The Chronicles of Narnia:Chronological Order or Published Order?

[Banner]

I'm starting to read the Chronicles of Narnia. Do I read the chronological order or in the published order? Does anyone know what order the movie is following?

Thanks.

[GremlinClr]

I'm starting to read the Chronicles of Narnia. Do I read the chronological order or in the published order? Does anyone know what order the movie is following?

Thanks.

PUBLISHED! Always published. To both questions. Or at least they are starting filming in published. If it was chronological they would have begun with The Magicians Nephew.

Sure if you read in the published order a few questions pop up but they are all answered in subsequint books. I'm glad I read them in published (correct!) order.

[Jonathan Bogart]

I'm hoping that with the release of the movie(s), we get a decent box set of the books in published order. There are some beautiful recent editions of the books, but they're all numbered in the wrong, "chronological," order. Sure, I could just put them in the correct order myself, but then the numbering on the spines would be off and it would drive me insane.

These books are probably the foundational text of my childhood, and I don't own any copies because of this stupid cutesy marketing decision.

[GremlinClr]

I'm hoping that with the release of the movie(s), we get a decent box set of the books in published order. There are some beautiful recent editions of the books, but they're all numbered in the wrong, "chronological," order. Sure, I could just put them in the correct order myself, but then the numbering on the spines would be off and it would drive me insane.

These books are probably the foundational text of my childhood, and I don't own any copies because of this stupid cutesy marketing decision.

I know what you mean. Luckily for me I found an old paperback set at a yard sale ($3! :eek: ) that was in published order.

[Nate C.]

DEFINITLEY published order.

Great question.

[Rob Allen]

I've never read the books, but I currently work with a young woman whose first name is Narnia. I bet her parents read the books.

[gary bolt]

I recently bought and read the Chronicles of Narnia for the first time. It was presented in one big single-book format and the introduction states that C.S. Lewis wanted The Magician's Nephew to act as a preface to the rest of the stories. That's the way I read it and it seemed to be a natural order.

No matter what order you read them in, Banner, you are in for a big treat.

[Banner]

It seems published order is by far the favorite of the board. I'm headed to ebay to see what I can find. I believe that there is a 70's edition that follows the original.
Thanks for all of the comments.

[Jonathan Bogart]

I recently bought and read the Chronicles of Narnia for the first time. It was presented in one big single-book format and the introduction states that C.S. Lewis wanted The Magician's Nephew to act as a preface to the rest of the stories.
My little sister has that big one-volume book too; that's how I re-read them recently; though I didn't follow the page order.

I believe the closest Lewis ever got to expressing an opinion on the subject was in an answer to a child's letter: she thought she should read them in chronological order, her parents said published order. He sided with the child, naturally, saying that he saw no reason to stick to the published order if she didn't want to.

(This is all from memory, and I don't even remember where I came across it, so caveat lector.)

But really, published order is preferable for adults who can watch Narnia unfold and take its own unique character in Lewis's mind as he explores it. For example, Father Christmas's appearance in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is wholly out of sync with the rest of the created world. That's acceptable in a first book, but in a second, when the ground rules have already been established by The Magician's Nephew? Just bizarre.

And I just can't imagine jumping straight from The Silver Chair to The Last Battle; the two "prequels" that go in between have the effect of making the long stretch of Narnian time between those two actual in the reader's imagination.

Random thought: If the films ever are made of the later books, the critics who saw the Western vs. Eastern, heroic light-skinned people vs. savage dark-skinned beast subtexts in The Lord of the Rings will have a fricking field day with Calormene.

[GremlinClr]

Random thought: If the films ever are made of the later books, the critics who saw the Western vs. Eastern, heroic light-skinned people vs. savage dark-skinned beast subtexts in The Lord of the Rings will have a fricking field day with Calormene.

Yea when I read the books I always viewed it as a Middle Eastern culture.

[handOFfate]

Published. They just seem to read better that way.

[Jonathan Bogart]

Yea when I read the books I always viewed it as a Middle Eastern culture.
That's not just you: Lewis was riffing on the rather formal English translation of the Arabian Nights which was extremely popular during his youth.

What's bothersome is that the Calormene culture (dark-skinned, ceremonial, pagan) is presented as consistently, obviously, and inevitably inferior to the light-skinned, informal, Aslan-fearing Narnians. The Last Battle, especially, has unpleasant echoes today, as the military-industrial treachery of the Calormenes is the catalyst for the end of the world.

Of course Lewis couldn't foresee 9/11 and the new East vs. West power struggle (or at least how the West has made it a power struggle), so chiding him for irresponsible symbology is stupid. It's interesting to note, too, that if any modern entity could correspond to the actual role of the Calormenes in the plot of The Last Battle, it would be Halliburton and its ilk.

Sorry to derail a thread that was winding down; all this stuff just came up in my last re-reading, and I thought I'd share.

[Sanagi]

I don't really remember the Magician's Nephew that much. I guess it didn't make as much of an impression on me as some of the others. Makes me think it'd be kind of a poor introduction to the series, but I could be wrong.

I haven't read the books in ages, but Voyage of the Dawn Treader was always my favorite by far.

[Theophilus]

I prefer the published order for a couple of reasons. You'll excuse me if I'm light or mistaken on the details. It's been years since I read the series.

As a rule of writing, you start off with your most interesting attention getter. And The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe resonates the strongest with kids for whatever reason. It's also self-contained. You could enjoy it without having to read the rest of the series. The LWW crew provides the perspective and serve as the entry level viewpoint for the reader--and this proves most rewarding for those who read the entire series, as the original characters also serve as bookends. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings follows a similar pattern. As a rule, not everyone who has read the LOTR knows the Simarillion and the other stories of Middle-Earth. But almost everyone who has read the Simarillion read LOTR first.

Second, since Lewis intended the series as a Christian allegory, it makes sense that the first book tells the story of Christ's passion (the death of Aslan for the children and his resurrection) because that's where Christians begin. It is only after one truly becomes initiated into Christianity that the signficicance of the Old Testament history becomes apparent, especially in Paul's writings. Some Christians never get past the tendency to disregard the richness of the Old Testament.

But you needn't be a Christian to appreciate the allegory on another level. It's a coming of age story. And it only makes sense that the naturally self-centered children (and the reader) gradually come to the realization that the world has an immense history behind it. As that history becomes more and more detailed, they lose their childlike wonder only to recapture it in the end.

[jadegiant77]

I personally think you can read them in whatever order you want to, chronological or published, as long as you read them. I read them in chronological order and the world didn't end.

[DrewTheXenocide]

So, what is the published order?

I tried reading this in like, third grade or so, but was bored outta my mind. I figure I oughta try again.

It obviously starts with The Lion, The Witch and The Wardobe, but then...?

[Chevan]

I prefer Chronological Order. Actually, that's not really true. Chronological is the only order I know. It's how I first read the books, and how I know them best.

In fact, I don't know what the Published order is.

There is an exception, though, in that I really don't like The Magician's Nephew, and generally tend to treat that book like it doesn't exist. Thus, my readings start with LWW.

[Shades0077]

Published order is as follows.

The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe
Prince Caspian
Voyage of the Dawn Treader
The Silver Chair
The Horse and His Boy
The Magician's Nephew
The Last Battle

Chronological order is thusly.

The Magician's Nephew
The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe
The Horse and His Boy
Prince Caspian
Voyage of the Dawn Treader
The Silver Chair
The Last Battle

I haven't read them since elementary school, but I want to go through the set before the movie comes out. I picked up a collected edition from amazon that has them in chronological order. I am going to rebel against page count, however, and read them in the published order.

[Solaris]

I have to agree: read them in the published order.

And I can't WAIT for the movie to come out---the previews look really *cool*.

[Jade_GL]

The boxset my sister gave me in the early 90s was in published order. It must have been close to the last set to be done in that order and not chronological.

I personally liked reading them in pblished order. I haven't tried it the other way, but it certainly doesn't make any less sense or any more sense to read them in a specific way. I mean, I have read a ton of books that happen in the same universe and yet happen at different times, not all in linear time. I never had a problem before.

Plus, I barely remember The Magician's Nephew, so I think it may not be the best book to catch the readers attention. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is self contained and very memorable, and made me want to read the rest of the series. Therefore, I think it makes it the best to start with for a person unfamiliar with the books.

[Sanagi]

It's kind of like saying to someone who wants to get into Star Trek, "Yeah, it's great! Here's some episodes of Enterprise to get you started."

[Solaris]

It's kind of like saying to someone who wants to get into Star Trek, "Yeah, it's great! Here's some episodes of Enterprise to get you started."



Exactly! While Enterprise was kind of neat, it wasn't the best of ST. It's also like starting someone on Star Wars with Ep. 1, rather than Ep. 4. Sometimes it works better if you start off with the main characters, the way the creator intended, and then go back later to get some background information on other ones who don't appear in the series as much.

[Greg Hatcher]

Just as an aside, I first read them in the library, and it was always a question of which books were THERE. I started with The Magician's Nephew and The Silver Chair, and kind of bounced around from there. It was so long ago that I can't give you the exact order from there, but I do remember that The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe actually came LAST for me, and I was thunderstruck halfway through the book when it dawned on me that the White Witch was actually Jadis from Charn. That may have been my first step on the road to continuity geekhood.

And really, with online book dealers there's no reason in the world not to go after the editions you WANT. My set happens to be the paperback edition from the 70's, the ones with the psychedelic covers so prevalent at the time -- it was issued at the same time as the similarly packaged C.S. Lewis "Space trilogy," and that John Christopher guy's books -- I went Googling for an image so you could see what I mean, but haven't been able to turn one up. Best I can do is this eBay listing (http://cgi.ebay.com/C-S-Lewis-Chronicles-of-Narnia-7-book-set-in-case-1970_W0QQitemZ4584588263QQcategoryZ279QQrdZ1QQcmdZ ViewItem) -- you can sort of see the cover of Prince Caspian on the side of the box. I don't have the box, but that's my set. (EDIT: Here's another shot (http://cgi.ebay.com/VINTAGE-C-S-Lewis-Chronicles-Of-Narnia-1st-Edit-1970_W0QQitemZ8009906825QQcategoryZ279QQrdZ1QQcmdZ ViewItem#ebayphotohosting) from eBay, this has all the books visible.) What I REALLY would like is a set of the hardcovers with the original Pauline Baynes illustrations.

In my efforts to find a 70's edition Narnia image, though, I DID bowl out this little article (http://www.thestonetable.com/articles/224,1.html) about a Nail Gaiman Narnia story that I had no idea existed. I'm annoyed because I have to find it now.

[Tadhg]

"The Problem with Susan" is in a short story collection called Flights.

Edit: I have the same collection as you, I got it when we were reading the Narnia books for school.

[Zeta]

I actually saw a compliation of the Narnia books in Wal*Mart, but passed over it because I couldn't tell if they were abridged or not.

And to be frank, the Magician's Newphew is my favorite book in the series, although I've only read about half of them. It's a lot more mysterious, eerie and haunting if you start off reading it, I think. Although the plot and characters don't resonate as much as Wardrobe, it's imagery is some of the more surreal and fantastic in the series.

[Greg Hatcher]

Footnote-- I told my wife about this thread and she really was baffled by it. "Well, the order's the order, isn't it?" She meant publication. I explained that the newer editions are numbered and the numbering is all wrong -- excuse me, chronological in terms of story events.

So we're in Barnes and Noble later that afternoon -- there's a new one that's opened about six blocks from our apartment, so naturally we had to go check it out (ran into three of my students in the graphic novel section -- I'm so proud) -- and we walk past a giant table display of Narnia books. Julie suddenly bursts out, horrified, "I can't believe it! You were right! These are ALL WRONG!! The numbering is all out of order!" I thought she was going to go buttonhole a clerk and yell at him. It was really pretty funny.

I guess it's an age thing. If you're old enough to remember the actual order of publication and non-numbered editions, it seems like blasphemy. If not, it's probably no big deal.

[cactusmaac]

I read them in this order:

The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe
The Horse and His Boy
Prince Caspian
Voyage of the Dawn Treader
The Silver Chair
The Last Battle

And then read the Magician's Nephew years afterwards.

I didn't see the series as being anti-Middle East especially given the scene where Emeth meets Aslan in the Last Battle.

[Shades0077]

And really, with online book dealers there's no reason in the world not to go after the editions you WANT. My set happens to be the paperback edition from the 70's, the ones with the psychedelic covers so prevalent at the time -- it was issued at the same time as the similarly packaged C.S. Lewis "Space trilogy," and that John Christopher guy's books -- I went Googling for an image so you could see what I mean, but haven't been able to turn one up. Best I can do is this eBay listing (http://cgi.ebay.com/C-S-Lewis-Chronicles-of-Narnia-7-book-set-in-case-1970_W0QQitemZ4584588263QQcategoryZ279QQrdZ1QQcmdZ ViewItem) -- you can sort of see the cover of Prince Caspian on the side of the box. I don't have the box, but that's my set. (EDIT: Here's another shot (http://cgi.ebay.com/VINTAGE-C-S-Lewis-Chronicles-Of-Narnia-1st-Edit-1970_W0QQitemZ8009906825QQcategoryZ279QQrdZ1QQcmdZ ViewItem#ebayphotohosting) from eBay, this has all the books visible.) What I REALLY would like is a set of the hardcovers with the original Pauline Baynes illustrations. .
I have that set as well, and those are the ones that I first read. I recently picked up this version (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0060598247/qid=1130792594/sr=8-2/ref=pd_bbs_2/002-6837316-7501604?v=glance&s=books&n=507846) because I wanted them all together in one book, and hardcovers are cool. The only downside is it has them in chronological order, not published. But that is remedied by merely jumping around the book.

I just started reading it today during my lunch break. I'm kind of amazed at how short each book is. The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe is only like 92 pages. Maybe it's because I was a kid when I read them the first time, but I recall them being longer than that. I mean, I got through half the book during lunch, and will more than likely finish it up on the morrow.

Thinking about it now though, this shortness of the books leads me to the idea that the movie versions could be done as almost direct translations, and you wouldn't need to worry about cutting things out. I guess we'll find out in December.

[gary bolt]

I guess it's an age thing. If you're old enough to remember the actual order of publication and non-numbered editions, it seems like blasphemy. If not, it's probably no big deal.

I'm old enough but only read them recently and it's not a big deal to me at all. The publisher seems to think that the author wanted to them to be collected in chronological order, which seems like a good reason. The Magician’s Nephew read as a creation mythos for me. Maybe I could have enjoyed these stories more if I had read them in published order but I doubt it.

[Jonathan Bogart]

My set happens to be the paperback edition from the 70's, the ones with the psychedelic covers so prevalent at the time -- it was issued at the same time as the similarly packaged C.S. Lewis "Space trilogy," and that John Christopher guy's books -- I went Googling for an image so you could see what I mean, but haven't been able to turn one up. Best I can do is this eBay listing (http://cgi.ebay.com/C-S-Lewis-Chronicles-of-Narnia-7-book-set-in-case-1970_W0QQitemZ4584588263QQcategoryZ279QQrdZ1QQcmdZ ViewItem) -- you can sort of see the cover of Prince Caspian on the side of the box. I don't have the box, but that's my set. (EDIT: Here's another shot (http://cgi.ebay.com/VINTAGE-C-S-Lewis-Chronicles-Of-Narnia-1st-Edit-1970_W0QQitemZ8009906825QQcategoryZ279QQrdZ1QQcmdZ ViewItem#ebayphotohosting) from eBay, this has all the books visible.)
Those are the ones I grew up on. They disappeared somwere with my childhood. (Actually, with five kids in the family, they were probably literally read to pieces.)

What I REALLY would like is a set of the hardcovers with the original Pauline Baynes illustrations.

You mean these (http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbninquiry.asp?userid=l61y7bbBJE&cds2Pid=9102&isbn=0064409392)? Yeah, me too, except they're in the (ahem) wrong order.

[Greg Hatcher]

You mean these (http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbninquiry.asp?userid=l61y7bbBJE&cds2Pid=9102&isbn=0064409392)? Yeah, me too, except they're in the (ahem) wrong order.

No, those are new. I mean the ORIGINAL hardcovers, what I think of as the 'real' ones. The set you grew up on, the ones I have, are the ones I always think of as the 'newer' paperback version, despite not being new for decades. I want the hardcovers that preceded them. Specifically, these:

http://www.ssb3.net/members/watch/enlarge.php?aid=&img=8419/oct31narniabooks004.jpg

...but ideally WITH the dust jackets. I'm probably dreaming, I know. Honestly if we weren't so broke this month I'd be going after these HARD, I just turned them up on eBay.

[Shades0077]

Finished up Prince Caspian today. Still lots of fun. Voyage of the Dawn Treader will be begun on Monday's lunch break. I am looking forward to this, as it was definitely my favorite one, probably followed by A Horse and His Boy.

[Archyduke]

I had some serious issues trying to track down certain volumes back in elementary school, so I first read the series in a pretty slap-dash manner, picking up whichever book I could manage to find. I distinctly remember finally stumbling across Prince Caspian about a year after reading The Magician's Nephew. I think I actually had to read The Last Battle as the second or third book... yeah, eh. The library situation I had growing up sort of sucked.

[Jonathan Bogart]

Specifically, these:

http://www.ssb3.net/members/watch/enlarge.php?aid=&img=8419/oct31narniabooks004.jpg

...but ideally WITH the dust jackets. I'm probably dreaming, I know. Honestly if we weren't so broke this month I'd be going after these HARD, I just turned them up on eBay.
Oh, right.

The ones I linked to, being some Fifty-year Anniversary Edition or whatever, have new Baines illustrations, and even the old illustrations are colored (by her). They're beautiful. But wrong.