Narnia book order

[moyer777]

My friend Ben posted a blog about the order of the Narnia books, I thought it was excellent.  Here it is.

   

Narnia

With the release of Prince Caspian I decided to write a blog about the correct order of the books. Really, there isn't a correct order, it's basically a matter of opinion. There are two sides and both have very good arguments to which order is greater.

The original publication of the books looks like this:

1. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (1950)
2. Prince Caspian (1951)
3. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (1952)
4. The Silver Chair (1953)
5. The Horse and His Boy (1954)
6. The Magicians Nephew (1955)
7. The Last Battle (1956)

CS Lewis had the books released in this order. Macmillan (the first American publishing company to release the books in the US) released them with numbers on the back, and ever since that was the order of the books. This is not actually the order in which the books were written however.

The order in which the books were written is:

1. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
2. (Abandoned version of Magician's Nephew)
3. Prince Caspian
4. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
5. The Horse and His Boy
6. The Silver Chair
7. The Magician's Nephew
8. The Last Battle

I'm not really sure why they were not released in that order. I suppose it made more sense to Lewis not to release an unfinished version of Magician's Nephew, or to release The Silver Chair after The Horse and His Boy, since the events in Silver Chair are a little more tied to the events in Voyage of the Dawn Treader than Horse and His Boy is.

In 1957 CS Lewis wrote a letter in response to an American boy who read his books in a different order than the books were published.

"I think I agree with your order {i.e. chronological} for reading the books more than with your mother's. The series was not planned beforehand as she thinks. When I wrote The Lion I did not know I was going to write any more. Then I wrote P. Caspian as a sequel and still didn't think there would be any more, and when I had done The Voyage I felt quite sure it would be the last. But I found as I was wrong. So perhaps it does not matter very much in which order anyone read them. I'm not even sure that all the others were written in the same order in which they were published."

After Harper Collins began publishing the books the order changed to the order in which the letter refers to.

This is the order:

1. The Magicians Nephew
2. The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe
3. The Horse and His Boy
4. Prince Caspian
5. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
6. The Silver Chair
7. The Last Battle

This follows the story in chronological order. In some editions of the Harper Collins books they say something about how you can now enjoy the order in which CS Lewis preferred. That message is somewhat controversial, as many believe he was being polite to the boy who wrote the letter. We will never really know for sure what he actually preferred. His stepson, Douglas Gresham, played a hand in the chronological order of the release. He thought that it would make more sense to children reading the book to not have the story jumping back and forth in time. It's less confusing to have a static timeline that flows from start to finish with not jumping around.

As for the publication order you'll find a few things that might make more sense having it arranged the way it is. For one, in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is very much an introduction to Narnia. There is more suspense on bring Aslan into the story... you kind of have no idea who or what he is, while in the Magician's Nephew, which takes place in Narnia before LWW, it's less of a build up to meet him. It even says inside the book by the narrator that the children had no idea who Aslan was, and neither do you! Referring to you as the reader. Also, there is something magical and new about when Lucy find herself in Narnia with Mr. Tumnus for the very first time. If you read Magician's Nephew first you lose that charm because you already know about Narnia and it's not as surprising.

There are many reasons to read the book in whatever order you choose. I enjoy them in the order in which they were published. The books that I read the story in for the very first time were publication order, and I will probably always tell people that it is better. That's my opinion though.

As for the order of the movies, so far it is going in the same order as the books. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe came out first, Prince Caspian second, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader will be out May 7, 2010, and Silver Chair is the next one they plan on making. Silver Chair is not greenlit, but I wouldn't be surprised if they give it the go-ahead soon if Prince Caspian continues to do well in the box office. I'll be sure to post updates on that, and the production of Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

[Geekyfanboy]

I've heard the debate for years and when I began to read the series I asked the same question... but I agree that you should read them in publication order.. that's how they were written and that's how I felt they should be read. I think if you read them in chronological (date) order you spoil things that you find out in later books.

[Omra]

Thank you for the insight and the information.

[Rico]

Interesting information.  Kind of reminds me when they air TV shows out of order.