I wrote, some years ago, that C S Lewis was now one of those authors - like Shakespeare, Dickens and Lewis' chum, Tolkien - whose collected works have been vastly outnumbered by works about them.
Indeed, new books on Lewis appear, it seems, almost every month, but none has been quite so radical or has stimulated quiet so much debate as Planet Narnia: The Seven Heavens in the Imagination of C S Lewis by Dr Michael Ward...
The author of Planet Narnia argues that Lewis' celebrated cycle of children's novels, 'The Chronicles of Narnia', is based on an understanding of medieval cosmology.Lewis was a medievalist and was, indeed, fascinated by astronomy which is no doubt why there are so many astronomical/astrological references within his books about Narnia.
And it is from these facts that Michael Ward has extrapolated a theory that each of the seven volumes has a mystical connection with a different planet that, in turn, provides the key to its meaning and symbolism.
Dr Ward developed his theory in 2003 after reading Lewis' poem, 'The Planets', which refers to the influence of Jupiter with the words: “winter passed/And guilt forgiv’n” - which are two of the themes in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
From this beginning, Ward has gone on to propose a thesis in which the seven planets known of in medieval cosmology provides the theme for the seven Narnian Chronicles, So, for example, Prince Caspian is seen as essentially a war story and, therefore, inspired by Mars. Similarly, The Voyage of the 'Dawn Treader' is the solar novel full of references to gold and light as well as another sun symbol, the dragon, while The Horse and His Boy is based on Mercury, the planet ruling the star sign Gemini, and features characters who are twins.
The Planet Narnia theory is now to be explored in an hour-long television documentary, The Narnia Code, broadcast on BBC 1 tomorrow evening - Thursday 16 April - at 10:35 pmThe programme is the work of Norman Stone who directed the original television play about C S Lewis, Shadowlands, and, as you will see from this advance peek into the cracking of the code, I am one of the contributors to the programme...
You may, like me, remain skeptical about Michael Ward's claims, but The Narnia Code is fascinating if, for no other reason, than because it reminds us what another Oxford don, Charles Dodgson (aka Lewis Carroll), once observed:
"Words mean so much more than we mean to express when we use them: so a whole book ought to mean a great deal more than the writer meant."
You can read more about Michael Ward's book and his cosmic theories on his official web-site, Planet Narnia.
5 comments:
Lewis Carroll was completely right. We always put our own interpretation on books and get what we want from them.Perhaps that is why the very best books are those that appeal to readers on different levels and so many can get totally different things from them. I am reminded of a quote I saw on a film messageboard when TLTWATW was first released which read "The original book was about religion ? Oh no. God gets everywhere !" Apart from the rather humorous philisophical laugh, the underlying insinuatin was that the writer had learned to love the book without ever having come across its message.C S Lewis would, surely, have been amused.
As to the code, I will have to watch the programme to see if I can be convinced. Lewis gave the impression when he was writing that he didn't know how many books would be in the series - quoting on occasions 7 or 9 as possibilities. Presumably the concept of such a code would have required him to to have pre-planned to some extent.I will watch and see...
RADICSI : A book of interpretations about the predictions of Nostradamus all pertaining to the end of the world on the turn of the new millennium which, in 2009, is reduced to 50p in 'The Works'
This is one area where I sometimes feel I should track down my school English teacher and thank her. Oh, I ridiculed her back in the day. She'd sit there laughing at her Pride And Prejudice and tell me what Austin really meant and I was pretty sure if she meant something else, she'd just go ahead and say it.
Other authors, I was damn sure they didn't mean certain things and some symbolism was entirely accidental.
It was only many years later that I realised how important that was. I had written and directed a rather modest short film and it was shown at a festival. At the end, someone came up to me and told me they loved the ending. Only, what they saw in the ending was nowhere near what I actually intended. They had got it all wrong.
And their interpretation was much more interesting.
I loved that. I loved that I had put so much of myself into a work and, when someone else watched it, they didn't see that but, instead, saw themselves. They saw their own point of view.
You could argue I totally failed to get my point across and my short was, in fact, just rubbish. But I loved that, when something gets out there, it is no longer your own.
The Narnia Code? Nah, I don't buy it. But I love that someone could make a good case for it. I imagine my old English teacher would have a good chuckle over it.
BOLL - Yes, your objections to the theory was raised by 'One of the Interviewees' (!) but didn't make it into the final cut...
When Lewis wrote TLTW&TW he was, as far as I'm aware, unaware that he was writing anything more than a single book...
The theory rests on the argument that Lewis was so secretive as to keep his intentions hidden from everyone - including close friends like Roger Lancelyn Green who had encouraged him to finish the first book after Tolkien had been so dismissive of it.
In support of this argument is Lewis' generally secretive nature of which there are several examples in his life, but although this was explored (certainly in my interview) it is not part of the on-screen debate, probably because the programme had to be given a certain, more popularist, thrust to gain a BBC1 programme slot...
BITTER ANIMATOR - That's a great story! And you are absolutely right in saying that many writers, artists, composers would be amused/astonished/shocked/outraged at the way their work has been analytically interpreted.
It reminds me of the incident reported by Stephen Spender of the Oxford undergraduate who asked T S Eliot: "Please sir, what do you mean by the line [in Ash Wednesday], 'Lady, three white leopards sat under a juniper tree'?"
Eliot looked at the young man for a minute or two and then replied: "I mean, 'Lady, three white leopards sat under a juniper tree'."
BOLL - Just noticed that Michael Ward answers your question as No. 7 of the FAQ sections of his Planet Narnia web-site.
Hmm, have read his argument. Its a little squeezed to fit and selective. Will have to watch the programme I think. I agree it IS very much the sort of thing he would do but I'm not sure that if didn't have it in mind when he wrote the first book, he could have worked it in later...
DISSALT : Those books that just seem so fringe and pointless that you feel sorry for the trees.
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