Starting the Chronicles of Narnia can be somewhat confusing, with fans of the series arguing about the correct order to read them. This is because the published order of the books and the chronological order of events are not quite the same. While the first published Narnia book was the ever-popular The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, if following Narnian chronology, you should actually start with The Magician’s Nephew, which was published five years later.
Recent editions of the books have been published in chronological order, with HarperCollins’s numbered editions placing The Magician’s Nephew as number one and The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe as number two in the series. However, there are still those who prefer to read in the published order.
However, in 1957, a fan wrote to C.S. Lewis after an argument with his mother about the correct reading order. He wanted to re-read the books chronologically, while his mum argued that they should stick to the publication order.
In reply to this, Lewis wrote: “I think I agree with your order for reading the books more than with your mother’s. The series was not planned beforehand as she thinks. When I wrote The Lion I did not know I was going to write any more.
“Then I wrote P. Caspian as a sequel and still didn’t think there would be any more, and when I had done The Voyage I felt quite sure it would be the last. But I found as I was wrong. So perhaps it does not matter very much in which order anyone read them.”
Similarly, Lewis’s stepson Douglas Gresham, who referred to his step-father as ‘Jack’, has told fans: “HarperCollins asked, ‘What order do you think we ought to do them in?’
“And I said, ‘Well … I actually asked Jack himself what order he preferred and thought they should be read in. And he said he thought they should be read in the order of Narnian chronology.’ So I said, ‘Why don’t you go with what Jack himself wanted?’ So, it’s my fault basically—the order of Narnian chronology. And I’m not the least bit ashamed of it.”
Despite both Lewis’s and Gresham’s interventions, NarniaWeb notes that this hasn’t stopped the disagreements between fans of the books. And on the C. S. Lewis website, Dr. Charlie W. Starr wrote: “Lewis scholars almost universally agree that we should disagree with what Lewis said about the order of publication.”
Dr Starr further added: “The Magician’s Nephew doesn’t captivate new readers as well as The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe does. I’ve heard stories of people reading Nephew and quitting the rest of the series! Wardrobe grabs readers more powerfully on a first reading.”
Publication order:
- The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (1950)
- Prince Caspian: The Return to Narnia (1951)
- The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (1952)
- The Silver Chair (1953)
- The Horse and His Boy (1954)
- The Magician’s Nephew (1955)
- The Last Battle (1956)
Chronological order:
- The Magician’s Nephew
- The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
- The Horse and His Boy
- Prince Caspian: The Return to Narnia
- The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
- The Silver Chair
- The Last Battle