More thoughts on The Last Battle.
Possibly I should be looking at these in a more chronological order, but The Last Battle is more or less the one that bothered me most. The Horse and His Boy wins points for Shasta and the rest doing something, at least. The Last Battle?
There's the power imbalance between Shift and Puzzle, and Shift having Puzzle dressed in the lion's skin and it seems that no one doubts it. Besides the apparent lion, what's there quite to believe? Aslan's previously seemed a bit more active, and 'til the centaur Roonwit speaks to Tirian it seems there were no doubters- at least, no doubters who wouldn't be punished. It's treachery from within, and I wonder that no one fights back- surely not all the Birds could've been caught?
Not that the fighting, when it's got to, is much more effective. Of course, there're periods in the earlier books where not much happens for a while, but they're not so down, not even The Silver Chair. But we've one success, rescuing Jewel and Puzzle, and then we've got the fight for the truth, and that doesn't go well at all. Nor are the encounters with the Dwarfs of much cheer.
It gets busy for a while back, with the world ending, but it's not quite the sort of activity I liked- judgement and everything dying and all the rest of it. And then inside the Stable it's a lot of stuff being related to us and not a lot happening aside from going further in and west (whether that's of some symbolic importance I'd be interested to hear, if you've thoughts on that), although the Dogs going up the waterfall is somewhat amusing. There's no real troubles, and it's all a bit slick. And then England and Narnia are all joined and it's beyond the 'shadowlands' and very Plato, but I can't help wondering what they were bothering to save the world before for. All things strive to exist and all that, but that doesn't necessarily mean we're really entirely interested in how they end. Some might say it's the ultimate saving, or something, but I can't say I'm much of one for that kind of belief. It'd be nice if there was an afterlife, but I don't believe this is the way I'd fancy it.
That, I think, is my main gripe, but there're a couple of other things- crowns, and the last paragraph.
The thing about crowns is that when Peter and the rest of them turn up, Eustace and Jill are counted as King and Queen, but I don't recall them having been crowned, do you? It's probably symbolic, or something, but it's a bit of a puzzle. I'd prefer it if they were called by name, too- it'd make them seem a little more like people. I suppose that's probably because of the way Tirian's looking at them, but it makes them seem rather far away for my taste.
The last paragraph in the edition I have (Puffin, 1956, though the actual book is probably from 1973) reads as follows: 'And as He spoke He no longer looked to them like a lion; but the things that began to happen after than were so great and beautiful that I cannot write them. And for us this is the end of all the stories, and we can most truly say that they lived happily ever after. But for them it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on for ever: in which every chapter is better than the one before'.
…It's classier than what I remembered, I suppose.
It really reads very definitely using Christian motifs (Moses' glance, for instance; there were probably others I don't recall), and as though we're being left out. As well as that, though, it feels as though what happened in Narnia wasn't important at all- and what in the world kind of story can this be now that they're in 'Aslan's country', anyway? It sounds like the Christian ideal of the afterlife, so what kind of troubles and strife could possibly be there? I reckon the cover and the title page might well be the most interesting part of that book he's talking about, and I wouldn't quite think that's the best thing for a book.
Symbolism is all very well, but there's symbolism and then there's rot, and I think this is rot.
Or it could just be that The Last Battle can be read roughly as: 'Rocks Stars fall, everyone dies (except they don't really)'. And that feels like Lewis is cheating.
Totally unsymbolic dragons, anyone?
There's the power imbalance between Shift and Puzzle, and Shift having Puzzle dressed in the lion's skin and it seems that no one doubts it. Besides the apparent lion, what's there quite to believe? Aslan's previously seemed a bit more active, and 'til the centaur Roonwit speaks to Tirian it seems there were no doubters- at least, no doubters who wouldn't be punished. It's treachery from within, and I wonder that no one fights back- surely not all the Birds could've been caught?
Not that the fighting, when it's got to, is much more effective. Of course, there're periods in the earlier books where not much happens for a while, but they're not so down, not even The Silver Chair. But we've one success, rescuing Jewel and Puzzle, and then we've got the fight for the truth, and that doesn't go well at all. Nor are the encounters with the Dwarfs of much cheer.
It gets busy for a while back, with the world ending, but it's not quite the sort of activity I liked- judgement and everything dying and all the rest of it. And then inside the Stable it's a lot of stuff being related to us and not a lot happening aside from going further in and west (whether that's of some symbolic importance I'd be interested to hear, if you've thoughts on that), although the Dogs going up the waterfall is somewhat amusing. There's no real troubles, and it's all a bit slick. And then England and Narnia are all joined and it's beyond the 'shadowlands' and very Plato, but I can't help wondering what they were bothering to save the world before for. All things strive to exist and all that, but that doesn't necessarily mean we're really entirely interested in how they end. Some might say it's the ultimate saving, or something, but I can't say I'm much of one for that kind of belief. It'd be nice if there was an afterlife, but I don't believe this is the way I'd fancy it.
That, I think, is my main gripe, but there're a couple of other things- crowns, and the last paragraph.
The thing about crowns is that when Peter and the rest of them turn up, Eustace and Jill are counted as King and Queen, but I don't recall them having been crowned, do you? It's probably symbolic, or something, but it's a bit of a puzzle. I'd prefer it if they were called by name, too- it'd make them seem a little more like people. I suppose that's probably because of the way Tirian's looking at them, but it makes them seem rather far away for my taste.
The last paragraph in the edition I have (Puffin, 1956, though the actual book is probably from 1973) reads as follows: 'And as He spoke He no longer looked to them like a lion; but the things that began to happen after than were so great and beautiful that I cannot write them. And for us this is the end of all the stories, and we can most truly say that they lived happily ever after. But for them it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on for ever: in which every chapter is better than the one before'.
…It's classier than what I remembered, I suppose.
It really reads very definitely using Christian motifs (Moses' glance, for instance; there were probably others I don't recall), and as though we're being left out. As well as that, though, it feels as though what happened in Narnia wasn't important at all- and what in the world kind of story can this be now that they're in 'Aslan's country', anyway? It sounds like the Christian ideal of the afterlife, so what kind of troubles and strife could possibly be there? I reckon the cover and the title page might well be the most interesting part of that book he's talking about, and I wouldn't quite think that's the best thing for a book.
Symbolism is all very well, but there's symbolism and then there's rot, and I think this is rot.
Or it could just be that The Last Battle can be read roughly as: 'Rocks Stars fall, everyone dies (except they don't really)'. And that feels like Lewis is cheating.
Totally unsymbolic dragons, anyone?