XPost: rec.arts.books.tolkien, alt.books.cs-lewis, rec.arts.books   
   XPost: rec.arts.books.childrens   
   From: danhenry@inreach.com   
      
   On Fri, 20 Jan 2006 05:59:20 GMT, sbjensen@midway.uchicago.edu (Steuard   
   Jensen) wrote:   
      
   >Quoth nystulc@cs.com in article   
   ><1136955694.102035.8970@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com>:   
      
   >> High mountains separate Narnia and Archenland.  The Narrow Pass   
   >> between Narnia and Archenland is easily guarded by the Queen's   
   >> forces.   
   >   
   >Were the Queen's forces so utterly obedient that they didn't even   
   >whisper to their friends that the people they were guarding the pass   
   >against were 100% human?  The secret never leaked?   
      
   Narrow passes through high mountains are usually closed during perpetual   
   winters.   
      
   >> I'm sure they communicated.  They just weren't allowed in.   
   >   
   >I take it that "communicated" means "only with the Witch herself"?   
   >Because otherwise it would have gotten around in Narnia that there   
   >really were humans out there.  No "Is Man a Myth?" necessary.   
      
   If only a few knew, they might not be believed -- their veracity would   
   be the very question that book would address.   
      
   >But my point is, those explanations don't feel /natural/ when compared   
   >with the tone that Lewis so clearly set in the books.   
   >   
   >LWW beats us over the head with the "No humans in Narnia" message   
   >(ambiguous sentence to the contrary in the final chapter   
   >notwithstanding).  /Prince Caspian/ practically apologizes for   
   >introducing other humans there, complete with a long, convoluted   
   >explanation for how the Telmarines got to Telmar and then to Narnia.   
   >And then suddenly in the later books, wham bang, practically the whole   
   >world is human and Narnia is just a small exception.  The tone is   
   >completely different (if the Calormenes had been mentioned in /Prince   
   >Caspian/, I'm convinced that we would have heard about how they came   
   >from a magic cave in Egypt or something).   
   >   
   >It's those changes in the "feel" of the books (and the sense they give   
   >of Narnia's history) that make me suggest reading them in publication   
   >order.  The transition really does appear quite clear to me every time   
   >I read the series.  Perhaps others would disagree.   
      
   This, however, I agree with. LLW makes Narnia seem a vast realm in a   
   world of magical creatures. The discovery of so much mundane humanity is   
   something of a disappointing surprise.   
      
   --   
   R. Dan Henry   
   danhenry@inreach.com   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)