The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

For the film adaptation of the novel, see The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. For other uses (disambiguation), see The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (disambiguation).

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

First edition dustjacket
Author	C. S. Lewis
Illustrator	Pauline Baynes
Cover artist	Pauline Baynes
Language	English
Series	The Chronicles of Narnia
Genre	Children's fantasy novel, Christian literature
Publisher	Geoffrey Bles
Publication date	16 October 1950
Publication place	United Kingdom
OCLC	7207376
LC Class	PZ8.L48 Li
Followed by	Prince Caspian

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is a high fantasy novel for children by C. S. Lewis, published by Geoffrey Bles in 1950. It's the first published and best known of seven novels in The Chronicles of Narnia (1950–1956). Among all the author's books it is also the most widely held in libraries. Although it was written as well as published first in the series, it is volume two in recent editions, which are sequenced by the stories' chronology (the first being The Magician's Nephew). Like the others, it was illustrated by Pauline Baynes, and her work has been retained in many later editions.

Most of the novel is set in Narnia, a land of talking animals and mythical creatures that one White Witch has ruled for 100 years of deep winter. In the frame story, four English children are relocated to a large, old country house following a wartime evacuation. The youngest visits Narnia three times via the magic of a wardrobe in a spare room. All four children are together on her third visit, which verifies her fantastic claims and comprises the subsequent 12 of 17 chapters except for a brief conclusion. In Narnia, the siblings seem fit to fulfill an old prophecy and so are soon adventuring both to save Narnia and their lives. Lewis wrote the book for, and dedicated it to, his goddaughter Lucy Barfield. She was the daughter of Owen Barfield, Lewis's friend, teacher, adviser, and trustee.

TIME magazine included the novel in its "All-TIME 100 Novels" (best English-language novels from 1923 to 2005). In 2003, the novel was listed at number 9 on the BBC's survey The Big Read. It has also been published in 47 foreign languages.

Plot summary

In 1940, four siblings – Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy Pevensie – are among many children evacuated from London during World War II to escape the Blitz. They are sent to the countryside to live with professor Digory Kirke. Exploring the professor's house, Lucy finds a wardrobe which doubles as a magic portal to a forest in a land called Narnia. At a displaced lamppost in the forest, she meets Tumnus, a faun, who invites her to tea in his home. There the faun confesses that he invited her not out of hospitality, but with the intention of betraying her to the White Witch. She has ruled Narnia for years, using magic to keep it always frozen in winter. She has ordered all Narnians to turn in any humans ("Sons of Adam" or "Daughters of Eve") they come across. But now that he has come to know and like a human, Tumnus repents his original intention and escorts Lucy back to the lamppost.

Lucy returns through the wardrobe and finds that only a few seconds have passed in normal time during her absence. Her siblings do not believe her story about another world inside the wardrobe, which is now found to have a solid back panel.

During a game of hide-and-seek on a later date, Lucy again passes into Narnia. This time her brother Edmund chances to follow her. He meets Jadis, the standing Queen of Narnia, who questions him about his species and family. When she learns he has two sisters and a brother, she places an enchantment on him. She urges him to bring his siblings to her castle, promising in return to make him her heir. When Lucy and Edmund return together through the wardrobe, Edmund realizes that the Queen he met and the Witch Lucy describes are one and the same. He denies to the others that he has been in Narnia at all. Peter and Susan are puzzled by Lucy's insistence, and consult the Professor, who surprises them by taking Lucy's side in the debate of Narnia's existence.

Soon afterward, all four children enter Narnia together after hiding in the wardrobe to avoid the professor's dour housekeeper, Mrs. Macready. Remembering the winter cold ahead, they steal coats before exploring. Lucy guides them to Tumnus's cave, but they find it ransacked, with a notice from Jadis (the White Witch) warning of his arrest for harbouring humans.

A talking beaver makes contact, proves himself a friend, and hides the children in the dam he calls home. There, he and Mrs. Beaver tell them of a prophecy that Jadis's power will fail when two Sons of Adam and two Daughters of Eve fill the four thrones at Cair Paravel. Aslan, the great lion and the rightful King, has been absent for many years but is now "on the move again" in Narnia.

Edmund steals away to Jadis's castle, which is filled with statues of Narnian victims she has turned to stone. Jadis is furious when Edmund appears alone and angrier still to learn that Aslan may have returned. They set out with her sledge on intercept course to catch the others or reach Aslan's court first.

Meanwhile, Mr Beaver realises that Edmund has betrayed them and they set off at once to seek Aslan at the Stone Table. As they travel, the Witch's spell over Narnia begins to break: Father Christmas arrives with magical presents (a sword for Peter, a horn and a bow with arrows for Susan, a knife and a bottle of healing cordial for Lucy), the snow melts, and winter ends. Aslan welcomes the children and the Beavers to his camp near the Stone Table. Upon hearing Edmund's situation, he orders a rescue party of loyal Narnians.

After much hardship at the hands of the Witch and her Dwarvish sledge driver, Edmund is rescued from their camp and reunited with his siblings. Jadis approaches in truce to parley with Aslan. She insists that, according to "deep magic from the dawn of time", she holds the position of executioner and the right to kill Edmund following his treason. Aslan speaks with her privately and bargains to renounce her claim. He scares her away from the scene and orders the whole court to relocate with him.

That evening, Aslan secretly returns to the Stone Table, shadowed by Susan and Lucy. Upon noticing them, Aslan welcomes their company on condition that they may spy on what's to follow but not interfere or be caught. We find he has traded his own life for Edmund's, and the girls watch as Jadis oversees his public shaming before her underlings. She orders Aslan shaved, tied to the Stone Table, muzzled, and she administers the killing blow herself with a mean-looking knife.

The Witch leads the army away to battle. Susan and Lucy remain weeping over Aslan's abandoned body. They un-muzzle him and see mice gnaw away his bonds. They leave the scene behind when the Stone Table breaks and Aslan is restored to life. He tells Lucy and Susan that Jadis was unaware of the "deeper magic from before the dawn of time" that will resurrect an innocent killed in place of a traitor.

Aslan carries Lucy and Susan on his back as he hurries to Jadis's castle. He breathes upon stone statues in the courtyard, restoring them to life.

Meanwhile, Peter and Edmund lead the Narnians against Jadis, and Edmund is seriously wounded. Aslan arrives with the former statues as reinforcements. The Narnians rout Jadis's supporters, and Aslan kills Jadis. Aslan breathes life into those Jadis has turned to stone on the battlefield, and Lucy uses her magic cordial to revive the wounded, starting with Edmund. The Pevensie children are crowned kings and queens of Narnia at Cair Paravel. Soon afterward, Aslan slips away and disappears.

Fifteen years later, the four rulers chase a wish-granting white stag through the forest whereupon they rediscover the lamppost. After they pass it, they feel their way not through branches but coats. They come back through the wardrobe in the Professor's house and are suddenly children again, dressed just as they were upon entry. Almost no time has passed in the real world, despite their many years in Narnia.

The four children consult with the Professor. He forgives them the absence of the four coats they stole, and hints that theirs would prove not to be the first adventure in Narnia, nor by any means the last.

Character list

The Pevensie Siblings

Raised in London, evacuated to the Dorset countryside, and reaching adulthood in Narnia, they are the four main characters. In one chapter, Father Christmas arrives to endow those present (three Pevensies and two beavers) with a feast, weapons, and magical items. After the restoration of Narnia, a Tetrarchy is established with the four siblings as the rulers.

• Lucy Pevensie is the youngest Pevensie child and, in some respects, the primary protagonist of the story. She is the first to discover the land of Narnia when she finds her way through the magical wardrobe in the Professor's house. When Lucy tells her three siblings, they don't believe her: Peter and Susan think she is just playing a game while Edmund persistently ridicules her about it. She is later crowned Queen Lucy the Valiant.

ENDOWMENTS: a cordial with curative powers and a dagger

• Edmund Pevensie is the second-youngest of the Pevensie children. He has a bad relationship with his siblings, is known to be a liar and a bully, and singles out Lucy as his favourite target. In Narnia he meets the White Witch, who plies him with enchanted Turkish delight, drink, and smooth talk. Lured by the White Witch's promise of power and an unlimited supply of the magical treats, Edmund betrays his siblings. He eventually regrets his actions and repents. After he helps Aslan and the good denizens of Narnia defeat the White Witch, he is crowned and named King Edmund the Just.
• Susan Pevensie is the second-oldest of Pevensie children. She does not believe in Narnia until she actually goes there. Along with Lucy, she accompanies Aslan on the journey to his apparent self-sacrifice and secretly witnesses the horrific event. Tending to his carcass, she removes a muzzle from him to restore his dignity and oversees a horde of mice who gnaw away his bonds. She then shares the joy of his resurrection and the endeavor to bring reinforcements to a critical battle. She is crowned Queen of Narnia alongside Lucy and pronounced Queen Susan the Gentle.

ENDOWMENTS: a horn with the power to summon help in times of danger and a bow & arrows

• Peter Pevensie is the eldest of the Pevensie siblings. He judiciously settles disputes between his younger brother and sisters, often rebuking Edmund for his attitude. At first, Peter disbelieves Lucy's stories about Narnia, but changes his mind when he sees it for himself. He is hailed as a hero for the slaying of Maugrim and for his command in the battle to overthrow the White Witch. He is eventually crowned High King of Narnia and dubbed King Peter the Magnificent.

ENDOWMENTS: A kingly sword and a red/gold shield with a crest showing a lion

At the Country Home

The house that shelters the Pevensie children is run by a Professor, staffed by servants, and frequently toured by historians.

• The Professor is a kindly old gentleman who takes the Pevensie children in when they are evacuated from London. He is the first to believe that Lucy did indeed visit a land called Narnia. He tries to convince the others logically that she didn't make it up. the book hints that he knows more of Narnia than he lets on. He is identified in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader as Professor Kirke, and appears as a young boy, Digory Kirke, a main character in the prequel, in which he witnesses Aslan's creation of Narnia. Although never explicitly stated, there are minor parallels between himself and Aslan on the smaller scale of the house in Dorset; in that he is rarely seen, can be sought for impartial wisdom, provides a sense of stability, and sometimes cannot be found.
• Mrs. Macready is the housekeeper for the Professor and takes it upon herself to guide the tour groups. Although never explicitly stated, there are minor parallels between herself and the White Witch, albeit on the smaller scale; for example, she effectively rules the country house in the absence of the Professor (terrifyingly so in the imagination of a young girl torn from her home and mother). The Pevensies certainly see her as an antagonist and dub her "The Macready". She is stated to be not very fond of children, imposes strict rules on their behavior, and disturbs their peace with the tours.

Narnians

The magical land of Narnia is populated by talking animals, mythological species, and sentient flora.

• Aslan, a lion, is the rightful King of Narnia and other magic countries. He sacrifices himself to save Edmund, but is resurrected in time to aid the denizens of Narnia and the Pevensie children against the White Witch and her minions. His powers include well-timed appearances, inspiration at the very mention of his name, invulnerability to evil magic, a roar that terrifies any enemy, a leap that might as well be flight, and breath of life that restores victims who were turned to stone.
• The White Witch is the land's self-proclaimed queen and the primary antagonist of the story. She tyrannizes Narnia through her magically imposed rule. Her spell on Narnia has made winter persist for a hundred years with no end in sight. When provoked, she turns creatures to stone with her wand. She fears the fulfillment of a prophecy that "two sons of Adam and two daughters of Eve" (meaning humans; two male, two female) will claim the right to rule and supplant her. She is usually referred to simply as "the White Witch" but her actual name, "Jadis," appears in one proclamation in this book. Lewis later wrote a prequel to include her back-story and account for her presence in the Narnian world.
• Tumnus, a faun, is the first individual Lucy meets in Narnia. Tumnus befriends Lucy, despite the White Witch's standing order to turn in any human found in Narnia. He initially plans to obey the order but, after getting to like Lucy, he cannot bear to alert the Witch's forces. He instead escorts her back towards the safety of her own country. His good deed is later given away by Edmund who innocently tells the White Witch that Lucy mentioned meeting a faun. The witch orders Tumnus arrested and turns him to stone, but he is later restored to life by Aslan.
• Mr and Mrs Beaver (named, of course, for their species) are friends of Tumnus. They play host to Peter, Susan, and Lucy and lead them to Aslan.

ENDOWMENTS: contract repairs to the dam they call home and a new sewing machine

• A Dwarf serves the White Witch. He's never named in the book but called Ginabrik in the film, where he has a more significant role.
• Maugrim (Fenris Ulf in most American editions) the wolf is the chief of the White Witch's secret police. She sends him to hunt down the Pevensie children. He tries to kill Susan who flees and sees to the safety of others. She sounds her horn. Peter answers the call and slays Maugrim.
• Giant Rumblebuffin is a character who is turned to stone by the White Witch. Aslan restores him to life by breathing on him. Although slightly dim-witted, he is very kind. His significant contribution is to break down the gate of the Witch's castle to let the rescued Narnians out, and also to crush some of her army.
• A Bull With a Man's Head is among Aslan's court at The Stone Table. With a bellowing voice, he implicitly threatens violence if the Witch attempts to seize Edmund.

Writing

Lewis described the origin of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe in an essay entitled "It All Began with a Picture":

The Lion all began with a picture of a Faun carrying an umbrella and parcels in a snowy wood. This picture had been in my mind since I was about sixteen. Then one day, when I was about forty, I said to myself: 'Let's try to make a story about it.'

Shortly before the Second World War many children were evacuated from London to the English countryside to escape bomber attacks on London by Nazi Germany. On 2 September 1939 three school girls, Margaret, Mary and Katherine, came to live at The Kilns in Risinghurst, Lewis's home three miles east of Oxford city centre. Lewis later suggested that the experience gave him a new appreciation of children and in late September he began a children's story on an odd sheet that has survived as part of another manuscript:

This book is about four children whose names were Ann, Martin, Rose and Peter. But it is most about Peter who was the youngest. They all had to go away from London suddenly because of Air Raids, and because Father, who was in the Army, had gone off to the War and Mother was doing some kind of war work. They were sent to stay with a kind of relation of Mother's who was a very old professor who lived all by himself in the country.

The plot element of entering a new world through the back of a wardrobe had certainly entered Lewis's mind by 1946, when he used it to describe his first encounter with really good poetry:

I did not in the least feel that I was getting in more quantity or better quality a pleasure I had already known. It was more as if a cupboard which one had hitherto valued as a place for hanging coats proved one day, when you opened the door, to lead to the garden of the Hesperides ...

How much more of the story Lewis then wrote is uncertain. Roger Lancelyn Green thinks that he might even have completed it. In September 1947 Lewis wrote in a letter about stories for children: "I have tried one myself but it was, by the unanimous verdict of my friends, so bad that I destroyed it."

In August 1948, during a visit by an American writer, Chad Walsh, Lewis talked vaguely about completing a children's book he had begun "in the tradition of E. Nesbit". After this conversation not much happened until the beginning of the next year. Then everything changed. In his essay "It All Began With a Picture" Lewis continues: "At first I had very little idea how the story would go. But then suddenly Aslan came bounding into it. I think I had been having a good many dreams of lions about that time. Apart from that, I don't know where the Lion came from or why he came. But once he was there, he pulled the whole story together, and soon he pulled the six other Narnian stories in after him."

The major ideas of the book echo lines Lewis had written fourteen years earlier in his alliterative poem The Planets:

... Of wrath ended
And woes mended, of winter passed
And guilt forgiven, and good fortune
Jove is master; and of jocund revel,
Laughter of ladies. The lion-hearted
... are Jove's children.

On 10 March 1949 Roger Lancelyn Green dined with Lewis at Magdalen College. After the meal Lewis read two chapters from his new children's story to Green. Lewis asked Green's opinion of the tale and Green said that he thought it was good. The manuscript of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was complete by the end of March 1949. Lucy Barfield received it by the end of May. When on 16 October 1950 Geoffrey Bles in London published the first edition, three new "chronicles", Prince Caspian, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and The Horse and His Boy, had also been completed.

Illustrations

Lewis's publisher, Geoffrey Bles, allowed him to choose the illustrator for the novel and the Narnia series. Lewis chose Pauline Baynes, possibly based on J. R. R. Tolkien’s recommendation. Baynes had greatly impressed Tolkien with her illustrations for his Farmer Giles of Ham (1949). However, Baynes claimed that Lewis learned about her work after going into a bookshop and asking for a recommendation for an illustrator who was skilled at portraying both humans and animals. In December 1949, Bles showed Lewis the first drawings for the novel, and Lewis sent Baynes a note congratulating her, particularly on the level of detail. Lewis’s appreciation of the illustrations is evident in a letter he wrote to Baynes after The Last Battle won the Carnegie Medal for best children’s book of 1956: "is it not rather 'our' medal? I’m sure the illustrations were taken into account as well as the text".

The British edition of the novel had 43 illustrations; American editions generally had fewer. The popular United States paperback edition published by Collier between 1970 and 1994, which sold many millions, had only 17 illustrations, many of them severely cropped from the originals, giving many readers in that country a very different experience when reading the novel. All the illustrations were restored for the 1994 worldwide HarperCollins edition, although these lacked the clarity of early printings.

Reception

Lewis very much enjoyed writing The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and embarked on the sequel Prince Caspian soon after finishing the first novel. He completed the sequel by end of 1949, less than a year after finishing the initial book. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe had few readers during 1949 and was not published until late in 1950, so his initial enthusiasm did not stem from favourable reception by the public.

While Lewis is known today on the strength of the Narnia stories as a highly successful children’s writer, the initial critical response was muted. At the time it was fashionable for children's stories to be realistic; fantasy and fairy tales were seen as indulgent, appropriate only for very young readers and potentially harmful to older children, even hindering their ability to relate to everyday life. Some reviewers considered the tale overtly moralistic or the Christian elements over-stated — attempts to indoctrinate children. Others were concerned that the many violent incidents might frighten children.

Lewis's publisher, Geoffrey Bles, feared that the Narnia tales would not sell, and might damage Lewis’ reputation and affect sales of his other books. Nevertheless, the novel and its successors were highly popular with young readers, and Lewis's publisher was soon eager to release further Narnia stories.

In the United States a 2004 study found that The Lion was a common read-aloud book for seventh-graders in schools in San Diego County, California. In 2005 it was included on TIME's unranked list of the 100 best English-language novels published since 1923. Based on a 2007 online poll, the U.S. National Education Association named it one of "Teachers' Top 100 Books for Children". In 2012 it was ranked number five among all-time children's novels in a survey published by School Library Journal, a monthly with primarily U.S. audience.

A 2012 survey by the University of Worcester determined that it was the second most common book that UK adults had read as children, after Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. (Adults, perhaps limited to parents, ranked Alice and The Lion fifth and sixth as books the next generation should read, or their children should read during their lifetimes.)

Allusions

Lewis wrote that "The Narnian books are not as much allegory as supposal. Suppose there were a Narnian world and it, like ours, needed redemption. What kind of incarnation and Passion might Christ be supposed to undergo there?"

The main story is an allegory of Christ's crucifixion: Aslan sacrifices himself for Edmund, a traitor who may deserve death, in the same way that Christians believe Jesus sacrificed himself for sinners. Aslan is killed on the Stone Table, symbolizing Mosaic Law, which breaks when he is resurrected, symbolizing the replacement of the strict justice of Old Testament law with redeeming grace and forgiveness granted on the basis of substitutional atonement, according to Christian theology. As with the Christian Passion, it is women (Susan and Lucy) who tend Aslan's body after he dies and are the first to see him after his resurrection. The significance of the death contains elements of both the ransom theory of atonement and the satisfaction theory: Aslan suffers Edmund's penalty (satisfaction), and buys him back from the White Witch, who was entitled to him by reason of his treachery (ransom). In Christian belief, Christ is associated with the Biblical "Lion of Judah" of Revelation 5:5.

Professor Kirke is based on W.T. Kirkpatrick, who tutored a 16-year-old Lewis. "Kirk," as he was sometimes called, taught the young Lewis much about thinking and communicating clearly, skills that would be invaluable to him later.

Narnia is caught in endless winter that has lasted a century when the children first enter. Norse tradition mythologises a "great winter," known as the Fimbulwinter, said to precede Ragnarök. The trapping of Edmund by the White Witch is reminiscent of the seduction and imprisonment of Kay by The Snow Queen in Hans Christian Andersen's novella of that name.

The dwarves and giants are found in Norse mythology; fauns, centaurs, minotaurs and dryads derive from Greek mythology. Father Christmas, of course, was part of popular English folklore.

There are several parallels between the White Witch and the immortal white queen, Ayesha, of H. Rider Haggard's She, a novel greatly admired by C.S. Lewis.

The Story of the Amulet written by Edith Nesbit also contains scenes that can be considered precursors to sequences presenting Jadis, particularly in The Magician's Nephew. Nesbit's short story The Aunt and Amabel includes the motif of a girl entering a wardrobe to gain access to a magical place.

The freeing of Aslan's body from the stone table by field mice is reminiscent of Aesop's fable of "The Lion and the Mouse." In the fable, a lion catches a mouse, but the mouse persuades the lion to release him, promising that the favor would be rewarded. Later in the story, he gnaws through the lion's bonds after he has been captured by hunters. It is also reminiscent of a scene from Edgar Allan Poe's story "The Pit and the Pendulum," in which a prisoner is freed when rats gnaw through his bonds. In a later book, "Prince Caspian," we learn that as reward for their actions, mice gained the same intelligence and speech as other Narnian animals.

Differences between editions

Due to labor union rules, the text of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was reset for the publication of the first American edition of by Macmillan US in 1950. Lewis took that opportunity to make the following changes to the original British edition published by Geoffrey Bles earlier that same year:

• In chapter one of the American edition, the animals that Edmund and Susan express interest in are snakes and foxes rather than the foxes and rabbits of the British edition.
• In chapter six of the American edition, the name of the White Witch's chief of police is changed to "Fenris Ulf" from "Maugrim" in the British.
• In chapter thirteen of the American edition, "the trunk of the World Ash Tree" takes the place of "the fire-stones of the Secret Hill".

When HarperCollins took over publication of the series in 1994, they began using the original British edition for all subsequent English editions worldwide. The current US edition published by Scholastic has 36,135 words.

Adaptations

The story has been adapted three times for television. The first adaptation was a ten-part serial produced by ABC Weekend Television for ITV and broadcast in 1967. In 1979, an animated TV-movie, directed by Peanuts director Bill Meléndez, was broadcast and won the first Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program. A third television adaptation was produced in 1988 by the BBC using a combination of live actors, animatronic puppets and animation. Only this last one was the first of a series of 3 Narnia adaptations. The programme was nominated for an Emmy and won a BAFTA. It was followed by three further Narnia adaptations.

Stage adaptations include a 1984 version staged at London's Westminster Theatre, produced by Vanessa Ford Productions. The play, adapted by Glyn Robbins, was directed by Richard Williams and designed by Marty Flood. Jules Tasca, Ted Drachman, and Thomas Tierney collaborated on a musical adaptation published in 1986. The Royal Shakespeare Company did an adaptation in 1998, for which the acting edition has been published.

In 1997, Trumpets Inc., a Filipino Christian theatre and musical production company, produced a musical rendition that Douglas Gresham, Lewis's stepson (and co-producer of the Walden Media film adaptations), has openly declared that he feels is the closest to Lewis's intention. It starred among others popular young Filipino singer Sam Concepcion as Edmund Pevensie. The book and lyrics were written by Jaime del Mundo and Luna Inocian, while music was composed by Lito Villareal.

In 2003, there was an Australian commercial stage production which toured the country by Malcolm C. Cooke Productions, using both life-size puppets and human actors. It was directed by notable film director Nadia Tass, and starred Amanda Muggleton, Dennis Olsen, Meaghan Davies and Yolande Brown.

In 2011, a two-actor stage adaptation by Le Clanché du Rand opened Off-Broadway in New York City at St. Luke's Theatre. The production was directed by Julia Beardsley O'Brien and starred Erin Layton and Andrew Fortman. As of 2014, the production is currently running with a replacement cast of Abigail Taylor-Sansom and Rockford Sansom.

In 2005, the story was adapted for a theatrical film, co-produced by Walt Disney and Walden Media. It has so far been followed by two more films: (The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader). The latter was co-produced by Twentieth-Century Fox and Walden Media.

Multiple audio editions have been released. The best-known consists of all the books read aloud by Michael York, Anthony Quayle, Patrick Stewart, Kenneth Branagh, Derek Jacobi, Alex Jennings, Lynn Redgrave, Ian Richardson, Claire Bloom and Jeremy Northam. However, two audio CDs in the form of "radio plays" with various actors, sound effects, and music have also been released, one by the BBC (1996), one produced by Focus on the Family's Radio Theatre (1998). Both the original BBC version and the Focus on the Family version have been broadcast on BBC radio. The latter is longer, with a full orchestra score, narration, and a larger cast of actors. Both are the first in a series of adaptations of all seven of the Narnia books.

References

Citations

• Ford, Paul F. (2005). Companion to Narnia: Revised Edition. San Francisco: HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-06-079127-8.
• Hooper, Walter, ed. (1982). On Stories and Other Essays on Literature. By C.S. Lewis. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. ISBN 0-15-668788-7.
• Schakel, Peter J. (2002). Imagination and the arts in C. S. Lewis: journeying to Narnia and other worlds. University of Missouri Press. ISBN 0-8262-1407-X.
• Veith, Gene (2008). The Soul of Prince Caspian: Exploring Spiritual Truth in the Land of Narnia. David C. Cook. ISBN 0-7814-4528-0.

Further reading

• Sammons, Martha C. (1979). A Guide Through Narnia. Wheaton, Illinois: Harold Shaw Publishers. ISBN 0-87788-325-4.
• Downing, David C. (2005). Into the Wardrobe: C. S. Lewis and the Narnia Chronicles. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0-7879-7890-6.
• Ryken, Leland; and Mead; Marjorie Lamp (2005). A Reader's Guide Through the Wardrobe: Exploring C. S. Lewis's Classic Story. London: InterVarsity Press. ISBN 0-8308-3289-0.

External links

• The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe in libraries (WorldCat catalog) —immediately, the full-colour C. S. Lewis centenary edition
• C. S. Lewis at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
• Project Gutenberg Canada ebook (works of C.S. Lewis are public domain in Canada as of 2014)