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A review by leesmyth
From Spare Oom to War Drobe: Travels in Narnia with My Nine-Year-Old Self by Katherine Langrish
4.0
I'd give it 4½ stars. There is so much to delight in as we accompany Langrish in her re-reading of the Chronicles. (I accept her decision to discuss them in order of internal chronology, though I think it's better to read them in publication order.)
She deftly explores many connections and possible allusions, with due recognition of the importance of differences of style, purpose and treatment - something that is often overlooked. Indeed, I'd never considered The Silver Chair (my favorite of the series) as possibly reflecting some aspects of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (which I also love), and I was prepared to resist the comparison, but she utterly disarmed me by noting the similarities without overplaying them.
I certainly agree with her defense of the remarkably equal-opportunity approach to gender, esp. among the human children who serve as viewpoint characters, protagonists, and hero(in)es.
I even concur with her discussion of the structural weaknesses of Prince Caspian and The Last Battle.
A little ironically, in light of Sibley's assertion that she "re-appraises [the] stories with the experience gained from literary knowledge and spiritual understanding" (p. 10), I think that when she goes wrong, she mostly does so due to lack of spiritual understanding and (to my mind, unwarranted) assumptions about Lewis's attitudes. For example, I think she confuses cause and effect with respect to Eustace; vegetarianism and progressive views can be the 'fruits' of priggishness, but not the cause of it. But where Langrish and I split ways most emphatically is on the so-called "Problem of Susan". I don't think Lewis abandons her; we don't know if she will ultimately be saved or not; and I absolutely disagree that her friends and relations are playing a "catty blame-game" (p. 261). (See leesmyth.blogspot.com/2019/07/susan-pevensie.html for an introduction to my own views on the subject.)
She deftly explores many connections and possible allusions, with due recognition of the importance of differences of style, purpose and treatment - something that is often overlooked. Indeed, I'd never considered The Silver Chair (my favorite of the series) as possibly reflecting some aspects of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (which I also love), and I was prepared to resist the comparison, but she utterly disarmed me by noting the similarities without overplaying them.
I certainly agree with her defense of the remarkably equal-opportunity approach to gender, esp. among the human children who serve as viewpoint characters, protagonists, and hero(in)es.
I even concur with her discussion of the structural weaknesses of Prince Caspian and The Last Battle.
A little ironically, in light of Sibley's assertion that she "re-appraises [the] stories with the experience gained from literary knowledge and spiritual understanding" (p. 10), I think that when she goes wrong, she mostly does so due to lack of spiritual understanding and (to my mind, unwarranted) assumptions about Lewis's attitudes. For example, I think she confuses cause and effect with respect to Eustace; vegetarianism and progressive views can be the 'fruits' of priggishness, but not the cause of it. But where Langrish and I split ways most emphatically is on the so-called "Problem of Susan". I don't think Lewis abandons her; we don't know if she will ultimately be saved or not; and I absolutely disagree that her friends and relations are playing a "catty blame-game" (p. 261). (See leesmyth.blogspot.com/2019/07/susan-pevensie.html for an introduction to my own views on the subject.)