XPost: rec.arts.books.tolkien, alt.books.cs-lewis, rec.arts.books.childrens   
   XPost: rec.arts.sf.written   
   From: hayesmstw@hotmail.com   
      
   On 24 Jan 2006 15:01:12 -0800, nystulc@cs.com wrote:   
      
   >junior-kun wrote:   
   >> I leave you with this quote from Narnia, I do not have the page number,   
   >> but it refers to Father Christmas, and can easily be extended to Aslan   
   >> by a reasonable reading of the book.  I know this reading is likely not   
   >> what Lewis intended (though honestly, who can say that his intention   
   >> did not change in the writing process?), but tough luck, because what   
   >> Lewis actually put in the story is what he actually put in, and I don't   
   >> care about his own thoughts on the matter:   
   >>   
   >> "Everyone knew him because, though you see people of this sort only in   
   >> Narnia, you see pictures of them and hear them talked about even in our   
   >> world- the world on this side of the wardrobe door."   
   >   
   >Elsewhere, he refers to Narnia as the place of "visible" naiads and   
   >dryads.  In other words, nature spirits and other gods and spirits   
   >exist elsewhere, but in Narnia such spirits to take incarnate form and   
   >become visible.   
   >   
   >Of course, I am sure that Lewis understood that myth, and mythical   
   >beings, often encorporate metaphorical elements, or have metaphorical   
   >significance.  I am not sure of the metaphorical significance of   
   >"Father Christmas" (or of the Roman god Saturn, from whom Father   
   >Christmas in part derives).  But assuming that Father Christmas were a   
   >metaphorical element, it would not thereby follow that other elements   
   >were metaphorical.   
      
   Sometimes one can read too much into things. Sometimes a story is just a   
   story.   
      
   Father Christmas is also associated with St Nicholas, a 4th century bishop of   
   Myra in Lydia.   
      
   But to a northern hemisphere child (and the British northern hemisphere child   
   such as those Lewis had in mind as an audience) where the spell is "always   
   winter and never Christmas", the appearance of Father Christmas is an obvious   
   sign that the spell is broken.   
      
   If you wanted to get all allegorical about it, you would really have to ask   
   why it was called "Christmas" and not "Aslanmas", wouldn't you?   
      
      
   --   
   Steve Hayes   
   Web: http://www.geocities.com/hayesstw/stevesig.htm   
        http://www.bookcrossing.com/mybookshelf/Methodius   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)