Two books I read last year changed my mind about Lewis' fiction. The first was his own The Discarded Image, about the late medieval world-view, which showed clearly that the Space Trilogy was actually based on the following "what if": "What if the medieval cosmological viewpoint was real?". And the second was Michael Ward's Planet Narnia (which I have now read twice), and which I found 90 per cent convincing, and wholly thought provoking. Kooky? No, I think not. Right? Quite possibly.
Some of the books do not fit in very well into the idea that each is associated with one of the seven medieval heavenly bodies (and Ward suggests that Lewis did not set out initially to write one of each, although he certainly had Jupiter in mind for the first one). The Horse and his Boy is a difficult fit, for instance. But The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and The Silver Chair are very clear fits. And the idea to do this fits in so well with Lewis' aim in the Space Trilogy (which, as I understand it -- and I have read ALL his letters! -- he did not make public any more than he did, according to Ward, his aim in the Narnia books.
Didn't see the programme (can't get BBC iPlayer in THIS country!) but do strongly urge you to read the book before making up your mind!
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Date: 2009-04-20 07:57 am (UTC)Some of the books do not fit in very well into the idea that each is associated with one of the seven medieval heavenly bodies (and Ward suggests that Lewis did not set out initially to write one of each, although he certainly had Jupiter in mind for the first one). The Horse and his Boy is a difficult fit, for instance. But The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and The Silver Chair are very clear fits. And the idea to do this fits in so well with Lewis' aim in the Space Trilogy (which, as I understand it -- and I have read ALL his letters! -- he did not make public any more than he did, according to Ward, his aim in the Narnia books.
Didn't see the programme (can't get BBC iPlayer in THIS country!) but do strongly urge you to read the book before making up your mind!