*head to side*

[bedlamsbard]

You know what I just realized? (And I, uh, think I figured this out a while ago -- no, really, a while ago; it just took till now to hit me.) It's now impossible for me to look at Narnia as anything but a tragedy. It's like, hey, cute boys, ass-kicking, magic, rock on, but it's now essentially a tragedy.

And nothing but.

And that's kind of a shame.

This realization brought to you by the "read to your children! which we will illustrate by showing clips from prince caspian! THE MOVIE!" advertisements on Hulu. Because it's all, "books open doors!" (that is the Pevensies realizing that their castle is now in ruins), "make new friends!" (that is the Pevensies meeting the tattered remains of the Narnians and going, "OH MY GOD THIS IS WHAT WE ARE LEFT WITH?"), "travel to new lands!" (that is the Pevensies going, "OH MY GOD WHAT HAVE YOU PEOPLE DONE TO OUR COUNTRY AND WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?") and that, you know, kind of puts a damper on things. Sure, it's shiny and awesome if you don't know what's going on, but if you do (or if you're, uh, me), then it just kind of kills you.

Damn.

I mean, it's not like there was happy shiny killing things now-ishness that brought me into the fandom -- it was the tragedy -- but damn.

My entire concept of Narnia is founded around tragedy. Hell, my goddamn rewrite of LB is a tragedy. I have to go sulk now.

Comments

[bedlamsbard.livejournal.com]

*coughs* LWW is winter and spring; it ends in late summer/early fall, HHB is mid-summer, PC is mid-to-late summer, VotDT is late summer, SC is late fall/early winter, LB is fall.

Dust, for the record, is late winter-early spring-spring-early summer.

I have thought about this a lot.

[zempasuchil.livejournal.com]

So thematic!

For some reason in my memory LB is so late fall it's basically winter. God, that was a depressing book.

[lassiterfics.livejournal.com]

CS LEWIS WRITES THE WORST ENDINGS EVER

[bedlamsbard.livejournal.com]

THIS IS TRUE.

[zempasuchil.livejournal.com]

Have you read Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising? That ending broke my heart and let me down a million times over :(

[lassiterfics.livejournal.com]

i have not! i have often seen it on classroom shelves when i was wee.

[zempasuchil.livejournal.com]

it's my favorite fantasy series... ever. it's so beautifully written. I still read it at least annually. if you find yourself with a yen for children's lit, go for that one!

[bedlamsbard.livejournal.com]

Oh, man, I have got to reread The Dark Is Rising. That will have to wait till I get home, though. *wistful*

[bedlamsbard.livejournal.com]

Fun fact! The one major thing I changed in Dust after I posted the first chapter, besides a few typos, was the season. Because I'd originally set it in fall, and then I went, "No, that's when LB is set. Dust is set in spring for a reason," and changed it. And then went out of my way to mention the fact that it's spring in, like, every chapter.

[dikela.livejournal.com]

You know, I don't want to rain on your parade, but in book PC Lewis states that children were going to school at the beginning of the summer term, and Edmund had his birthday a week before.

So when does summer term in English boarding school started in the 40s?

IMHO, it would be the beginning of summer.

P.S. I am sending you Narnian folklore #2.

[bedlamsbard.livejournal.com]

I think we can safely say that Narnian seasons run differently than English ones, using LWW for a basis if nothing else.

Re: P.S. I got it, thanks!

[dikela.livejournal.com]

Yes, let us say it and live happily ever after. ;D

You are right, it doesn't really matter.