Way Into Narnia: A Reader's Guide

by Peter J. Schakel

Overview

The practical companion you need for your journey through C. S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia

How did a middle-aged professor with no children write books that have become beloved classics of children's literature? What is the best order for reading the Chronicles of Narnia? Whatever one's question, The Way into Narnia offers valuable guidance for first-time visitors to Narnia and fresh insights for those who have already traveled there often.

Exploring ideas from Lewis's friend J. R. R. Tolkien, Peter Schakel shows that the best way to enter Narnia is to read the Chronicles as fairy tales. After walking readers through each of the books, he concludes the tour with a unique section of annotations that clarify unfamiliar words and unusual passages.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780802829849
Publisher:	Eerdmans, William B. Publishing Company
Publication date:	07/01/2005
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	214
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.55(d)
Age Range:	11 - 15 Years

Editorial Reviews

Library Journal Starred Review
"Schakel has written or edited five books on Lewis, including two about The Chronicles.' Here he revisits the series by providing some fresh insight, arguing that the most rewarding way to read the series is not as allegory (as many have previously suggested) but as fairy tales. . . Extensive annotations for all seven books help first-time readers. An accessible and important contribution to the Narnia scholarship; highly recommended."

Publishers Weekly
"A perceptive and thorough reader's guide."

Ralph C. Wood
"In his clear book-by-book analysis of the Narnia Chronicles, Peter Schakel interprets them not as heavy-handed allegories but as sprightly fairy tales. . . Schakel also offers more than forty pages of immensely helpful annotations that illuminate obscure terms and historical allusions; this added blessing is itself worth the price of the book."

Claude Rawson
"Peter Schakel is outstanding among C. S. Lewis commentators for his deep knowledge of that writer and for the warmth, intelligence, and lucidity of his commentaries. His new guide to the Narnia books is a vivid and lively presentation — informative, helpful, and free of any trace of mechanical or pretentious explication."

Doris T. Myers
"With his repeated insistence that the Chronicles of Narnia are fairy tales, Schakel provides a welcome counterbalance to commentators who treat them as 'Seven Sunday School Lessons in Search of a Teacher."

Journal of Inklings Studies
"Schakel's The Way into Narnia teaches readers how to peek behind the veil and behold the literary power at work on their imaginations."

From the Publisher