Apparently religious nut C.S. Lewis was once a respected man of letters. I’m kind of amazed that the woke shock troops haven’t gotten him banned yet. Maybe it’s because he’s not on Twitter, since he’s dead. Anyway I just reread his entire Narnia series, hoping to jar loose some long-obscured memories that might help explain my life failures. You see, I read these as a child when I still had potential. I had no luck unblocking, but it was still fun!
The Narnia cosmos is actually a pretty interesting mashup of ancient mythology, Rapture prophecy, and furry cosplay, with an occasional Midcentury Modern “get off my lawn” interjection from the narrator. On the surface, there are some imaginative tableaus and satisfyingly resolved conflicts. But as we all know, Words Are Not What They Seem.®
The Biblical allegories are the obvious, not-even-buried layer of hidden meaning. You have that overweening and annoying Christ lion figure. There’s a Genesis book, and a Revelations For Dummies book. And the old female temptress, a/k/a Eve, motif is recapped on multiple occasions.—e.g. The Silver Chair features a female enchantress responsible for all the world’s disarray. It’s true that she casts a spell on the lumpenproletariat, but really her main offense is that she’s grounded some young boy to his room. Paging Dr. Freud! Dr. Freud, cleanup on aisle 12, we have a mommy issue here.
Meanwhile, A Horse and His Boy is textbook Islamophobia, with an orphaned white princeling cast into slavery by a cruel, ignorant Arab. The Arab tries to sell him to an even nastier Arab, so the boy escapes to the North (Narnia, aka Britain, aka Westeros), where people are free and everything is beautiful. I’m not making this up, go see for yourself. BTW the Arabs are also into animal abuse, child brides, and rape.
Lastly, in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Lewis stans not only flat earthers, but Atlantis nerds. It’s common knowledge that the island of Atlantis sank to the bottom of the ocean due to hubris. The people didn’t continue to live in underwater splendor like a kingdom of fucking sea monkeys. As an aside, every book contains an awful lot of drinking and “merriment,” usually involving minors, all of which gives off some fairly strong NAMBLA pedo groomer vibes.
Paid good money this last weekend to see a one-man play about C.S. Lewis, because I remembered liking him from my early days as a Christian (which I left ~15 years ago). It centered a lot on his apologetics, which, frankly, I didn't find compelling at all. While hundreds in the theater applauded and made noises about how incredibly "smart" and "intellectual" the man was. It's interesting how the religious perspective colors people's ability to think clearly about something and what arguments and reasoning they find compelling.
And interesting points on the Narnia series! I loved A Horse and His Boy growing up, but you're spot on with those callouts. Kind of like reading Lord of the Rings and noticing all the best men are tall and white, and the dark southerners OF COURSE align with Sauron...just, worship of the glorious West.