This semester, I am taking Author Studies: Lewis and Tolkien, and am as a result re-reading The Magician's Nephew. This has led me to... discuss... rather thoroughly, how the correct order in which to read the books is in the order they were published, both because that was the order in which they were written and for various other reasons. However, I could not remember the correct order except that it began with The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, and ended with The Last Battle, so I decided to search online. I received quite a shock when I read a letter Tolkien wrote to a young fan named Laurence (From C.S. Lewis's Letters to Children here, page 68). In it, he explains that he personally prefers the chronological order over the publishing order, and had no plan for revealing in any particular order. Thus, while I still prefer the original order and the effect it has on the reader, the chronological order is clearly the correct order. I was wrong. As such, I must make an effort now to argue just as heartily for the correct correct order just as fervently as I previously argued for what I had presumed was the correct order before, or admit myself to be a hypocrite. The only temperance I will put on this is that I must admit I still prefer the publishing order.
On another note altogether, I had forgotten how beautiful Lewis's writing is. I was moved nearly to tears by his account of the creation of Narnia.
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This fills me with a strange sense of vindication - and gladness.
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