Reading The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe in Stari Grad, island Hvar
Hello dear readers and fellow bloggers! Today I'll share a travelogue from Stari Grad on island Hvar accompanied by a book review for the first (and best known) novel in The Chronicles of Narnia series- The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Published in 1950, this portal fantasy novel, written by British author C. S. Lewis is still a beloved classic. Three out of seven Narnia novels were (and quite successfully) adapted to the big screen in our 21st century (2005-2010). So, the Narnia series is pretty well known, even for those who are not fantasy fans. The Chronicles of Narnia have been in continuous print ever since they saw the light of day, selling one hundred million copies so far!
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is the novel that started it all. In this post, you'll not also see me posing with this novel, you'll get to take a tour of Stari Grad. So, this is 'two in one kind' of post. The photographs for this post were taken about a year and a month ago. It was a lovely and sunny day, as you can see. While we were visiting the amazingly beautiful historical town of Stari Grad, I found this lovely copy of the first novel from The Chronicles of Narnia in one of those book exchange boxes. I took it and I reread it. What a fantastic comfort reread it has proven itself to be! Of course, I had read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe as a kid and I enjoyed it very much. I also enjoyed the film adaptations as an adult. The film adaptations weren't perfect, but on overall they were enjoyable and the casting was fantastic. Whoever though of casting Tilda Swinton as the ethereally beautiful witch, deserves a raise. If you want to read my review on these films, I'll see what I can do. :)
Let's start with the book review of this beloved fantasy novel. I mentioned already that I had already read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe as a kid. However, I always thought about it more as a fairy-tale than as a fantasy. If you asked me what I had read when I had read it, I would have said that I'd just finished a lovely fairy-tale. However, this is not a traditional fairy-tale, but rather a fantasy novel focusing on lives of children who discover they can visit an alternative reality, or a magical country of Narnia, by travelling through a portal (that is basically an old wardrobe). Rereading it as an adult, it definitely feels more like a fantasy novel than a traditional fairy-tale. I found that interesting, so I did some thinking. Is it because I have read a lot more fantasy in the meantime?
As a kid, I also read and adored J.R.R. Tolkien, you know the guy that is credited with inventing fantasy as a genre. So, why did the LOTR feel more like fantasy then the The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis? Well, I think it has something to do with the way novels are written. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe originally felt more like a children's book, whereas the Lord of The Rings trilogy seemed more serious - both to my child and adult brain. Now, that I think of it, I would still keep that classification. Narnia books can be enjoyed both by kids and adults alike, while most of Tolkien's fantasy writing is more serious fantasy that can be read by kids but it is not exactly written for kids, especially young kids. Although, the LOTR also started off as a children's book. The Hobbit is more similar to The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe then the LOTR. The Hobbit is definitely a novel that was written by kids, and that can be enjoyed by adults as well. The Hobbit is perfect for all ages, just like The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
Naturally, I did not think much about these genre classifications as a kid. I can definitely see why Naria novels are fantasy now, but back then it all felt more like a fairy-tale. As a kid, I knew J.R.R. Tolkien was fantasy and that was it. Fantasy was not a concept that was widely discussed when I was kid, at least not around me. When I got to high school, I was surprised to learn that everyone seems to have had read J.R.R. Tolkien. It was not that much talked about when I was a kid, but in had another surge in popularity when I was a teen. My brother and I did read LOTR very young, I think I was eight or nine, and my brother ten or eleven, but these books are definitely a big deal, basically the founding works of fantasy. I read them many times since then. Maybe some day, I'll do a review for them as well.
Interestingly, J.R. R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis were really good friends. They were colleagues at Oxford University. Not only that, they were a part of an informal literally group. They encouraged one another in writing, but also in faith. Both of them are also known as Christian fantasy authors, as their faith influenced their writing. Both authors are great choice if you want to read about inspiring characters who choose to do the right thing despite the difficulties. There is a definite light against the dark struggle in all of their work. In case of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, not only is the titular lion character a Christ-like figure, his life story resembles that of Christ in detail.
Now, however, let us move with the review on this first Narnia novel. The chapters in this novel have very descriptive titles, so if you don't want spoilers I suggest you don't browse through them. For example: CHAPTER ONE LUCY LOOKS INTO A WARDROBE or CHAPTER TWO WHAT LUCY FOUND THERE.....
Do you see what I mean? The chapter names tell you what is going to happen next, so ignore them if you don't want spoilers. Although, I imagine many people are familiar with the plot of this beloved children's classic. Still, if you are not, I'll do the best to avoid spoilers in this book review. So, what is this novel about? As I said, it's a portal fantasy novel. During the Second World War in UK, children were often evacuated to English countryside because of very real treat of bombing in urban areas. From what I found online, Lewis witnessed this first hand when three school girls came to live near him in countryside. This apparently inspired him to write something for kids. The protagonists of this novels are siblings from London who are evacuated to the English countryside.
Moreover, let us look at what the writer himself C.S. Lewis had to say about writing The Chronicles of Narnia:
The Editor has asked me to tell you how I came to write The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. I will try, but you must not believe all that authors tell you about how they wrote their books. This is not because they mean to tell lies. It is because a man writing a story is too excited about the story itself to sit back and notice how he is doing it. In fact, that might stop the works; just as, if you start thinking about how you tie your tie, the next thing is that you find you can’t tie it. And afterwards, when the story is finished, he has forgotten a good deal of what writing it was like. One thing I am sure of. All my seven Narnian books, and my three science-fiction books, began with seeing pictures in my head. At first they were not a story, just pictures. 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.’ 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. So you see that, in a sense, I know very little about how this story was born. That is, I don’t know where the pictures came from. And I don’t believe anyone knows exactly how he ‘makes things up’. Making up is a very mysterious thing. When you ‘have an idea’ could you tell anyone exactly how you thought of it?1
-C.S. Lewis*
*Quoted from: https://cslewisofficial.substack.com/p/it-all-began-with-a-picture
I like how the author said there is a bit of mystery to the origin of any work of fiction. I agree with that, as pinpointing an exact moment of literary creation is difficult. As Joseph Conrad once famously said: Could somebody explain to my wife that I'm working even when I'm staring through the window? It also makes sense how the vision of Aslan connected the stories. So, now that we discussed the novel's origin, let's get back to the premise of this novel. These four kids from the novel come to live in a country house, and we can imagine they miss their parents dearly. However, they discover a portal that leads them to a magical land filled with mythological beasts, talking animals, and a Lion named Aslan who is the king of all beasts. There is also a Witch, but I won't tell you much about her character. Let's avoid the spoilers where possible.
The book The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe opens in a typical fairy tale fashion as honestly I love that it does. Immediately, I warmed up to the characters (again) I read about. The writing is simple enough but very descriptive. The writer tells us who the principal characters are, what the story is about and all that. He does not tell us about the portal thing right away (Lewis leaves that for second chapter), but we learn with whom are the children staying and where they are, what their ages are and what their new home is like.
ONCE there were four children whose names were Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy. This story is about something that happened to them when they were sent away from London during the war because of the air-raids. They were sent to the house of an old Professor who lived in the heart of the country, ten miles from the nearest railway station and two miles from the nearest post office. He had no wife and he lived in a very large house with a housekeeper called Mrs Macready and three servants. (Their names were Ivy, Margaret and Betty, but they do not come into the story much.) He himself was a very old man with shaggy white hair which grew over most of his face as well as on his head, and they liked him almost at once; but on the first evening when he came out to meet them at the front door he was so odd-looking that Lucy (who was the youngest) was a little afraid of him, and Edmund (who was the next youngest) wanted to laugh and had to keep on pretending he was blowing his nose to hide it.
Through the dialogue we immediately get the feeling of the children's characters. A well written dialogue makes every novel more interesting! Dialogue can be a great writing tool, as it allows the characters to introduce themselves with their own words and gives them a voice. The protagonists of this novel are siblings, but they all have distinct personalities. Peter starts the conversation, and we see that he is the leader. This is to be expected, especially since he is the oldest one. Susan is the second oldest. So, Susan is sort of a mother-figure, or at least according to Edmund, she is trying to be one. We immediately see that Edmund is the one who is prone to criticism. This is going to be relevant, as Edward is the one who is going to get into trouble. Not saying that Edward is bad, they are obviously all children, none of them are bad, but Edward will cause some troubles, both for himself and others.
"We've fallen on our feet and no mistake," said Peter. "This is going to be perfectly splendid. That old chap will let us do anything we like."
"I think he's an old dear," said Susan.
"Oh, come off it!" said Edmund, who was tired and pretending not to be tired, which always made him bad-tempered. "Don't go on talking like that."
Like what?" said Susan; "and anyway, it's time you were in bed."
"Trying to talk like Mother," said Edmund.
"And who are you to say when I'm to go to bed? Go to bed yourself."*
Quoted from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe* by C.S. Lewis , Chapter One
Lucy seems to be the peace maker, as she urges them to go to bed and Peter explains that nobody can hear them in a house like this one. Reading this book for a second time, I found it fascinating to muse on the subject of how distinct all their personalities seemed to be, right from the beginning. The characters are also consistent. It is simply wonderful writing. Of course, the characters underdo character development, but it is all written in a way that makes sense.
"Hadn't we all better go to bed?" said Lucy.
"There's sure to be a row if we're heard talking here."
"No there won't," said Peter. "I tell you this is the sort of house where no one's going to mind what we do. Anyway, they won't hear us. It's about ten minutes' walk from here down to that dining-room, and any amount of stairs and passages in between."*
As I said, Peter is immediately positioned as the leader. For example, when Lucky is a bit afraid of a strange sound, but while Edward calls her silly, Peter patiently explains what it is.
"What's that noise?" said Lucy suddenly. It was a far larger house than she had ever been in before and the thought of all those long passages and rows of doors leading into empty rooms was beginning to make her feel a little creepy. "It's only a bird, silly," said Edmund.
"It's an owl," said Peter. "This is going to be a wonderful place for birds. I shall go to bed now. I say, let's go and explore tomorrow. You might find anything in a place like this. Did you see those mountains as we came along? And the woods? There might be eagles. There might be stags. There'll be hawks."
"Badgers!" said Lucy.
Foxes!" said Edmund.
"Rabbits!" said Susan. *
When the rainy morning comes, Edward is grumpy. He sets himself apart from his siblings right from the start, doesn't he? This basically continues to the story. Edward is very young, but he wants to appear older. The children might enjoy their new home, but they are still separated from their parents, and for children that is very hard indeed. Anyhow, Susan instructs Edward not to be grumpy, and suggests alternative activities for them.
But when next morning came there was a steady rain falling, so thick that when you looked out of the window you could see neither the mountains nor the woods nor even the stream in the garden. "Of course it would be raining!" said Edmund. They had just finished their breakfast with the Professor and were upstairs in the room he had set apart for them - a long, low room with two windows looking out in one direction and two in another. "Do stop grumbling, Ed," said Susan. "Ten to one it'll clear up in an hour or so. And in the meantime we're pretty well off. There's a wireless and lots of books." *
Peter suggests exploring the house, and the adventure beginnings for all of them. This game will actually lead us to the magic wardrobe, and the book's main plot.
"Not for me" said Peter; "I'm going to explore in the house." Everyone agreed to this and that was how the adventures began. It was the sort of house that you never seem to come to the end of, and it was full of unexpected places. The first few doors they tried led only into spare bedrooms, as everyone had expected that they would; but soon they came to a very long room full of pictures and there they found a suit of armour; and after that was a room all hung with green, with a harp in one corner; and then came three steps down and five steps up, and then a kind of little upstairs hall and a door that led out on to a balcony, and then a whole series of rooms that led into each other and were lined with books - most of them very old books and some bigger than a Bible in a church. And shortly after that they looked into a room that was quite empty except for one big wardrobe; the sort that has a looking-glass in the door. There was nothing else in the room at all except a dead blue-bottle on the window-sill. "Nothing there!" said Peter, and they all trooped out again - all except Lucy. She stayed behind because she thought it would be worth while trying the door of the wardrobe, even though she felt almost sure that it would be locked. To her surprise it opened quite easily, and two moth-balls dropped out.*
Lucy, the youngest one, is the one who finds the magical wardrobe. It might be because she is the youngest, so she is most in touch with the magic of Narnia. I have to say reading about the discovery felt absolutely magical all over again. Lewis did a great job describing Lucy's discovery of Narnia. It feels absolutely real and magical at the same time.
"... She immediately stepped into the wardrobe and got in among the coats and rubbed her face against them, leaving the door open, of course, because she knew that it is very foolish to shut oneself into any wardrobe. Soon she went further in and found that there was a second row of coats hanging up behind the first one. It was almost quite dark in there and she kept her arms stretched out in front of her so as not to bump her face into the back of the wardrobe. She took a step further in - then two or three steps always expecting to feel woodwork against the tips of her fingers. But she could not feel it. "This must be a simply enormous wardrobe!" thought Lucy, going still further in and pushing the soft folds of the coats aside to make room for her. Then she noticed that there was something crunching under her feet. "I wonder is that more mothballs?" she thought, stooping down to feel it with her hand. But instead of feeling the hard, smooth wood of the floor of the wardrobe, she felt something soft and powdery and extremely cold. "This is very queer," she said, and went on a step or two further. "*
The warm wardrobe with fur coats suddenly turns cold, and that is when Lucy makes her discovery.
Next moment she found that what was rubbing against her face and hands was no longer soft fur but something hard and rough and even prickly. "Why, it is just like branches of trees!" exclaimed Lucy. And then she saw that there was a light ahead of her; not a few inches away where the back of the wardrobe ought to have been, but a long way off. Something cold and soft was falling on her. A moment later she found that she was standing in the middle of a wood at night-time with snow under her feet and snowflakes falling through the air. Lucy felt a little frightened, but she felt very inquisitive and excited as well. She looked back over her shoulder and there, between the dark tree trunks; she could still see the open doorway of the wardrobe and even catch a glimpse of the empty room from which she had set out. (She had, of course, left the door open, for she knew that it is a very silly thing to shut oneself into a wardrobe.) It seemed to be still daylight there. "I can always get back if anything goes wrong," thought Lucy. She began to walk forward, crunch crunch over the snow and through the wood towards the other light. In about ten minutes she reached it and found it was a lamp-post. As she stood looking at it, wondering why there was a lamp-post in the middle of a wood and wondering what to do next, she heard a pitter patter of feet coming towards her. And soon after that a very strange person stepped out from among the trees into the light of the lamp-post.*
Just like that, we're introduced with the first Narnia character, the satyr. Narnia is populated with various magical creatures and talking animals. Aslan is the king of Narnia, the lion king that appears in all of the seven novels. The Satyr or the Faun is the first Narnian that Lucky meets. He is a very nice character indeed, and Lucy takes an immediate liking to him.
He was only a little taller than Lucy herself and he carried over his head an umbrella, white with snow. From the waist upwards he was like a man, but his legs were shaped like a goat's (the hair on them was glossy black) and instead of feet he had goat's hoofs. He also had a tail, but Lucy did not notice this at first because it was neatly caught up over the arm that held the umbrella so as to keep it from trailing in the snow. He had a red woollen muffler round his neck and his skin was rather reddish too. He had a strange, but pleasant little face, with a short pointed beard and curly hair, and out of the hair there stuck two horns, one on each side of his forehead.
One of his hands, as I have said, held the umbrella: in the other arm he carried several brown-paper parcels. What with the parcels and the snow it looked just as if he had been doing his Christmas shopping. He was a Faun. And when he saw Lucy he gave such a start of surprise that he dropped all his parcels. "Goodness gracious me!" exclaimed the Faun. *
Quoted from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe* by C.S. Lewis, Chapter Two
I loved the description of the Faun. The first Narnia inhabitant is very charming indeed.
Throughout the novel, Lucy will maintain a strong connection to all inhabitants of Narnia, and especially so Aslan. However, Aslan does not appear immediately. Children first learn about him from other animals. However, before that happens, the siblings learn about Narnia from Susan.
In third chapter, Lucy returns to her siblings. Lucy is surprised they haven't missed her, and that is how we learn that time in Narnia flows more slowly.
Lucy ran out of the empty room into the passage and found the other three.
"It's all right," she repeated, "I've comeback."
"What on earth are you talking about, Lucy?" asked Susan.
"Why? said Lucy in amazement, "haven't you all been wondering where I was?"
"So you've been hiding, have you?" said Peter. "Poor old Lu, hiding and nobody noticed! You'll have to hide longer than that if you want people to start looking for you."
"But I've been away for hours and hours," said Lucy.
The others all stared at one another.
"Batty!" said Edmund, tapping his head. "Quite batty."
"What do you mean, Lu?" asked Peter. *
1. You can visit this 2020 late Summer post to stroll Stari Grad streets with me. In this post, I posed in my iconic grey dress paired with a red sailor bag bought from a local seamstress. You can also see the historical Shipyard square in this post. I mean you can also see it in this post, but you might want to have another look to see how it looks bathed in sunshine.
Full link address: https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2020/10/a-neutral-grey-dress-for-visit-to-stari.html
2. In this Summer 2020 post, you can visit Stari Grad Unesco protected plain with me and learn a thing or two about its history. I also snapped some pictures of a small helicopter and airplane that landed there. I don't know who they belong to. Island Hvar does not have a real airport. It is more an airfield that small airplanes use to land. There are a couple of airports near island Hvar, the nearest two are Split city airport and Brač airport. Brač island has a proper International airport, fully functional and all that.
Full link address: https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2020/10/visit-stari-grad-plain-fully-preserved.html
 |
| a little gif with my photographs from my visit to Stari Grad, island Hvar |
 |
| For more information, visit https://www.visit-stari-grad.com/en/what-to-see/landmarks/other-sites/ |
Local archeologiest have discovered Roman mosaics from 2nd century CE hidden under the streets in Stari Grad, more precisely under The Middle Street. Isn't that cool? Anyway, you'll find these kind of boards as depicted on the photograph below all around Croatia, telling you more about different locations.
Moving onto another sight worth seeing and that is the church of saint Stephen. You can see my last visit to it here. I tend to walk past it every time I visit Stari Grad. There is something about this church and this square that really appeals to me. It also changes a lot with seasons. As I said, if you browse my older posts about Stari Grad, you'll see what this historical city looks like in all four seasons.
2. It was build on a site of an older church dating back to ninth or tenth century.
3. It was was severely damaged by Ottoman attack in 1571.
4. The Bell Tower was completed in 1753.
5. In the base of the bell tower there are Roman ruins dating back to 2nd century BC.
6. The church was build from stone brought from island Korčula which oxides over time. This oxidation gives the stone its signature reddish brown colour.
7. The church is a three- nave basilica with a squire apse. It is build in a Dalmatian Baroque style.
8. The main portal on the facade is the work of master Ivan Pomerich (Pomerić) from island Korčula.
9. The most notable work of art with the church is a triptych depicting Saint Mary, Saint John The Baptist and St. Jerome, a work of Venetian master Francesco Gelomano de Santacroce.
10. On the outside of the church, you can find a stone relief of Eros, dating back to times when Stari Grad was an ancient Greek city.
 |
The bell tower of Saint Stephen |
How do you like Stari Grad? Would you like to read about it again? We took so many photographs I could not post them all, so I made a little gif containing most of the photographs we took that day.
 |
| a gif made from photographs from my visit to Stari Grad |
Comments
Post a Comment
You may email me for any questions or business inquires.