My Adventures to Narnia with C.S. Lewis

By: Rachel Mouton

 

 

           

            Magdalene College, Cambridge

The year was 1955. I remember because I had been a student of literature at Magdalene College, Cambridge for a short time, when who should take the position as head of Medieval and Renaissance Literature studies but the well known author C. S. Lewis. He had written many great essays and novels that had made him famous in literary circles around the campus and throughout the land. I had begun to learn more about his writing skills since I myself was a young writer in need of some extensive tutoring. I had gained permission to speak with him on one beautiful afternoon to discuss an essay I was writing at the time.

 

 

 

 

    I had spoken with one or two of his undergraduate students about what kind of teacher he was and about his character. I asked the sort of questions one would ask if trying to get to know someone on an academic level and all the responses were quite meager. “He is never dramatic,” they would say. He didn’t noticeably strive for effect when lecturing. “His voice is baritone with wide ranges of inflection and his delivery is disciplined with ease.” I could only imagine having to read aloud my essay in front of this man and to hear back his commentary on my own work. I had heard also that he had three standard forms of comment for an essay.  If the essay was good: ”There is a good deal in what you say.” If the essay was middling: “There is something in what you say.” If the essay was bad: “There may be something in what you say.” What you said was either “well said” or not. [[1]] Knowing this I was sure to guard my words carefully and to approach with great sincerity.

    I decided to venture towards one of his rooms. It was located within a structure built in the mid 1600’s. I saw along the way the imaginative stone carvings of previous generations amidst courtyards flourishing with roses, ivy and clematis plants. It was springtime and the air was very clean, clean enough to touch the crystal blue sky with one’s fingertips. I took it all in with great enthusiasm as I was certainly on my way to explore this eminent mind, this master of scholarly prestige. I can’t say that I was not extremely nervous to meet with him after all, given his reputation. However, I had this sense of calm rush over me as I entered the building and began to climb the stone stairway that would lead me to him.

 

 

 

 

I entered the hallway. There were several rooms to my left and to my right. I peeked into the first on my left. There was nothing. I kept going, only now my feet seemed to move a bit slower and my heart started to pump a bit more. Suddenly, I heard a loud grunt or maybe it was a clearing of the throat that came from the room to my right. It was him! 

 “Hmm, hmm” I stuttered, “Professor Lewis?”

“Yes, that’s me alright. Who are you or should I say what can I do for you?” he answered.

“I am a student here sir and I am pleased to meet you. I am here today because I wanted to talk with you about writing and to let you know that I have been reading your essays and stories for some time now. I’m kind of nervous. I think I need to sit down now….”

My face was pale and I had locked my legs, preventing any blood flow to the rest of my body and suddenly felt faint. I stumbled for a chair behind me but there wasn’t one within reach. Down to the ground I fell like a ton of bricks! (Smack!) I woke up to Mr. Lewis fanning my face with his latest tale from the Narnia Chronicles he must have grabbed from his desktop after I had fainted. How embarrassing! I come to speak with this man about his great accomplishments in writing, to speak with him about my own troubles with the subject and I cause quite the disturbance! If I had only had at that moment any blood left in my body, my cheeks would have been bright red but they were only pale white.

“My God!” he cried. “I thought you might have been out for good!”

As he looked down upon me with a kind face, I sat up instantly to try and recover any dignity I may have had left.

“Don’t move about too quickly just yet,” he said. I think you should sit down here for a while and rest that head of yours.”

“I am so sorry for this display sir!” I cried as I struggled to smooth out my dress and fix my expression as he helped me up to the chair. I almost did cry in that moment, but there was something very peaceful about the situation. I began to understand why once I looked into his kind eyes.

“Everyone makes a fool of themselves at some point or another I am sure. It’s what you do after the fact that is important. Now you were here for a reason I suppose. Maybe to speak with me about some piece in particular?”

“Yes sir, yes I was. I wanted to speak with you about your approach to writing, particularly having to do with the fantasy books about Narnia. I see that you are still working on some of them?”

“Indeed, indeed, this is one of many drafts of The Last Battle that I have been working on for some time now. You don’t have to work hard if you work steadily—only innately lazy men are hard workers.” [[2]]

“Oh, I see. So this is how you feel about writing?” I remarked.

“One little squiggle goes up to the surface of the mind and is rejected. Then another little squiggle goes up and is rejected, and so on until a squiggle finally is accepted as valid. This is the thought process. [[3]] One must keep trying until the words come out in proper form. If a reader is forced to consistently reread the sentence in order to allow the listener to understand it, it is almost always a bad piece of writing or at least dull writing for that matter. However, if the reader can read aloud from his work with confidence and intonation of words that make sense together and flow from the tongue with ease and certainty then it is most certainly good writing.”

“Can you show me where your ideas are brought to life? I mean, how do you come up with them?” I asked.

“Well, that is quite simple really. I use “picture thinking” to help me with my scholastic feats. I guess you could say it is a sort of panoramic view of the story line or the subject at hand. Here is the map of Narnia for example.  There are plots and points of reference here. The land is clearly laid out and this provides me the space for further expansion of my imagination. Would you like me to show you the space personally?” he asked.           

                                               

“Why of course sir but whatever do you mean exactly?” I answered.

I was a little nervous at the thought of standing erect again but I was not going to miss this opportunity!

“Here stand over there by that armoire and hand me my cloak from it.”

 

 

As I reached for the cloak I noticed that the hanger it hung on was really a handle of sorts to a secret room behind the cloaks. I turned around immediately to see what he had to say.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“It’s quite alright. Come with me.”

    He took the cloak from my hand and led me past the secret door. I was shocked! I was scared and intrigued all at the same time! I had no choice but to follow him into this mysterious room that I knew nothing of. Where did it lead? What were we to see? How was I to take it all in and still keep my calm? I remember these thoughts swarmed around my small head until I realized where we were. This was the place! The famous storybook land of Narnia! He had actually taken me to it! I couldn’t help but wonder why he decided to share this fortune with me of all people. Maybe he had felt sorry for my clumsiness earlier or for the giant bump on my head I could feel start to swell, but then I somehow didn’t care! I was here! I was here!

He could see the astonished look on my face as I came to realization of where I was now standing! One could say it was a sort of genius loci! It was like I had this overwhelming sense of place and this new understanding of the reasons for my being a student. I think it pleased him to share with someone his secret world of imagination, to share his thoughts and imagery with someone so young

and impressionable as myself. I was a young writer introduced to a world of potential if one will only attempt to put those squiggles together properly! I was at a loss for words.

“I don’t know what to say sir! Are we really here?”

“The imagination is a wonderful thing as you can see. One of the first things we must ask ourselves is ‘Do you think your readers will believe you just because you say so? You must go quite a different way to work. By direct descriptions, by metaphor and simile, by secretly evoking powerful associations, by offering the right stimuli to our nerves (in the right degree and the right order), and by the very beat and vowel melody and length and brevity of your sentences, you must bring it about that we, we readers, not you, exclaim “how mysterious!” or “loathsome” or whatever it is. Let me taste for myself, and you’ll have no need to tell me how I should react to the flavour.’ [[4]] Do you see now? Sometimes that can be the hardest thing to do as a writer. So now tell me, what it is that you see.”

          I was still a little in shock but his words seemed to make sense to me somehow. I was quite nervous at this my first attempt at really seeing what was there in front of me, of looking around me, standing in my place and trying to fully understand and explain it.

          “I see tall valiant trees standing among the brush beckoning me forth into this magical place. I can see the flowers beginning to blossom into deep hues of red and blue and yellow. I can smell them faintly and sweetly as I walk by. Their perfume is intoxicating if you get too close to them, yet they draw you in still. There is a shaded area over there that allows just the right amount of sunbeams in through its branches. Its leaves are spread about just right and shake and shiver with the slightest breeze blowing by. I can see it all and I can take it all in at this moment. It is so peaceful here in this place.”

          “I want you to meet somebody,” he said and made a motion towards the brush in front of us. A great lion began to emerge from behind the flower bushes. It was Aslan! He had quietly crept up on us while we were talking.

          “It is a pleasure to meet you, your greatness!” I said as I bowed in respect to this legendary character.

          “Please, please my child, it is not necessary that you bow; for you travel with the keeper of the deep magic from before the dawn of time. I have great respect for this,” he answered with a nod directed towards Lewis.

          “Aslan, I wanted you to meet this young writer. She has been given this privilege to visit Narnia because I think it is important that she meet with one such as you to truly understand the principles of what her and I have been discussing just now.”

          “Would you like me to show you around? Just grab on to my mane and you can ride on my back.” Aslan said this as he moved closer to where I was standing.

          I looked back at Professor Lewis to see if it would be all right to take this adventure but he was no where to be found.

          “Where did he go?” I asked.

          “Worry not, my child. The professor tends to do that,” said Aslan to me and winked his big brown eye with a nod of his head. He motioned me forth with a great understanding of what was about to happen. I stepped toward him unknowingly and he told me to put my hand on his mane and to mount myself onto his back. I did and he instructed me to hold on tightly to him in any way that I could grasp. Suddenly, with little warning he leaped high into the air! He leaped so high that I thought I would have to duck just to avoid my head being in the clouds!

          “Whoa, how did you just do that?” I asked.

          “Very carefully,” he replied with a sly smile on his face exposing his pearly white fangs. I think he was trying to put me at ease in some strange way, and it somehow worked! I was eager to see what this adventure would have in store for me. I wanted desperately for Aslan to show me all of the places in Narnia that I had heard about.

          “Where are we going?” I asked as we leaped through the air.

“Why I have many destinations for us,” he said. “First of all I want greatly to bring you to my home at Cair Paravel. It is the place that I can fully rest my body and deeply meditate upon my thoughts. My castle is strong and yet also very beautiful in structure as you will see.”

 

 

 

 

 

I gazed to my right side and peered below us as we descended down from yet another amazing bound. I was excited to see the tall castle with its towers and imaginative stone carved features. I understood why Aslan could be so proud of his beautiful home and it made me think of my own.  Aslan continued to show me his precious Narnia. I saw the many green fields and fertile lands in what seemed like a lifetime. We talked and laughed together for days on end. If I ever grew tired of walking, Aslan would just let me ride along on his back for as long as I wanted.

One day amidst a lovely knoll of grass, we stopped for a drink at a certain brook known for its cool refreshing water. I plopped down off of Aslan’s back and laid down into the plush grass. I rolled around and around in the grass because it felt so nice and soft. It was the softest grass I had ever felt before and I wanted to relish in the moment. I sat up quickly when I heard a voice calling to me from the distance. It kept calling to me, calling to me, calling to me…

“Are you ok Miss? Are you awake?”

          I opened my eyes to see Professor Lewis leaning over me once more in panic, only this time it was real. My eyes opened even wider at this realization and I was quick to sit myself up to try and explain to him what had just happened to me.

          “Yes I am ok. I am awake! Oh Professor Lewis, I can’t begin to tell you the things I have just seen. The smells, the light, the trees, oh the trees!”

          “You are ok, aren’t you?” he asked again of me but this time a little slower and with a more dramatic pause.

          “I have never been so inspired! You were here, I mean there, in Narnia. You took me there through the secret door to teach me about writing. I asked you to. Then you introduced me to Aslan and he took me around Narnia. I swear it just happened, but--I guess it didn’t?”  My speech began to slow and I knew I had to stop before he admitted me to the nurses’ quarters for careful watch.  “I guess I must have hit my head pretty hard, huh?” I asked as he helped me up and I rubbed my head with my free hand.

          “I think you must have. Did you still want to speak with me? I still have some time left to talk with you about your essay. You were out for a short while you know. I think it might be best if you take it easy the rest of the day. You seem to have been through a lot,” he said.

          “Oh I have sir, I have! I have learned so much and it was inside of me all the while. I just had to discover it myself! In my state of oblivion just now I realized so much about my writing! I understand now that I need to use more descriptions and metaphors to get my point across than just simply telling my readers what they should think. This will help me so much when I write about nature in the future!” I paused for a moment and then I felt this urgent need to go and try to observe the extraordinary campus that had been surrounding me all along. I wanted to see with my newly acquired knowledge if I would perceive things differently.

“I think I should probably go now it seems I have some writing still to do. Thank you for your time and I am sorry about this afternoon! Maybe we can talk again soon sometime!”

“Thank you for a very interesting hour of talk,”[[5]] said he this as he stuck his head around the corner just in time to see me hurry down the stone staircase.

 The End!

Bibliography:

 

C.S. Lewis: Speaker & Teacher 

 

Through the Open Door: A New Look At C.S. Lewis

 

C.S. Lewis Essay Collection & Other Short Pieces

 

C.S. Lewis at the Breakfast Table and Other Reminiscences

 

The Chronicles of Narnia

 

http://ic.net/~erasmus/RAZ26.htm

 

www.geocities.com/Area51/Vault/9451/narnia.htm

 

http://personal.bgsu.edu/~edwards/chron.html

 

http://www.worldwidewebfind.com/encyclopedia/en/wikipedia/c/c_/c__s__lewis.html

 

http://www.britainexpress.com/Where_to_go_in_Britain/Gardens/Gardens5.htm

 

http://www.narnia.com/discover/index.htm

 

http://members.lycos.co.uk/Jonathan_Gregory76/

 

http://www.worldwidewebfind.com/encyclopedia/en/wikipedia/u/un/university_of_cambridge.html