The Last Battle

Today my seminar is going to cover the last book in Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia. It's always been my least favorite of the books; when I was a kid, I was sad to see the adventures end, and couldn't understand how all those Narnian animals (and dwarves) could be so stupid. I felt horrible for King Tirian, and Jewel, and Puzzle, and all those poor animals who die there at the stable.

This time, I looked with more grown-up eyes, and I was surprised at myself--at how long I'd waited to re-read the book. I was surprised to see that I still disliked it, even as I see now how the story fits in with the mythic arc that he develops most powerfully in The Magician's Nephew. It's like they are the pillars undergirding the remainder of the books, seeing as they show the beginning and the ending of all things.

I note that the tone in this book is far from the avuncular, good-natured wit of some of the others, even The Magician's Nephew. It starts with Shift, a thoroughly unpleasant figure, and moves on with highly ceremonial figures like Tirian and Jewel, who speak like figures out of an epic romance. There is an elegaic quality that pervades the book (which is as it should be, given its subject matter), and though the ending is supposed to be positive, it verges too heavily into didacticism to be a complete success. Though again, given the obvious allegorical setup, I don't see how Lewis could have written it differently.

I thought Jill Pole came off looking, as Lucy always did, like a brick, as Edmund would say. I know people object to the description of Susan, but I don't see how that statement can overshadow the high respect and heroism that Lewis reveals in these two. All that to say, I'm still not convinced that Lewis is all that much of a misogynist, as some accuse.

Anyway, this is rough and ready, but I'm about to lead discussion on the book in a couple of hours, and still have a stack of papers to grade. Onward and upward!