Deeper Meaning in Narnia

As from Magdalene College,
Cambridge
5 March 1961

Dear Anne --

What Aslan meant when he said he had died is, in one sense, plain enough. Read the earlier book in the series called The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, and you will find the full story of how he was killed by the White Witch and came to life again. When you have read that, I think you will probably see that there is deeper meaning behind it.

The whole Narnian story is about Christ. That is to say, I asked myself 'Supposing there really were a world like Narnia, and supposing it had (like our world) gone wrong, and supposing Christ wanted to go into that world and save it (as He did ours) what might have happened?'

The stories are my answer. Since Narnia is a world of Talking Beasts, I thought He would become a Talking Beast there, as he became a Man here. I pictured Him becoming a lion there because (a) The lion is supposed to be the King of beasts: (b) Christ is called 'The Lion of Judah' in the Bible: (c) I'd been having strange dreams about lions when I began writing the books. The whole series works out like this:

The Magician's Nephew tells the creation and how evil entered Narnia.

The Lion etc ___________ the Crucifixion and Resurrection

Prince Caspian __________ restoration of the true religion after a corruption

The Horse and his Boy_____________the calling and conversion of a heathen.

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader_________ the spiritual life (specially in Reepicheep)

The Silver Chair _____________ the continued war against the powers of darkness

The Last Battle ____________ the coming of Antichrist (the Ape). The end of the world, and the Last Judgement

All clear?

Yours

C. S. Lewis

(Collected Letters of C. S. Lewis, Volume III, pp. 1244-1245)

Comments

mimi said…

who was this Anne he wrote to? Was she a fan or a relative or..?
Grateful for an answer.
- Mimi

5:39 AM

Will Vaus said…

Dear Mimi,

Anne was an eleven year old fan of the Narnia stories who wrote to Lewis with a question about The Silver Chair.

You may read more about her by doing a search for Anne Waller or Anne Waller Jenkins or Anne Jenkins in the search box at the top of my blog.

Blessings,
Will

8:23 AM

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