The Impact of Narnia

         C. S. Lewis decided at the age of four that his name was Jack and was known by family and friends from then on as Jack. This was the first indication that C. S. Lewis had a wild imagination. Between Lewis’s imagination and his extensive reading, it was not a surprise that Lewis became a writer. C. S. Lewis has written many books, poems, and letters, but he is remembered most for his seven book series The Chronicles of Narnia. The impact that the Narnia books have had on the literary world is immeasurable. The Chronicles of Narnia play an important role in the development and growing genre of Christian fiction.

         Though The Chronicles of Narnia is not the first work of fiction to include Christian themes, it is the first written in a way that impacted readers and writers alike. There are themes in the book that are without question not authentic to Lewis. The battle between good and evil, the use of talking animals, especially a lion, and other elements can be seen in The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien. There is little uncertainty that these elements were discussed between the two as friends, because both were members of a group called The Inklings. “This distinguished group included Warnie,” Lewis’s brother, “Owen Barfield, Charles Williams, and J. R. R. Tolkien” (Kirk, 2005, p. 23). Tolkien however, did not like the use of mythical creatures in Lewis’s Narnia books, but his other friends disagreed with Tolkien and Lewis edited The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, and it was published in 1950. The reason it became an instant classic is because Lewis was able to make his readers connect the book to real life places and events. “To create this fantastical, convincing world, Lewis combined real places with his imagination. He produced a landscape that was familiar and yet completely unlike any place on Earth,” (Kirk, 2005, p. 52). It is this literary skill that set The Chronicles of Narnia apart from the previously written Christian themed books, made an impact on readers and writers, and helped to create Christian fiction as we know it today.

         Though it has been argued that Tolkien was not influenced by C. S. Lewis, the opposite is true. “Glyer clearly refutes the claim that Tolkien was not influenced by the comments he received. For example, she provides data from Lewis’s feedback on a poem of Tolkien, The Lay of Leithian, providing instances of Tolkien’s original wording, Lewis’s suggested wording, and Tolkien’s final wording,” (Heck, 2009, para. 7). He was influenced by reading The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe as well. Lewis sat the book aside and left it untouched for two years after Tolkien’s disapproval before he revised it and had it published. The Fellowship of the Rings and The Two Towers were published in 1954 and The Return of the King in 1955. This was only a few years after his initial reading of Lewis’s book The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and has many of the same aspects contained in the Narnia series. Clearly, Tolkien was influenced by the Inklings meetings, Lewis’s Narnia series, and conversations with Lewis, even if it was just a desire to show he was a better writer than his Cambridge colleague.

         J. I. Packer was a student at Cambridge while Lewis taught and is currently a British Contemporary Christian author. He gives credit to C. S. Lewis naming him as the inspiration and influence for his life and his writings. “I owe him much, and I gratefully acknowledge my debt,” (Packer, 2007, para. 2). Not only does he say that he owes Lewis for his inspiration and influence, but also he says why. “Lewis’s imaginative presentation in his tales of a life of wholeness, maturity, sanity, honesty, humility, and humaneness, fictionally envisaged in order that it might be factually realized, still has a great potency for both conversion and character building,” (Packer, 2007, para. 25). Lewis had great potency on him in his personal life as well as in his literary works.

         It is easy to see how C. S. Lewis was influential in the works of Frank Peretti. This Present Darkness, published in 1988, mirrored the mystical and imaginative interpretation of a Christian life that Lewis used in his Narnia series. The use of good versus evil was still not a new concept, but the way Peretti used aspects, stories, and teachings from the Bible in modern society was the same way that Lewis had done twenty-eight years prior. Peretti does not only use humans in his story, but also uses angels and daemons written as Lewis would have done, talking and with personalities of their own. In Peretti’s The Cooper Kids Adventure Series, published in 2004 and 2005, Jay and Lila Cooper follow their father Jack, coincidentally the nickname of C.S. Lewis, an archeologist on adventures around the globe. Jay and Lila contain the same characteristics that Peter, Susan, Edmond, and Lucy in The Chronicles of Narnia. Lewis introduced through his characters,

         An emotional affirmation of courage, honor, and limitless kindness, with an emotional rejection of cowardice and treachery; he heightens the joy within responsible self-control, in courtesy, justice, appropriate obedience, and the quest for order, he gives vivid images of personal nobility, public responsibility, managing one’s thoughts and feelings as one nears adulthood, and inculcates bravery in the face of loss and death, (Packer, 2007, para. 24).

         Peretti uses this example in his characters in the Cooper series as well. The use of unreal events in real life situations with characteristics found in the Narnia chronicles is a prime example of the use of Lewis’s themes in Christian Fiction. Many other authors besides Frank Peretti use Lewis’s example as well.

         Ted Dekker published The Circle Series in 2005, Black, Red, and White, which all have distinct parallels to The Chronicles of Narnia. “This fantasy novel has many dark parallels to the Narnia novels. The reader of the Narnia series will recognize the jumps between worlds, the lion, and other images that tend to be similar,” (Jandy’s Reading Room, 2010, para. 7). There are many examples of this point. In Narnia, the lion, Aslan, represents God. This is seen through many elements including his sacrificial death and resurrection. The parallel to this in The Circle Series is that Dekker uses Elyon as God and later Justin as God in the flesh. Justin also dies, is resurrected, and saves the Scabs through his blood. The comparisons continue between Lewis’s series and Dekker’s series.

         The clear distinction between good and evil is a theme that is used in both Narnia and the Dekker’s series. Narnia has the White Witch as the show for evil and the fact that it is always winter, while good is shown through color, springtime, and beauty. Dekker’s series shows evil in the form of the dark forest that black bats called the Shataiki led by the bat Teeleh, while the good is in the green colored forest that has white bats named Roush. The Roush have contact with Elyon as much as the Narnians do with Aslan. Though the good versus evil theme is a common part of Chrisitan fiction, Ted Dekker uses almost the exact same idea of how to present the difference between good and evil.

         Other themes besides good and evil are parallel between The Chronicles of Narnia and The Circle Series. The difference between the passage of time from London to Narnia, and the difference between the passage of time from Earth 2010 to New Earth are extremely similar. Neither alternate reality’s time depends on the time in London, in 1949, or on Earth, in 2010. Also, the way to Narnia is similar to the way to get to New Earth. Narnia is accessible through a Wardrobe, or a pool of water. The way to New Earth, in The Circle Series, is through the blood of Thomas Hunter.

         As well as themes, events are similar in both series of books. Peter, Susan, Edmond, and Lucy all become kings and queens of Narnia, while Thomas Hunter becomes the leader of the Forest Guard on New Earth. Likewise, the kings and queens of Narnia were prophesied about, and Thomas Hunter was written about in the Books of History. Another common event is war. War is happening in the real world and in the alternate worlds in both Lewis’s and Dekker’s stories. The Circle Series clearly illustrates how The Chronicles of Narnia has influenced Ted Dekker’s writing of Christian fiction.

         The use of a doorway to another world is a theme that is repeated in Christian fiction. In The Magician’s Nephew, C. S. Lewis wrote of a wood with many pools that led to different worlds. These pools and new worlds have been explored my authors ever since. Packer wrote in his book Still Surprised by Lewis (2010), “The number of Christians whom Lewis’s writings have helped, one way or another, is enormous,” (para. 7). According to the University of Tennessee (2004), David Troutman said, “We’re seeing more books that confront contemporary issues, where Christian faith is tested by the challenges of the real world. The conflict between good and evil isn’t new, but writers are handling it in a new way,” (para. 2). C. S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia series was the driving force that created this new contemporary look at Christian issues as evidenced by J. I. Packer, Frank Peretti, and Ted Dekker.

         The Chronicles of Narnia, by C. S. Lewis has had an enormous impact on the creation of Christian Fiction. His series enchanted children in the 1950’s and still influence them today. Because of his creative vision to fictionally use aspects of the Bible and relate them to people today, Christian fiction has flourished. Christian fiction authors include Frank Peretti, Ted Dekker, Tim LaHaye, and Jerry Jenkins.
 
References
Cincinnati Library. (2010). Christian Fiction writers: A selected list. Retrieved from, http://www.cincinnatilibrary.org/booklists/?id=christianfiction
Golubeva, L. (2009). The Lord of the Rings: Books by Tolkien. Retrieved from, http://www.lord-of-the-rings.org/books/books_tolkien/html
Heck, J. (2009). The company they keep: C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien as writers in community. Christianity and Literature. P. 538-539. doi: A201604869
Jandy’s Reading Room. (2010). Black: Ted Dekker. Retrieved from http://www.jandysbooks.com/sfbooks/black.html
Lewis, C.S. (1955). Surprised by joy: the shape of my early life. Harcourt, Brace, & World, Inc.: New York.
Packer, J. I. (2007). Still surprised by Lewis. Christianity Today. Contemporary Literary Criticism. Vol. 124. P. 54. doi: H1100019694