia is described in poetic detail- and afterwards Digory has to atone for his earlier mistake by resisting another temptation - the fruit from the forbidden tree. The history of Narnia begins- but the shadow of evil (the Empress will one day return as the White Witch) and the future necessity of Aslan/' s sacrifice are already hinted at.

Sound plays an important role in this novel: there is the drowsy stillness of the Wood between the Worlds- the barren silence of the city of Charn shattered by the bell- the harmony of the celestial spheres and the creative song of Aslan/' s voice. All this makes "The Magician"s Nephew" a true prelude to Narnia.

tagged

Related Articles:

• Sledgehammer -- Medical Fiction Thriller at Its Best
  Looking for a good fiction book to read? Look no further. This medical thriller will have you glued to every page as the drama unfolds and an ER doctor must stop a biochemical nightmare from happenin
  


• Book Review for Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed
  Coming on strong after the success of his Pulitzer Prize-winning Guns- Germs- and Steel- Jared Diamond/' s new book- Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed is a tome of intriguing insi
  


• Fact or Fiction --- Terrorist attack our nation using smallpox as a weapon against us?
  It very well could be real- but for now it’s the latest heart-pounding fiction book- Sledgehammer- about a terrorist who arrives in the ER with smallpox symptoms. An ER physician suspects it but h
  


• A Book Review & Critique of Jay Adams' Book Competent to Counsel
  It wasn/' t until the early 1970/' s when I was introduced to Jay Adams that I begin to see a great distinction between generic counseling and genuine biblical counseling. I was 21 years old at the t
  


• 115 Ways to Reduce Anxiety – Book Review
  Mike Marcoe writes from first hand experience in his book 115 Ways to Reduce Anxiety- providing advice from the view of one who has traveled the road of anxiety for a long time- undergoing therapie
  


• Ebook Review: How to turn Auction Traffic into Cash!!!
  EBOOK DETAILS File Size: 1- 071kb Zipped- 1- 122b Unzipped. Number of Pages: 45 Format: Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) Subject: A guide to using eBay traffic to create a lifetime customer base for virtually a
  

• Home

Main Categories

• Arts Entertainment
• Business
• Communications
• Computers
• Disease Illness
• Fashion
• Finance
• Food Beverage
• Health Fitness
• Home Family
• Internet Business
• Politics
• Product Reviews
• Recreation Sports
• Reference Education
• Self Improvement
• Society
• Travel Leisure
• Vehicles
• Writing Speaking

Sub Category

• Book Reviews
• Consumer Electronics
• Digital Products
• Movie Reviews
• Music Reviews

Favorite Links

• Free website templates
• Open Web Design
• sNews CMS
• OSWD.org
• xNavigation

 

 

 

 

 

© 2007 www.travelmycity.com.