What order for Narnia

[Russell Nash]

Time to see if I can start a fight again.

What is the correct/best order in which to read the Narnia books?  Originally they weren't numbered, then they were numbered according to publication date, then they were numbered according to the internal chronology of the story. 

This last order wasn't used until thirty years after Lewis' death.  It's based on a letter he wrote to a child, who asked about the order.  The letter is vague and basically tells the child as long as he enjoys it, he can read it how he wants.  If Lewis didn't like the original order, why didn't he complain to the publisher?

I always lean towards the order books were written in.  The makers of the Narnia movie seem to agree with that.

What do you think?

[eytanz]

Publication date. For one, The Lion, the witch and the wardrobe is written in a style where you discover things along with the heroes; it would be less enjoyable if you've been already pre-exposed to the world. Conversely, The Magician's Nephew is written with many "A ha! I recognize this" moments, especially towards the end. Again, probably less enjoyable in the reverse order.

The later books were more or less written in the order of internal chronology (except "A horse and his boy" which overlaps chronologically The Lion, the witch and the wardrobe), so it matters less then.

[Mr. Tweedy]

Order of publication, for the reasons you both stated, and also because it is clear that Lewis' ideas were developing as he went along.  For instance, in "Lion" it is stated that the Witch is a daughter of Lilith, while in "Nephew" she is shown to be the evil ruler of a parallel universe.  Similarly, in "Lion" she is a fairly straightforward analog of Satan, while in later books the character diverges from that model and become more nuanced.  The idea of a multiverse is only present in "Nephew;" in all the books before, there were only two worlds mentioned.

Other things too.  The evolution of Narnia in Lewis' mind makes sense if you read the books in publication order.  If you put them in chronological order, it seems less like evolution and more like inconsistency.

[DKT]

I'm with everyone else: publication order.  As a reader, the build-up to seeing Aslan in the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe would kind of suck if I'd read the Magician's Nephew first.  It's like Star Wars...I can't imagine how I'd felt if I watched the prequels first then got to the Empire Strikes Back and been like, "Yeah, duh! Of course he's your father."

[Russell Nash]

Wow or shit.  Having read other posts, I thought for sure we were going to get a few people on the other side and get a fight.  I was kind of looking for the fight.

[DKT]

The day's still early 

[Russell Nash]

The day's still early 

What do you mean by that, Weirdo!

 

[DKT]

You just posted this today, right?  Still plenty of time for your fight

[Holden]

They should definitely be read in the original order (starting with LWW). If you read them in the wrong order, the white witch will add you to her collection of garden gnomes.

[Russell Nash]

You just posted this today, right?  Still plenty of time for your fight

Won't bite, huh?

It looks like we're going to have a thread where everyone just tries to say the same thing in a different and clever way.  Could be fun to watch, but no fight.