Magic or Deeper Magic?

There are two choices for me, the world of Narnia from my childhood reading or the world of Harry Potter that I shared with my children. I instinctively want to go back to the fantasy world of my own childhood as it brought me comfort when I needed it.

Narnia is a world of talking animals which we first encounter in The Magician’s Nephew when Aslan the lion brings it to life. We then revisit it at various points in it’s history finally witnessing it’s end. If I had to choose a time to visit it, I would choose the time of The Horse and His Boy set in Calormen.

Now, to modern eyes the setting with it’s Middle Eastern flavour and the way that those of darker skin are not to be trusted is troubling, perhaps more so because of the revival of such attitudes in mainstream politics across the world. However, it was to C S Lewis, in all likelihood, merely a useful way for the reader to differentiate between good and bad. Anyway, the era of The Horse and His Boy is the time that the Pevensie children have been on their thrones in Cair Paravel for a number of years and are now adults. It is a time of peace and happiness in Narnia itself even if Calormen and Archenland are at war.

Narnia at the time of the book is still a relatively young country and one where the Witch Jadis has been defeated and banished. The talking animals are now free from fear and have the run of the country as equals to the humans that share it. There are once again four seasons as the Witch no longer makes it always Winter and never Christmas. Fauns like Mr Tumnus are once again free to live their lives without threat. It’s not the idyllic setting of the newly created world, but the setting of a world at peace and ready for exploration by the occasional tourist.