Chronicles of Narnia

''The Chronicles of Narnia'' is a series of seven high fantasy novels by British author C. S. Lewis. Illustrated by Pauline Baynes and originally published between 1950 and 1956, ''The Chronicles of Narnia'' has been adapted for radio, television, the stage, film and video games. The series is set in the fictional realm of Narnia, a fantasy world of magic, mythical beasts and talking animals. It narrates the adventures of various children who play central roles in the unfolding history of the Narnian world. Except in ''The Horse and His Boy'', the protagonists are all children from the real world who are magically transported to Narnia, where they are sometimes called upon by the lion Aslan to protect Narnia from evil. The books span the entire history of Narnia, from its creation in ''The Magician's Nephew'' to its eventual destruction in '' The Last Battle''.

''The Chronicles of Narnia'' is considered a classic of children's literature and is Lewis's best-selling work, having sold over 100 million copies in 47 languages.

Background and conception

Although Lewis originally conceived what would become ''The Chronicles of Narnia'' in 1939 (the picture of a Faun with parcels in a snowy wood has a history dating to 1914), he did not finish writing the first book ''The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe'' until 1949. ''The Magician's Nephew'', the penultimate book to be published, but the last to be written, was completed in 1954. Lewis did not write the books in the order in which they were originally published, nor were they published in their current chronological order of presentation. The original illustrator, Pauline Baynes, created pen and ink drawings for the ''Narnia'' books that are still used in the editions published today. Lewis was awarded the 1956 Carnegie Medal for ''The Last Battle'', the final book in the saga. The series was first referred to as ''The Chronicles of Narnia'' by fellow children's author Roger Lancelyn Green in March 1951, after he had read and discussed with Lewis his recently completed fourth book '' The Silver Chair'', originally entitled ''Night under Narnia''.

Lewis described the origin of ''The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe'' in an essay entitled "It All Began with a Picture":

The ''Lion'' all began with a picture of a Faun carrying an umbrella and parcels in a snowy wood. This picture had been in my mind since I was about sixteen. Then one day, when I was about forty, I said to myself: "Let's try to make a story about it."

Shortly before the start of World War II, many children were evacuated to the English countryside in anticipation of attacks on London and other major urban areas by Nazi Germany. As a result, on 2 September 1939, three school girls named Margaret, Mary and Katherine came to live at The Kilns, Lewis's home three miles east of Oxford city centre. Lewis later suggested that the experience gave him a new appreciation of children and in late September he began a children's story on an odd sheet of paper which has survived as part of another manuscript:

This book is about four children whose names were Ann, Martin, Rose and Peter. But it is most about Peter who was the youngest. They all had to go away from London suddenly because of Air Raids, and because Father, who was in the Army, had gone off to the War and Mother was doing some kind of war work. They were sent to stay with a kind of relation of Mother's who was a very old professor who lived all by himself in the country.

In "It All Began with a Picture" C. S. Lewis continues:

At first, I had very little idea how the story would go. But then suddenly Aslan came bounding into it. I think I had been having a good many dreams of lions about that time. Apart from that, I don't know where the Lion came from or why he came. But once he was there, he pulled the whole story together, and soon he pulled the six other Narnian stories in after him.

Although Lewis pleaded ignorance about the source of his inspiration for Aslan, Jared Lobdell, digging into Lewis's history to explore the making of the series, suggests Charles Williams's 1931 novel '' The Place of the Lion'' as a likely influence.

The manuscript for ''The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe'' was complete by the end of March 1949.

Name

The name ''Narnia'' is based on Narni, Italy, written in Latin as ''Narnia''. Green wrote:

When Walter Hooper asked where he found the word 'Narnia', Lewis showed him ''Murray's Small Classical Atlas'', ed. G.B. Grundy (1904), which he acquired when he was reading the classics with Mr illiam T.Kirkpatrick at Great Bookham 914–1917 On plate 8 of the Atlas is a map of ancient Italy. Lewis had underscored the name of a little town called Narnia, simply because he liked the sound of it. Narnia – or 'Narni' in Italian – is in Umbria, halfway between Rome and Assisi.

Publication history

''The Chronicles of Narnia's'' seven books have been in continuous publication since 1956, selling over 100 million copies in 47 languages and with editions in Braille.

The first five books were originally published in the United Kingdom by Geoffrey Bles. The first edition of ''The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe'' was released in London on 16 October 1950. Although three more books, ''Prince Caspian'', ''The Voyage of the Dawn Treader'' and ''The Horse and His Boy'', were already complete, they were not released immediately at that time, but instead appeared (along with ''The Silver Chair'') one at a time in each of the subsequent years (1951–1954). The last two books (''The Magician's Nephew'' and ''The Last Battle'') were published in the United Kingdom originally by The Bodley Head in 1955 and 1956.

In the United States, the publication rights were first owned by Macmillan Publishers, and later by HarperCollins. The two issued both hardcover and paperback editions of the series during their tenure as publishers, while at the same time Scholastic, Inc. produced paperback versions for sale primarily through direct mail order, book clubs, and book fairs. HarperCollins also published several one-volume collected editions containing the full text of the series. As noted below (see Reading order), the first American publisher, Macmillan, numbered the books in publication sequence, whereas HarperCollins, at the suggestion of Lewis's stepson, opted to use the series' internal chronological order when they won the rights to it in 1994. Scholastic switched the numbering of its paperback editions in 1994 to mirror that of HarperCollins.

Books

The seven books that make up ''The Chronicles of Narnia'' are presented here in order of original publication date:

''The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe'' (1950)

''The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe'', completed by the end of March 1949 and published by Geoffrey Bles in the United Kingdom on 16 October 1950, tells the story of four ordinary children: