the magician's nephew
Aug. 5th, 2010 08:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bedlamsbardI have such missed feelings about The Magician's Nephew right now. I just reread it, because I'm now afraid of my computer, yay, so I might as well read something! (Cure for all that ails you, obviously.) I don't reread this one usually, because it's one of my least favorite of the series, and I'm not a big fan of Jadis, Empress of Charn. (I like Jadis the White Witch much better, and keep trying to concoct theories that prove they are not actually the same person.) And obviously I have Aslan issues, duh.
And then on the other hand, I keep going, "Oh, Lewis." Because some of that book is just beautiful, and heartfelt, and with an edge -- Digory and his mother, and Digory and Polly being the best friends ever, and the jackdaw! THE FIRST JOKE IN NARNIA. And Fledge flying over the land, and the description of it, beautiful Narnia, and the cabby is awesome. ALSO THE BULLDOG AND THE SHE-ELEPHANT OMG <3. And the leopards and the panthers with the sarcastic faces!
And I have my usual running internal monologue of, "How can I use this in my own 'verse?" Which is to say: talking animals that appear in MN, but not in any of the other books, including the elephant and the tapir (!). YES THE TALKING TAPIR, of all the damn things, can you believe that? See, the elephant I'm fine with, clearly went extinct or moved out of Narnia by LWW, whatever, you know, lots of other African animals in Narnia, not least of which is the lion. But the tapir is the most random thing ever, and I'm kind of thrilled with it; I hope Lewis was cracking up as much writing it as I was reading it.
Also, the toffee plant. I like to think that the toffee plant germinated and spread its seed and now has offspring scattered across Narnia and Archenland, and at some point the Pevensies run into it and love it. And the gold and silver plants! If the lamppost is still around, then those must be too; although one wonders why the lamppost arm grew a lamppost but the coins grew trees instead of -- wait for it -- money trees.
Other random thoughts: we get talking beasts, dryads and naiads, the wood gods and the river god, satyrs, fauns, dwarves, and so on; but we don't see the creation of, say, the unicorn. Hmm. Interesting. And as I think we have mentioned before, surely everything in the Narnia world is not descended from those creatures and/or Frank and Helen, because, genetic diversity! We must haz it!
Also? Polly Plummer is a fucking awesome heroine, I love her a lot right now. Lewis, how are Polly and Jill and Lucy and Susan so awesome originally, and what happened to Susan in LB! Seriously, Polly's amazing, and she deserves more love. She's smart, and clever, and practical, and brave, and she likes pretty clothes and she has a smuggler's cave and she's writing a story she won't let Digory see, and she won't take any of Digory's shit, and she told Digory to leave the guinea-pig in the Wood between the Worlds because it was happier there, and she stood up to the Witch, and she volunteered to go with Digory to the garden when she didn't have to. So awesome, I love her, I totally didn't expect to.
And then on the other hand, I keep going, "Oh, Lewis." Because some of that book is just beautiful, and heartfelt, and with an edge -- Digory and his mother, and Digory and Polly being the best friends ever, and the jackdaw! THE FIRST JOKE IN NARNIA. And Fledge flying over the land, and the description of it, beautiful Narnia, and the cabby is awesome. ALSO THE BULLDOG AND THE SHE-ELEPHANT OMG <3. And the leopards and the panthers with the sarcastic faces!
And I have my usual running internal monologue of, "How can I use this in my own 'verse?" Which is to say: talking animals that appear in MN, but not in any of the other books, including the elephant and the tapir (!). YES THE TALKING TAPIR, of all the damn things, can you believe that? See, the elephant I'm fine with, clearly went extinct or moved out of Narnia by LWW, whatever, you know, lots of other African animals in Narnia, not least of which is the lion. But the tapir is the most random thing ever, and I'm kind of thrilled with it; I hope Lewis was cracking up as much writing it as I was reading it.
Also, the toffee plant. I like to think that the toffee plant germinated and spread its seed and now has offspring scattered across Narnia and Archenland, and at some point the Pevensies run into it and love it. And the gold and silver plants! If the lamppost is still around, then those must be too; although one wonders why the lamppost arm grew a lamppost but the coins grew trees instead of -- wait for it -- money trees.
Other random thoughts: we get talking beasts, dryads and naiads, the wood gods and the river god, satyrs, fauns, dwarves, and so on; but we don't see the creation of, say, the unicorn. Hmm. Interesting. And as I think we have mentioned before, surely everything in the Narnia world is not descended from those creatures and/or Frank and Helen, because, genetic diversity! We must haz it!
Also? Polly Plummer is a fucking awesome heroine, I love her a lot right now. Lewis, how are Polly and Jill and Lucy and Susan so awesome originally, and what happened to Susan in LB! Seriously, Polly's amazing, and she deserves more love. She's smart, and clever, and practical, and brave, and she likes pretty clothes and she has a smuggler's cave and she's writing a story she won't let Digory see, and she won't take any of Digory's shit, and she told Digory to leave the guinea-pig in the Wood between the Worlds because it was happier there, and she stood up to the Witch, and she volunteered to go with Digory to the garden when she didn't have to. So awesome, I love her, I totally didn't expect to.
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Date: 2010-08-06 10:58 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-08-06 09:52 pm (UTC)