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While The Chronicles of Narnia is widely considered allegorical, C. S. Lewis explicitly stated that he did not write the seven-book series as an allegory (Mikalatos, Matt. “Neither Allegory nor Lion: Aslan and the Chronicles of Narnia.” Tor.com, 30 Oct. 2019). He instead considers the series a “supposal.” To Lewis, the ideas, concepts, and even people in an allegory have direct parallels to reality that permeate the entire literary work; the genre essentially transposes something factual (or taken to be factual) into symbolic form. By contrast, a supposal begins with an act of imagination—i.e., Lewis’s question, “What might Christ become like if there really were a world like Narnia, and He chose to be incarnate and die and rise again in that world as He actually has done in ours?” (Lewis, C. S. Quoted in “Neither Allegory nor Lion”). The relationship to reality is therefore both weaker and stronger than in allegory. On the one hand, the world and events of a supposal do not need to correspond exactly to those the reader knows. Parallels may exist (e.g., the Witch acting as the serpent in the Garden of Eden), but the story has its own internal logic that can deviate from that of the real world.
By C. S. Lewis
A Grief Observed
A Grief Observed
C. S. Lewis
Mere Christianity
Mere Christianity
C. S. Lewis
Out of the Silent Planet
Out of the Silent Planet
C. S. Lewis
Perelandra
Perelandra
C. S. Lewis
Prince Caspian
Prince Caspian
C. S. Lewis
Surprised by Joy
Surprised by Joy
C. S. Lewis
That Hideous Strength
That Hideous Strength
C. S. Lewis
The Abolition of Man
The Abolition of Man
C. S. Lewis
The Discarded Image
The Discarded Image
C. S. Lewis
The Four Loves
The Four Loves
C. S. Lewis
The Great Divorce
The Great Divorce
C. S. Lewis
The Horse And His Boy
The Horse And His Boy
C. S. Lewis
The Last Battle
The Last Battle
C. S. Lewis
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
C. S. Lewis
The Pilgrim's Regress
The Pilgrim's Regress
C. S. Lewis
The Problem of Pain
The Problem of Pain
C. S. Lewis
The Screwtape Letters
The Screwtape Letters
C. S. Lewis
The Silver Chair
The Silver Chair
C. S. Lewis
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
C. S. Lewis
Till We Have Faces
Till We Have Faces
C. S. Lewis
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