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To: luckystarmom
That's the way C.S. Lewis wanted it.

I don't think so. I just bought the complete Cronicles of Narnia in one book and it stated quite clearly that he wanted the stories in chronological order with "The Magician's Nephew first", "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe second", etc...

154 posted on 12/27/2005 12:29:51 PM PST by frogjerk (LIBERALISM - Being miserable for no good reason)
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To: frogjerk

You mean ALL of his books are bound into one? Wow....my daughter is planning to re-buy the series in the bound-together edition. I hope it was REAL expensive.


159 posted on 12/27/2005 12:33:26 PM PST by cake_crumb (Leftist Credo: One Wing to Rule them All and to the Darkside Bind them)
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To: frogjerk; luckystarmom
Frog, you're right in a way, but also wrong.

When MacMillan reissued the books in the U.S., back I think in the 80s (with new illustrations by Pauline Baynes), the American publishers changed the order to Narnian chronology instead of the order in which the books were written.

The problem with that approach is that Narnia grew as Lewis produced the books over a period of years, so that when you read The Magician's Nephew, there is much that you will not understand if you haven't read the preceding five books. It comes first in the reordered series, and I think that's a mistake because too much is assumed by the author, who thinks you've already read the others.

I read the whole series when I got the books for Christmas when I was 6 -- a long, long time ago (they had just been published as a set for the first time in the U.S. . . . < eek >) I wish I could read them again for the first time!

177 posted on 12/27/2005 12:43:46 PM PST by AnAmericanMother (. . . Ministrix of ye Chace (recess appointment), TTGC Ladies' Auxiliary . . .)
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