Narnia

There have been more comments on my beloved Jack Lewis and Narnia lately than I can possibly keep up with, but I haven't seen any that accurately connect Lewis's work with that of Tolkien. We get the same tired story about how Tolkien despised Narnia, but Lewis (like an innocent puppy) always adored Middle-Earth. Perhaps. But they miss the point: Lewis and Tolkien both knew that the key to understanding fantasy was to see the world through the eyes of a child.

Lewis's heroes ARE children; they see the world as we saw it some years ago. Tolkien's heroes are near-children: the hobbits, who, though technically adults, are metaphorical children. Both Lewis and Tolkien understood the Lord's injunction: "Except you become as little children, you cannot enter the Kingdom of God." For children are far less sullied by the world than are we adults. They may not understand, but they do feel their proximity to God. This explains, I believe, their easy swings between great solemnity and giddy joy. These two states are produced naturally in one who has lately felt the presence of the Lord.