Why CS Lewis created Narnia

In a recent survey of school teachers’ favourite books, 500 primary and secondary teachers from around the country were asked to name their ten favourite books. Classics – like Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice – feature prominently. So do more recent works that are clearly well on the way to becoming classics – such as JRR Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, and CS Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia, which sat alongside other children's classics such as the Harry Potter, Hunger Games and His Dark Materials series in the top 20. So why are Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia – especially their showcase opener The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe – so popular, 50 years after Lewis’s death?

Lewis died 50 years ago in 1963. He has made what is arguably the most important transition for any writer, in that more people read his works today than during his lifetime – and the Narnia books are his most popular creations. Perhaps they’ve been helped along by big-budget movie versions, which have boosted their sales, but most would say there’s more to it than that.

To understand the deep appeal of Narnia we need to appreciate the place of stories in helping us to make sense of reality, and our own place within it. The Chronicles of Narnia appeal to the basic human intuition that our own story is part of something greater and grander. And once we have grasped this “bigger picture” or “greater story”, we can see our situation in a new and more meaningful way. The “greater story” helps us understand how we fit into a greater scheme of things.

At the deepest level, Lewis’s “Chronicles of Narnia” are about finding a master story, that makes sense of all other stories—and then embracing it, because of its power to give meaning and value to life. So which is the true story? And which are fabrications, tales spun to entrap and deceive?

At an early stage in the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (first published in 1950), the four children begin to hear stories about the true origins and destiny of Narnia. Puzzled, they find they have to make decisions about what persons and what stories are to be trusted.

Is Narnia really the realm of the White Witch? Or is she a usurper, whose power will be broken when two Sons of Adam and two Daughters of Eve sit on the four thrones at Cair Paravel? Is Narnia really the realm of the mysterious Aslan, whose return is expected at any time?

We all have to work out what story we believe about this world, and our place within it. Do we trust the dominant narratives of our culture? Or are there other stories that make more sense of things, and help us figure out who we are, and what we are meant to be doing?

Lewis also helped his readers in another respect – thinking about how to become good people. Realizing that academic books on morality were rather dull, Lewis set out to tell stories in which characters embodied virtues. Lewis tried to show his readers what goodness, nobility, and dignity looked like. Where some offered somewhat dry academic discussions about these virtues, Lewis drew his readers into narratives that showed how these worked out in real life, and changed things for the better. He hoped that setting out a vision of goodness and integrity would encourage his readers to work out how they could embody these virtues in their own lives.

Narnia can be read as great children’s fiction, which has secured its place in the literary canon. But it’s more than this. Lewis deftly welded an imaginatively engaging narrative with deeper reflections on the meaning of life, the challenges we face, and how we become better people. It’s no wonder Narnia has so many adult readers – there’s always more to discover.

Alister McGrath is Professor of Theology, Ministry, and Education at King’s College London. CS Lewis: A Life is out now, published by Hodder.