I will mention again, why I am reading the Narnia series: I saw a comment on twitter about the end of the Narnia Chronicles, saying that it ends very bad. Perfect bait for me! I like to have my own opinion about things, and in this case, about books, so I preferred to read them and draw my own conclusions.
This book, “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe”, second of the Narnia Chronicles, is about how three children enter the world of Narnia and help Aslan fight the evil white witch. She maintains a dictatorship in Narnia, since she forcibly controls her subjects, persecutes the rebels or those who think differently, has a secret police and she always maintains the winter, but «without Christmas». Like all dictatorships, right?
I had read that the author of the Chronicles of Narnia, Mr. Lewis, was a devout Christian, and I think this book shows this somewhat with the creation of a new world and so on. I will not say more, since I do not want to ruin the book for you, but you will immediately realise which scene in the book I am referring to.
As I did in my review of the first book of the chronicles, (the article is here), I also investigated the different translations of the book, at least of the title; here is what I found:
- The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe – original in English
- “El león, la bruja y el armario” or “El león, la bruja y el ropero” – in Spanish there are two versions, depending on the country, Latin America and Spain, both mean the same and properly translated
- “Le Lion, la Sorcière blanche et l’Armoire magique” – in French, they tried to give more information in the title then the original one. It goes “The lion, the white witch and the magic wardrobe”. Now we know that the witch is white, and we know that the wardrobe is magical. It is consistent with the original, anyway.
- “O Leão, A Feiticeira e o Guarda-Roupa” – in Portuguese, just as the original.
- “ライオンと魔女”- this time I can understand the Japanese version, and the translation is basically “The lion and the Witch”, apparently, Japanese people didnt find the wardrobe as appealing for a book of the fantastic genre.
- “Der König von Narnia bzw. Die Abenteuer im Wandschrank oder: Der Löwe und die Hexe” – in German, as usual, something completely different. I do not understand why. I truly wonder who took care of the translation of the books. In English, it means “The king of Narnia, or, the adventure in the wardrobe: the lion and the witch”
There is a film based on this book that is very good, at least, in my humble opinion. The chosen actors very well represent the characters in the books, if you ask me. Especially Tilda Swinton, who plays the role of the white witch. She does a great job in the film.
Final comment: In this book, the universe of Narnia continues to expand. Knowing that there are several books ahead you have the feeling that these books, the first two, are contributing to something bigger than themselves, something that will come later, probably in the last book, when the story ends. Easy to read, and a universal classic, I would recommend reading it on a rainy weekend, and then move on to something else.
Quote from the book: “Once a King in Narnia, always a King in Narnia.”
Keep on reading,
Questions to answer in the comments:
Have you read the series of Narnia? And what about “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe”? Did you like it? Do you agree with my final comments? Have you read any similar books you would recommend, for someone who would like to read more of the same genre? Please answer all these questions in the comments!
GG KLIMT 