The Chronicles of Narnia

Fans of the series often have strong opinions over the correct ordering of the books. When the books were originally published, they were not numbered. The first American publisher, Macmillan, put numbers on the books in the order in which they were published. When HarperCollins took over the series in 1994, the books were renumbered using the internal chronological order, as suggested by Lewis’ stepson, Douglas Gresham.

To make the case for his suggested order, Gresham quoted Lewis’ reply to a letter from an American fan in 1957 who was having an argument with his mother about the order:

“I think I agree with your order [i.e. chronological] for reading the books more than with your mother’s. The series was not planned beforehand as she thinks. When I wrote The Lion I did not know I was going to write any more. Then I wrote P. Caspian as a sequel and still didn’t think there would be any more, and when I had done The Voyage I felt quite sure it would be the last, but I found I was wrong. So perhaps it does not matter very much in which order anyone read them. I’m not even sure that all the others were written in the same order in which they were published.” (Dorsett & Mead 1996)

In the HarperCollins adult editions of the books (2005), the publisher asserts Lewis’ preference for the numbering they adopted in a notice on the copyright page:

Although The Magician’s Nephew was written several years after C.S. Lewis first began The Chronicles of Narnia, he wanted it to be read as the first book in the series. HarperCollins is happy to present these books in the order which Professor Lewis preferred.

Some fans of the series who appreciate the original order believe that Lewis was only being polite to a child, and that he could have changed the order in his lifetime had he so desired (Brady 2005). They maintain that much of the magic of Narnia comes from the way in which the world is gradually presented in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. They believe that the mystery of the wardrobe is narratively a much better introduction than in The Magician’s Nephew — where the word “Narnia” is the fortieth word in the book. Moreover, they say that it is clear from the texts themselves that The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was intended to be the first book read, and that The Magician’s Nephew was not. For instance, in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, when Aslan is first mentioned, the narrator states, “None of the children knew who Aslan was, any more than you do.” Fans of the original order say that that statement is nonsensical if one has already read The Magician’s Nephew, which assumes, on the contrary, that readers do have prior knowledge of him.[1] Other similar textual examples are also cited. This argument hinges partly on the claim that Chronology is not equivalent to Narrative (Rilstone 2004).