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The Magician’s Nephew Chronologically, the events in The Magician's Nephew come before those in any other of the Narnia tales. There has been some controversy, therefore, over the order in which the stories should be read. The current American publisher has arranged them in order of events, that is, The Magician’s Nephew is first in the series. Long term Lewis fans think that anathema (I fit that category). Based on a letter written by Lewis to an America boy named Laurence Krieg, I not sure it much matters. The young man was trying to settle an argument with his mother who believed that they should be read in order of publication, and he that the chronology was more to the point. Lewis answered: ___________…so perhaps it does not matter very much in which order anyone reads them. I’m not ____________even sure that all the others were written in the same order in which they were published. ____________ I never keep notes of that sort of thing and never remember dates. There is a great advantage for his not caring. Simply put, it ends the debate. If it doesn’t matter, it doesn’t matter. This is a very difficult thing for me to admit. My first copy of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe cost 3’6 (even that form of money has long been out of circulation!) The important thing is to get into the book, and I only raise the issue to point out the difference from experiencing something and reflecting or thinking about the experience. This was a radical epiphany for a young Jack Lewis. In Surprised by Joy he speaks of the difference between the experience of joy and trying to use knowledge to capture the elation. "…only very gradually did I realize that all this was something quite different from the original Joy. And I went on adding detail to detail, progressing toward the moment when ‘I should know most and should least enjoy.’ Finally I woke from building the temple to find that the God had flown." This is by way of warning. If you love Narnia too much, it will desert you. The same is true of poetry, music, art, love, friendship, all things of great value. When they are disassembled, analyzed, turned upside-down and inside-out, you will have learned much, but it will all be trivia. The power of a story is what it does to the reader. It does not matter in which order they are read. The argument brings only loss, and the victory, no gain.
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