XPost: alt.usage.english, alt.books.cs-lewis   
   From: hayesmstw@hotmail.com   
      
   On 29 Apr 2006 01:14:09 -0600, Eric Schwartz  wrote:   
      
   >JF  writes:   
   >> I think you'll find that chronicles suggests chronological order but   
   >> it's of little consequence.   
   >   
   >I beg to differ; in the set I had as a lad, they were numbered:   
   >   
   >1. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe   
   >2. Prince Caspian   
   >3. Voyage of the Dawn Treader   
   >4. The Silver Chair   
   >5. The Horse and His Boy   
   >6. The Magician's Nephew   
   >7. The Last Battle   
   >   
   >My fiancee read them in the order you cited, and was left at the end   
   >of The Magician's Nephew rather unsatisfied, and feeling as if she was   
   >meant to understand more about Digory and Jadis.  Which feeling was,   
   >of course, entirely appropriate, as they were originally intended to   
   >be introduced much earlier, and their revalation as the creator and   
   >chief nemesis of Narnia, respectively, to be recognized by the careful   
   >reader from TLTWATW.  Just because you can arrange a series   
   >chronologically doesn't mean you should-- Steven Brust rather snarkily   
   >wrote one of his Taltos books to take place both at the end of one   
   >book and during the middle of another specifically to tweak the sort   
   >of completist who has to read a series in chronological order.   
   >   
   >Unfortunately, it seems that you can't buy an omnibus edition that   
   >reproduces the Narnia series in publication order, it seems.  I wish I   
   >could remember who produced the edition I remember.  It was for the   
   >US, and had each volume bound individually in paperback.  IIRC, I   
   >bought it in 1982, as I was boarding a plane to live in Eindhoven for   
   >an eternity (2 years, but I was only 8-- it seemed an eternity at the   
   >time).  The box they were contained in was white, and the pictures on   
   >the cover probably looked modern in the early '70s, but by that time   
   >just looked odd.  Any ideas?   
      
   No ideas, but I discovered the series in 1965, just before leaving to study in   
   England. And also just before leaving, I lent a copy of LWW to a friend's   
   daughter, aged 7. She enjoyed reading it, so when I got to England and found a   
   boxed set, I sent it to her as a present for her 8th birthday. They were   
   exactly the same as the single books, published by Puffin, and in the order   
   you listed above, so the publication date would have been 1965.   
      
   Lewis had been dead two years by then, but his literary heirs had not had time   
   to mess with the publication order of the books.   
      
      
   --   
   Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa   
   http://www.geocities.com/Athens/7734/stevesig.htm   
   E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)