Book "Lev. The Witch and the Wardrobe" is not just filled with characters from ancient mythology - fauns, centaurs, dryads and maenads. K.S. Lewis, who was well versed in ancient mythology, does not just show us ancient mythological heroes, “cleansed” of everything rough and cruel, but tries not to transfer them to modern reality, despite the fantasy genre.
The writer immerses the ancient image into modern everyday reality only once, depicting the cave of the faun Tumnus in accordance with the tastes of a British gentleman: a burning fireplace in the cave, cozy armchairs, a family portrait, a home library with books “The Life and Letters of Silenus” (in the antique myth Silenus - V Greek mythology, an old satyr, son of Hermes or Pan and one of the nymphs, uncle and mentor of Dionysus. He was often drunk, and one day he was found in this state by Midas, who caressed him and then escorted him back to Dionysus. As a reward, Midas received from Dionysus the gift of turning everything he touched into gold. Silenus had the gift of prophecy and could be made to predict the future while in a hangover sleep. Aged satyrs, called Sileni, constantly appear in the retinue of Dionysus as his servants.), "Nymphs and Their Customs", "A Study of Common Legends", "Is Man a Myth".
The episode of the first meeting between Lucy and Mr. Tumnus is interesting. “A few more seconds passed, and from behind the tree it seemed very strange creature. It was slightly taller than Lucy and held an umbrella, white with snow, over its head. The upper part of his body was human, and his legs, covered with black shiny fur, were goat, with hooves below. He also had a tail, it was carefully thrown over the hand - the one in which this creature was holding an umbrella - so that the tail would not drag in the snow. A thick red scarf was wrapped around his neck, matching the color of his reddish skin. He had a strange but very nice face with a short pointed beard and curly hair. On both sides of the forehead, horns peeked out from the hair.”
In ancient mythology Faun (Pan)- spirit or deity of forests and groves, god of shepherds and fishermen in Greek mythology. This is a cheerful god and companion of Dionysus, always surrounded by forest nymphs, dancing with them and playing the flute for them. It is believed that Pan had a prophetic gift and endowed Apollo with this gift. He loved to scare travelers with his bizarre whispers and rustles, and sometimes he could confuse a person and not show him the way home. There was another role that the faun played with success. These are various fortune-telling and predictions that he whispered with his chosen rustle of leaves of sacred trees. The god of forests inherited the prophetic gift from his father, the ancient deity Peak, the patron saint of hunters and farmers. If anyone wanted to receive a prediction, he had to come on a certain day to a sacred grove, lie down on the fleece of a sacrificed sheep and receive the prophecy in his dream. The faun was considered a crafty spirit who stole children.
So in the case of Lucy, Mr. Tumnus wanted to steal her to take her to the White Witch, but as a true, well-mannered English gentleman, Mr. Tumnus quickly repented of what he had done and offered to take Lucy back to the lamppost so that she could get home sooner.
In addition to the faun Tumnus, in the book “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” there is large number other ancient mythological characters.
Centaurs were in Aslan's army when the people of Narnia fought against the White Witch at the Battle of the Ford of Beruna. Several centaurs were turned to stone and were kept in the White Witch's castle.
Centaurs are very wise and knowledgeable creatures. They are half horses, half people. Centaurs live two to three times longer ordinary people. Very often they become soothsayers, astrologers and healers. The centaurs were always on Aslan's side, and the kings respected them and often turned to them for advice and help.
Centaurs have two stomachs - human and horse, so it is expensive to invite them to visit. They eat for a long time and a lot, both human food and grass. At the same time, no one dares to laugh at the centaurs, they look so majestic and dignified. Also, no one rides centaurs. They can mount a rider only if they themselves want to, and this is considered a very great honor for the rider.
And in ancient mythology, centaurs are wild mortal creatures with the head and torso of a man on the body of a horse, inhabitants of mountains and forest thickets, accompany Dionysus and are distinguished by their violent temperament and intemperance. Presumably, centaurs were originally the embodiment of mountain rivers and stormy streams. heroic myths Some centaurs are educators of heroes, others are hostile to them.
Also in the book there are spirits of the forest, trees and water - dryads and naiads. For Lewis, these are the spirits of the elements who keep peace and harmony in Narnia. They come out of the forest at the first call of Aslan on the day of the creation of Narnia. In Narnia, dryads, naiads and maenads awaken when the earth itself decides to awaken - to take an active part in what is happening. In ancient mythology, dryads are ancient greek mythology forest nymphs, patroness of trees. It was believed that dryads were inseparable from the tree with which they were connected and died when the tree died. There was a belief that people who plant and care for trees enjoy the special protection of tree nymphs. The dryads will not let him disappear in the forest if he suddenly gets lost or something happens to him. And for groundless damage or destruction of trees, dryads could severely punish a person, for example, deprive him of his mind. Naiads - deities in Greek mythology, daughters of Zeus, were nymphs of water sources - rivers, streams and lakes. Naiads were the patroness of a certain water body, its soul and embodiment. Naiads were considered long-lived, but not immortal. Being associated with rivers, streams and lakes, they died if their water body dried up.
The book also contains Giants, which can be compared with the giants in ancient mythology - monstrous giants born by the earth goddess Gaia from drops of the blood of the sky god Uranus. The Titans rebelled against the Olympian gods, were defeated by them with the help of Hercules and cast into the depths of the earth. Lewis, the Giant Rumblebuffin, is very well-mannered and tactful, knows social etiquette, and comes from a family with traditions.
There were minotaurs in the White Witch's army. They served the White Witch and came to the Stone Table, responding to her call. They witnessed Aslan's death and then took part in the Battle of Beruna Ford. In ancient Greek mythology, the Minotaur is a monster with the body of a man and the head of a bull, who lived in a labyrinth on the island of Crete. The Minotaur, whose real name was Asterius, was born from Pasiphae, the wife of Minos. His father was a bull that came out of the sea, and according to another version, Poseidon himself. Minos hid his son in an underground labyrinth built by Daedalus. The labyrinth was so complex that not a single person who entered it could find a way out.
The book mentions occasionally mythological creatures: sirens (sea creatures who personified the charming but treacherous sea surface, under which sharp cliffs and shoals are hidden, half-women, half-fish or half-birds) tritons (ancient Greek god, messenger of the depths, son of Poseidon and Amphitrite, father of all tritons), who came out of the sea to welcome the new rulers of Narnia and the unicorn (a creature that symbolizes chastity, in a broad sense, spiritual purity and quest. It is represented in the form of a horse with one horn coming out of its forehead).
Ministry of Education and Science Russian Federation BOU of Omsk "Gymnasium No. 85" Ancient mythology in the Chronicles of Narnia "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe"
Performed by: Alina Isabekova, Safarova
Milena
5th -1st grade student
BOU "Gymnasium No. 85"
5-1 class
Supervisor:
Nogina L.V., Russian language teacher and
literature
Introduction
The relevance of the topic: the research is that the problem of mythology in the ChroniclesLewis's Narnia has not yet become the subject of comprehensive systematic study in
domestic science, despite significant popularity creative heritage this
British writer.
The novelty of the work lies in the interdisciplinary approach, which consists in studying
the problem posed in literary, linguistic and philosophical aspects, and
also in the study of the role of myth at the plot, character and ideological levels
artistic world of The Chronicles of Narnia.
The purpose of the project work is to compare mythical and fictional characters.
Tasks:- determine in what way mythological
stories from K.S. Lewis are converted to
artistic;
This is a myth...
In Ancient Times:- similar to religion;
- interpreted as a genuine event;
- served as a subject for imitation.
Nowadays:
-interpreted as a “fairy tale”, fiction, fiction;
- fiction that performs one or another function;
- thanks to myth, a person discovers
rationality and interconnection of everything that happens in
life
The works of C.S. Lewis. The history of the creation of the book “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe”
The Chronicles of Narnia began long before they were written.Image of a faun walking in the winter forest with an umbrella and
bundles under his arm, had been stalking Lewis since he was 16 years old.
The prototype of Lucy Pevensie is considered to be June Flewett, daughter
teacher of ancient languages at St. Paul's School. Lewis did not invent the country of Narnia, but found it in the Atlas
Ancient world when I was learning Latin, preparing
for admission to Oxford. Narnia - Latin name
city of Narni in Umbria.
The geographical prototype that inspired Lewis
most likely located in Ireland, in a village
Rostrevor in the south of County Down.
Images of ancient mythology in the book by C.S. Lewis “The Chronicles of Narnia. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe"
Faun Tumnus - British gentlemanHas a "weird but nice"
face", curly hair, brown
eyes, short beard, horns
forehead, protruding ears,
reddish skin covered
black hair goat legs,
cloven hooves, long
tail, and height only a little
taller than Lucy Pevensie.
Despite winter and snow, he walks with
naked torso, although wearing a scarf and
umbrella.
In ancient mythology, Faun (Pan) is a spirit or
deity of forests and groves, god of shepherds and
fishermen in Greek mythology
This is a cheerful god and companion of Dionysus, always
surrounded by forest nymphs, dances with them and
plays the flute for them. It is believed that Pan
possessed the prophetic gift and endowed it
the gift of Apollo.
Centaur
Centaurs were in Aslan's army whenthe peoples of Narnia fought against White
witches in the battle at the ford of Beruna.
Centaurs are very wise and knowledgeable
creatures. Very often they become
soothsayers, astrologers and
healers.
Centaurs have always been on the side
Aslan, and the kings respected them and often
turned to them for advice and help.
Inhabitants of mountains and forest thickets accompany
Dionysus and are distinguished by their violent temperament and
intemperance. Presumably
Centaurs were originally the embodiment
mountain rivers and stormy streams in heroic
in myths, only centaurs are
educators of heroes, others are hostile
them.
Dryads and Naiads
For Lewis, these are the spirits of the elements that keeppeace and harmony in Narnia. Coming out of the forest
at the first call of Aslan on the day of creation
Narnia. In Narnia, dryads, naiads and maenads
awaken when the earth itself decides
wake up - to take an active
participation in what is happening.
In ancient mythology, dryads are
ancient mythology forest nymphs,
patroness of trees. It was believed that
dryads are inseparable from the tree with which
bound and die when the tree dies.
Naiads are deities in Greek mythology,
were nymphs of water sources - rivers,
streams and lakes.
10. Giants (giants)
Lewis, the Giant Rumblebuffin, has a verywell-mannered and tactful, knowledgeable
social etiquette, from a family with traditions
Giants in ancient mythology are monstrous giants born of the goddess
the land of Gaea from drops of the blood of the sky god Uranus.
The Titans rebelled against the Olympian gods,
were defeated by them with the help of Hercules and
thrown into the depths of the earth.
11. Minotaurs
In the army of the White Witchminotaurs were present. They
served the White Witch and came to
Stone table, responding to her
call. They witnessed death
Aslan, and then took part in the battle of
ford Beruna.
In ancient Greek mythology, the Minotaur is a monster with the body of a man and the head of a bull,
living in a labyrinth on the island of Crete.
The Minotaur, whose real name was
Asterius, born of Pasiphae, wife of Minos.
His father was a bull that came out of the sea.
12. Other mythological creatures mentioned in the book
Sirens are sea creatures who personifiedcharming but cunning
sea surface, under which
sharp cliffs and shallows are hidden,
half-woman, half-fish or half-bird.
Triton - ancient Greek god, messenger
depths, son of Poseidon and Amphitrite, father
all newts
Unicorn creature symbolizes
chastity, in a broad sense spiritual
purity and quest. It is presented in the form
a horse with one horn coming out of its forehead.
13. Myth and reality in Lewis’s book “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe”
Transitions from real world to the fantastic and back are carried out:- without any effort on the part of the heroes
-very quickly, literally in a split second, and therefore unnoticed by the children themselves
Fulfilling a higher purpose, accomplishing a feat
Spiritual reincarnation
14. Conclusion
The book teaches the reader not only howgrow morally, above yourself or
life circumstances, and also
what's in real life there is always room for miracles and
magic. And this applies not only to children,
after all, as the author wrote “But someday you
you'll grow to the day when you start again
read fairy tales."
The Chronicles of Narnia by Clive Staples Lewis, at the top of most lists best books of all times and peoples, - mysterious phenomenon, the key to which has not yet been found. Let's try to figure out how to read them.
His main specialty was a literary historian. For most of his life he taught the history of literature of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance at Oxford, and in the end he headed a department created especially for him at Cambridge. In addition to five scientific books and a huge number of articles, Lewis published eight books in the genre of Christian apologetics (BBC programs on religion during the Second World War made him famous throughout Britain, and “Letters of a Screwtape” - in Europe and the USA), spiritual autobiography, three stories-parables, three scientific fantasy novel and two collections of poetry. As was the case with Lewis Carroll, John R. R. Tolkien and many other "children's" writers, the children who brought Lewis world fame were far from the most important things he wrote.
The main difficulty of Narnia is the incredible heterogeneity of the material from which they are collected. This is especially noticeable against the background art books John Tolkien, Lewis's closest friend and fellow member of the Inklings literary community, a perfectionist, extremely attentive to the purity and harmony of themes and motifs. Tolkien worked on his books for years and decades (most were never finished), carefully polishing the style and carefully ensuring that no outside influences penetrated into his carefully thought-out world. Lewis wrote quickly (Narnia was created from the late 1940s to 1956), cared little about style and lumped everything together different traditions and mythology. Tolkien did not like The Chronicles of Narnia, seeing in them an allegory of the Gospel, and allegorism as a method was deeply alien to him (he never tired of fighting off attempts to present The Lord of the Rings as an allegory in which the War of the Ring is World War II, and Sauron is this is Hitler).
Allegorism is indeed no stranger to Lewis, and yet to see Narnia as a simple retelling of biblical stories is to oversimplify them.
The first part of the cycle features Father Christmas, the Snow Queen from Andersen's fairy tale, fauns and centaurs from ancient Greek mythology, endless winter from Scandinavian mythology, English children straight from the novels of Edith Nesbit, and the plot about the execution and revival of the lion Aslan duplicates the gospel the story of the betrayal, execution and resurrection of Jesus Christ. To understand what The Chronicles of Narnia are, let’s try to decompose their complex and diverse material into different layers.
The confusion begins with the order in which The Chronicles of Narnia should be read. The fact is that they are not published in the order in which they were written. The Magician's Nephew, which tells the story of the creation of Narnia, the appearance of the White Witch there, and the origin of the Wardrobe, was written next to last, followed by The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, which retains much of the charm of the original story. In this sequence, it was published in the most efficient Russian edition - the fifth and sixth volumes of the eight-volume collected works of Lewis - and most film adaptations of the book begin with it.
After The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe comes The Horse and His Boy, then Prince Caspian, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, The Silver Chair, then the prequel The Sorcerer's Nephew and finally The Last Battle."
Surges of interest in The Chronicles of Narnia in recent years associated with the Hollywood film adaptations of the series. Any film adaptation inevitably confuses fans of the literary source, but here the fans’ rejection of the new films turned out to be much more acute than in the case of The Lord of the Rings. And, oddly enough, it’s not even a matter of quality. The film adaptation of books about Narnia is complicated by the very allegorism, or, more precisely, parable, of the country of Aslan. Unlike “The Lord of the Rings,” where the dwarves and elves are, first of all, dwarves and elves, behind the heroes of “Narnia” the background often clearly appears (when the lion is not just a lion), and therefore a realistic film adaptation turns a parable full of hints into a flat one action. Much better movies BBC films made between 1988 and 1990 - with plush Aslan and fairy tale talking beasts: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Prince Caspian, The Treader of the Dawn Treader and The Silver Chair.
Where did it come from?
Lewis liked to say that Narnia began long before it was written.
The image of a faun walking through the winter forest with an umbrella and bundles under his arm haunted him from the age of 16 and came in handy when Lewis for the first time - and not without some fear - came face to face with children with whom he did not know how to communicate. In 1939, his house near Oxford was home to several girls evacuated from London during the war. Lewis began to tell them fairy tales: this is how the images that lived in his head began to move, and after a few years he realized that the emerging story needed to be written down. Sometimes interactions between Oxford professors and children end up like this.
Lucy
The prototype of Lucy Pevensie is considered to be June Flewett, the daughter of a teacher of ancient languages at St. Paul's School (Chesterton graduated from it), who was evacuated from London to Oxford in 1939, and in 1943 ended up in Lewis's house. June was sixteen and Lewis was her favorite Christian author. However, only after living in his house for several weeks did she realize that the famous apologist C. S. Lewis and the owner of the house, Jack (as his friends called him), were one and the same person. June entered drama school (with Lewis paying for her tuition), became a famous theater actress and director (her stage name is Jill Raymond) and married the grandson of the famous psychoanalyst Sir Clement Freud, writer, radio presenter and member of parliament.
“Narnia” is dedicated to Lewis’s goddaughter, Lucy Barfield, adopted daughter Owen Barfield, author of books on the philosophy of language and one of Lewis's closest friends.
Hobo Quackle
The hobo croak Puddleglum from The Silver Chair is based on the outwardly gloomy but kind inside gardener Lewis, and his name is an allusion to a line of Seneca, translated by John Studley (in English his name is Puddleglum - “sullen ooze”, Studley had “stygian gloomy slurry" about the waters of the Styx): Lewis examines this translation in his thick book dedicated to the 16th century.
Narnia
Lewis did not invent Narnia, but found it in the Atlas of the Ancient World when he was studying Latin in preparation for entering Oxford. Narnia is the Latin name for the city of Narni in Umbria. Blessed Lucia Brocadelli, or Lucia of Narnia, is considered the city's heavenly patroness.
The geographical prototype that inspired Lewis is most likely located in Ireland. Lewis loved northern County Down from childhood and traveled there more than once with his mother. He said that "heaven is Oxford transported to the middle of County Down." According to some reports, Lewis even told his brother the exact place that became for him the image of Narnia - this is the village of Rostrevor in the south of County Down, more precisely the slopes of the Mourne Mountains, which overlook the glacial fjord of Carlingford Lough.
Digory Kirk
The prototype of the elderly Digory from The Lion and the Witch was Lewis's tutor, William Kirkpatrick, who prepared him for admission to Oxford. And here is the chronicle “The Sorcerer’s Nephew,” in which Digory Kirke resists the temptation to steal an apple eternal life for his terminally ill mother, is connected with the biography of Lewis himself. Lewis experienced the death of his mother at the age of nine, and this was a severe blow for him, leading to the loss of faith in God, which he was able to regain only at the age of thirty.
How The Chronicles of Narnia Connects to the Bible
Aslan and Jesus
The biblical layer in Narnia was most important to Lewis. The creator and ruler of Narnia, the “son of the Emperor-beyond-the-sea,” is depicted as a lion not only because it natural look for the king of the land of talking animals. Jesus Christ is called the Lion of the Tribe of Judah in the Revelation of John the Theologian. Aslan creates Narnia with song - and this is a reference not only to the biblical story of creation by the Word, but also to creation as the embodiment of the music of the Ainur from Tolkien’s The Silmarillion.
Aslan appears in Narnia on Christmas Day, giving his life to save the “son of Adam” from the captivity of the White Witch. The forces of evil kill him, but he is resurrected, because the ancient magic that existed before the creation of Narnia says: “When instead of a traitor, one who is not guilty of anything, who has not committed any betrayal, ascends to the sacrificial Table of his own free will, the Table will break and death itself will recede before him.”
At the end of the book, Aslan appears to the heroes in the form of a lamb, symbolizing Christ in the Bible and early Christian art, and invites them to eat fried fish - this is an allusion to the appearance of Christ to the disciples on Lake Tiberias.
Shasta and Moses
The plot of the book “The Horse and His Boy,” which tells about the escape of the boy Shasta and the talking horse from the country of Tarkhistan, which is ruled by a tyrant and where false and cruel gods are worshiped, to free Narnia, is an allusion to the story of Moses and the exodus of the Jews from Egypt.
Dragon-Eustace and baptism
The book “The Dawn Treader, or Voyage to the End of the World” describes the internal rebirth of one of the heroes, Eustace Harm, who, succumbing to greed, turns into a dragon. His reverse transformation into man is one of the most striking allegories of baptism in world literature.
The Last Battle and the Apocalypse
The Last Battle, the final book in the series, telling of the end of the old and the beginning of the new Narnia, is an allusion to the Revelation of John the Evangelist, or Apocalypse. In the insidious Monkey, who seduces the inhabitants of Narnia, forcing them to bow to the false Aslan, one can guess the paradoxically presented plot about the Antichrist and the Beast.
Sources of The Chronicles of Narnia
Ancient mythology
The Chronicles of Narnia are not just filled with characters from ancient mythology - fauns, centaurs, dryads and sylvans. Lewis, who knew and loved antiquity well, is not afraid to scatter references to it at the most different levels. One of the memorable scenes of the cycle is the procession of Bacchus, the maenads and Silenus, freed from the yoke of natural forces, led by Aslan in “Prince Caspian” (the combination is quite risky from the point of view of church tradition, which considers pagan gods to be demons). And at the most sublime moment in the finale of “The Last Battle,” when the heroes see that beyond the old Narnia a new one is opening, relating to the old one as a prototype to an image, Professor Kirke mutters to himself, looking at the surprise of the children: “Plato has all this, everything from Plato... My God, what are they taught in these schools!”
Medieval literature
Lewis knew and loved the Middle Ages - and even considered himself a contemporary of ancient authors rather than new ones - and he tried to use everything that he knew and loved in his books. It is not surprising that Narnia contains many references to medieval literature. Here are just two examples.
The Marriage of Philology and Mercury, a work by the fifth-century Latin writer and philosopher Marcian Capella, tells how the virgin Philology sails to the end of the world on a ship along with a lion, a cat, a crocodile and a crew of seven sailors; preparing to drink from the cup of Immortality, Philology throws out books in the same way as Reepicheep, the embodiment of chivalry, in The Treader of the Dawn, throws away his sword on the threshold of Aslan's country. And the awakening of nature in the scene of Aslan’s creation of Narnia from “The Sorcerer’s Nephew” resembles the scene of the appearance of the Virgin Nature from “Nature’s Lament” - a Latin allegorical work by Alan of Lille, a 12th-century poet and theologian.
English literature
Lewis's major was history. English literature, and he could not deny himself the pleasure of playing with his favorite object. Narnia's main sources are his two best studied works: Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene and John Milton's Paradise Lost.
The white witch is very similar to Spencer's Duessa. She tries to seduce Edmund with oriental sweets, and Digory with the apple of life, just as Duessa seduced the Knight of the Scarlet Cross with a knight's shield (even the details coincide - the bells on the White Witch's carriage were given to her by Duessa, and the Green Witch from The Silver Chair, like Lie turns out to be beheaded by her captive).
The Ape dressing up Burdock's donkey as Aslan is a reference to the sorcerer Archmage from Spenser's book creating the false Florimella; the Tarkhistanis - to Spencer’s “Saracens”, attacking the main character, the Knight of the Scarlet Cross, and his lady Una; and the fall and redemption of Edmund and Eustace - to the fall and redemption of the Knight of the Scarlet Cross; 
Lucy is accompanied by Aslan and the faun Tumnus, like Spenser's Una - a lion, a unicorn, fauns and satyrs.
The silver chair also comes from The Faerie Queene. There on the silver throne underground kingdom Proserpina sits. Particularly interesting is the similarity between the scenes of the creation of the world through song in “Paradise Lost” and “The Sorcerer’s Nephew” - especially since this plot has no biblical parallels, but is close to the corresponding plot from Tolkien’s “The Silmarillion”.
"The Narnia Code", or How the Seven Books Are United
Despite the fact that Lewis has repeatedly admitted that he did not plan a series when he began working on the first books, researchers have long been trying to unravel the “Narnia code,” the plan that unites all seven books. They are seen as corresponding to the seven Catholic sacraments, the seven degrees of Anglican initiation, the seven virtues or the seven deadly sins. The English scientist and priest Michael Ward went the furthest along this path, suggesting that the seven “Narnias” correspond to the seven planets of medieval cosmology. Here's how:
"The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" - Jupiter
Its attributes are royalty, a turn from winter to summer, from death to life.
"Prince Caspian" - Mars
This book is about the war of liberation waged by the indigenous people of Narnia against the Telmarines who enslaved them. An important motive of the book is the fight against the usurper of local deities and the awakening of nature. One of the names of Mars is Mars Silvanus, “forest”; “this is not only the god of war, but also the patron of forests and fields, and therefore the forest going to war against the enemy (motive Celtic mythology, used by Shakespeare in Macbeth) - doubly for the Mars part.
"Treader of the Dawn Treader" - Sun
In addition to the fact that the edge of the world where the sun rises is the goal of the book’s heroes’ journey, it is filled with solar and sun-related symbolism; the lion Aslan also appears in radiance as a solar being. The main antagonists of the book are snakes and dragons (there are five of them in the book), but the sun god Apollo is the conqueror of the dragon Typhon.
"Silver Chair" - Moon
Silver is a lunar metal, and the influence of the Moon on the ebb and flow of tides connected it with the water element. Paleness, reflected light and water, swamps, underground seas are the main elements of the book. The abode of the Green Witch is a ghostly kingdom inhabited by those who have lost their orientation in space big world"sleepwalkers".
"The Horse and His Boy" - Mercury
The plot is based on the reunion of twins, of which there are several pairs in the book, and the constellation Gemini is ruled by Mercury. Mercury is the patron of rhetoric, and speech and its acquisition is also one of the most important themes of the book. Mercury is the patron of thieves and deceivers, and the main characters of the book are a horse who was kidnapped by a boy, or a boy who was kidnapped by a horse.
"The Sorcerer's Nephew" - Venus
The White Witch closely resembles Ishtar, the Babylonian equivalent of Venus. She seduces Uncle Andrew and tries to seduce Digory. The creation of Narnia and the blessing of animals to inhabit it is a triumph of the productive principle, bright Venus.
"The Last Battle" - Saturn
It is the planet and deity of unfortunate events, and the collapse of Narnia occurs under the sign of Saturn. In the finale, the giant Time, who in the drafts is directly called Saturn, having risen from sleep, blows his horn, opening the way to a new Narnia, just as the circle of times in Virgil’s IV eclogue, when completed, brings the eschatological kingdom of Saturn closer.
What does it all mean
There are a lot of stretches in this kind of reconstruction (especially considering that Lewis denied the existence of a single plan), but the popularity of Ward’s book - and it was even filmed documentary- indicates that looking for references in Narnia to everything that Lewis did with great passion as a scientist is an extremely rewarding and exciting activity. Moreover, a careful study of the connections between Lewis's scientific studies and his artistic writings (and in addition to the tales of Narnia, he wrote an allegory in the spirit of John Bunyan, a kind of novel in letters in the spirit of Erasmus of Rotterdam, three fantasy novels in the spirit of John Milton and Thomas Malory, and a parable novel in the spirit of Apuleius’s “Golden Ass”) and through apologetics shows that the confusion so noticeable in Narnia is not a flaw, but an organic part of his method.
Lewis did not simply use images of European culture and literature as details to decorate his intellectual constructions, nor did he simply stuff his tales with allusions to surprise his readers or wink at his colleagues. If Tolkien, in his books about Middle-earth, constructs a “mythology for England” based on the Germanic languages, Lewis in “Narnia” reinvents the European myth. European culture and literature were for him a living source of delight and inspiration and a natural building material, from which he created everything he wrote - from lectures and scientific books to sermons and fiction.
The effect of such free and enthusiastic mastery of the material is the ability to speak in the language of a fairy tale about a huge number quite serious things - and not just about life and death, but about what is beyond the line of death and what mystics and theologians dared to talk about in the Middle Ages so beloved by Lewis.
This time, Fox 2000 Pictures and Walden Media have joined forces to make the continuation of the film epic no less brilliant than its beginning - combining in it everything that is dear to the hearts of many fans of books and films. Having succumbed to the wave of pre-holiday mood, we decided to refresh our memory about the history of the origin of the great cinema saga, so beloved by Russian moviegoers.
After the release of the first part of the film series “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” in 2005, the film immediately received high praise from world film critics and was awarded many film awards: the film received an Oscar for best makeup and was recognized as the best family film, as well as the most inspiring film of 2005 (Movieguide Faith & Values Awards). The film was based on the first book from the Chronicles of Narnia series by Clive Lewis. Published from 1950 to 1956. and considered for a long time one of the most beloved by readers and brightest literary works, Lewis's books have sold more than 100,000,000 copies in more than 50 different languages. In the story, a mother sends four children (Peter, Edmund, Susan and Lucy) from bombed London to the village, to an old professor - a family friend. In his house, the children discover a mysterious wardrobe, through which they find themselves in fairyland Narnia, home to talking animals and fantastic creatures. Casting took a long time - the initial selection began in 2002, when the director of the film Andrew Adamson watched two thousand five hundred videos, listened to one thousand eight hundred children, conducted training sessions with four hundred, and only after long qualifying stages, finally met with four finalists for the main the roles of the Pevensie children. Filming took place in New Zealand, Poland and the Czech Republic and took just over 8 months.
In 2008, the second film was released: "", which became one of the most popular films of that year. In the story, Narnia was conquered by the cruel Telmarines, who drove the indigenous people into dense forests and inaccessible mountains. Prince Caspian, in front of whose eyes his uncle, the usurper Miraz, is committing atrocities, decides to blow the Magic Horn, thanks to which Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy - heroes of the distant past - once again find themselves in their former kingdom. They face a difficult task - to save Narnia. The director of the film, Andrew Adamson, decided to take on the adaptation of Lewis's books in the order of their publication. “Considering that the actors are growing up, we won’t have a chance to film this part,” the film’s director explained his choice. Prince Caspian is the second book in the Chronicles of Narnia series to be published and the fourth in chronological order created by the author. The Horse and His Boy, completed in the spring of 1950 and published in 1954, is the first book that is not a direct continuation of the previous one. The novel is set during the Pevensie reign of Narnia, a period that begins and ends in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
Published in 1952, The Treader of the Dawn Treader or Sailing to the End of the World is grandiose, epic adventure novel, became the third in the seven-book Chronicles of Narnia series by K.S. Lewis. The story takes place approximately three Narnian years after the events described in the previous novel, Prince Caspian. During the absence of the two eldest of the Pevensie children, the two youngest, Lucy and Edmund, along with their cousin, discover a painting in the house of their English relatives that depicts the Dawn Treader, a majestic ship that looks like a large dragon. Through this picture, the children again find themselves in Narnia, where great adventures await them.
From the second film, Ben Barnes will reprise his role as Caspian. British comedian Simon Pegg will voice Reepicheep, a brave and desperate mouse, and the all-powerful ruler of Narnia, Aslan the Lion, will again speak with the voice of Liam Neeson. Once again, in addition to humans, a number of original creatures will appear on the screen, including mysterious creatures called Ochlotops, created through a combination of live movement and computer animation, helmed by visual effects director Angus Bickerton (“The Da Vinci Code,” “Angels and Demons”).
Principal photography of the film “The Chronicles of Narnia. "The Dawn Treader" began in Queensland, Australia, on July 27, 2009, where the entire production process took 90 days. Studio filming took place on several sound stages at Warner Roadshow Studios on the Gold Coast. The film's title character, the majestic Dawn Treader, was created on the seaside headland of Cleveland Point. After filming open air, the 140-foot-tall, 125-ton structure was dismantled into more than fifty pieces and transported back to the studio to continue filming on the soundstage. Filming wrapped in November 2009. While Lewis's first Narnia book, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, is perhaps the most famous and popular of the series, many fans note that The Voyage of the Dawn Treader to the End of the World" is the best of all seven novels.
You will be able to find yourself together with the main characters on the “Treader of the Dawn Treader”, set sail to the ends of the world and share with them the delight and awe of the extraordinary magic in all cinemas of the country from December 10, 2010.
“The world of Narnia contains almost every mythological creature ever imagined,” says Richard Taylor. “And implementing all of this is an incredible challenge.” When creating creatures it was used as computer graphics(for example, Tumnus’s legs are computer generated; during filming, McAvoy wore poisonous green pants with green dots), as well as puppets and makeup. The dolls were mechanized and radio controlled. One example of a mechanized doll is the Minotaur; during filming, three people controlled facial expressions (the first - the jaw and lips, the second - the eyes and eyelids, the third - the ears and nostrils), and there was also an actor inside the doll itself.
But not all animals and creatures are fake. There are real animals in the film, but there were problems with them. The creators of the film wanted to deliver 12 deer to New Zealand, which would pull the White Witch's sleigh. However, the Ministry of Agriculture opposed this idea, citing Q fever, which affects many North American deer. This disease can easily be transmitted from animals to people. As a result, we had to make computer deer.The design of Narnian items was influenced by mythology, which Lewis borrowed from ancient Greek times, thereby introducing diversity into his fairy world. So, for example, on many objects there are images of an apple tree (which was planted at the beginning of Narnia to protect against the White Witch.), and a lion was depicted on Peter’s shield.
