In this regard, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe poses a complication by virtue of being a framed story. The central action, consisting of what happens in Narnia, is set within a realistic frame of the four children's lives in the real world before and after they enter Narnia. Many stories are set within an external framework like this, and virtually all journeys into an imagery land follow this pattern. L. Ryken & M. L. Mead, A Reader's Guide Through the Wardrobe (IVP 2005), 77.
1. The same genre is also called a frame tale or frame narration. A story within a story. Analogous plot-devices include time-travel, where an individual travels back and forth from his own time to the past or future, and the wormhole, where an individual travels back and forth from his own universe to a parallel universe. It's striking that the frame tale is so popular. That bears witness to a spiritual hunger, even among unbelievers, for a greater and better reality beyond our sublunary existence.
2. From a theological standpoint, what's interesting about this genre is that it mirrors the Christian worldview. Bible history and eschatology is like a frame tale: our universe is nested within the external reality of the heavenly realm (God, saints, angels), on the one hand, and hell, on the other hand. Outside agents enter and leave our world. The devil and demons leave hell (or the intermediate state) to enter our world. Angelic emissaries leave heaven to enter our world, then depart. And the culmination of the Christian frame tale is the Incarnation, where God leaves heaven to enter our world, then returns to heaven. The Christian worldview is the Ur-text of the frame tale genre.
Excellent points!
ReplyDelete"A Reader's Guide Through the Wardrobe" - I've long thought of these sorts of books as abominations. We ought to develop skill in reading by doing lots of reading. Instead, we're too prone to go for short-cut guide books that do the lifting for us and reduce the wonder down to "this is that, aren't you glad someone clever has now explained/reduced it for you". I've always resisted them in my family. Each time I read Narnia to my own children (after some in between time in which we and they read other books), they've spotted and discerned more, and enjoyed the thrill of the discovery.
ReplyDeleteThat's rather extreme. It's good to experience a novel or movie the first time around without the mediation of film critics and literary critics. My fresh, direct impression. Indeed, we might do that several times if it's worth it.
DeleteBut after that it's good to compare your own impressions with film critics and literary critics. I can watch movie, then read a review by Roger Ebert or Pauline Kael to see what I may have missed.
By your logic, we should never discuss a play or novel or movie with anyone else lest they "spoil" it for us by offering an insight that hadn't occurred to us.
It's insecure and egotistical to be so proud or feel so threatened that we never read commentary on plays, novels, movies, and TV dramas because we don't want our interpretation to be "contaminated" by anyone else. There's room for collaborative discovery.
"We ought to develop skill in reading by doing lots of reading."
DeleteI suppose there's a grain of truth to this. After all, we hear practice makes perfect. However, the problem is imperfect practice doesn't make perfect. Imperfect practice impedes or worse. If one isn't "reading" properly, then one can read as much as one likes, but it won't help develop their skill in reading. "Perfect" practice makes perfect.
> If one isn't "reading" properly, then one can read as much as one likes, but it won't help develop their skill in reading.
DeleteI should have made my comment clearer. I was largely responding to the sort of guides aimed at children and students that provide lecturing explanations, with the writer in the position of the expert, and the reader in the position of the recipient of pre-digested information. Certainly in the UK, the average education includes a pathetically small amount of actual *first-hand reading*. A handful of books are read, swiftly followed up by the expert's ruminations which the student then learns to repeat (particularly in exams).
Lewis has a well-known pieces of advice, regarding leading the reader into a particular feeling, rather than just telling the reader what to feel. That's the sort of thing I'm referring to.
So, no, I'm not intending to deprecate readers discussing their insights and mutually benefiting from them; as I say, I should have clarified I was thinking of how young readers are introduced to the world of stories, and how these "A guide to X" books are usually deployed in contemporary Western education.
"I should have made my comment clearer. I was largely responding to the sort of guides aimed at children and students that provide lecturing explanations, with the writer in the position of the expert, and the reader in the position of the recipient of pre-digested information. Certainly in the UK, the average education includes a pathetically small amount of actual *first-hand reading*. A handful of books are read, swiftly followed up by the expert's ruminations which the student then learns to repeat (particularly in exams)."
DeleteThanks, David. That does clarify things.
"Lewis has a well-known pieces of advice, regarding leading the reader into a particular feeling, rather than just telling the reader what to feel. That's the sort of thing I'm referring to."
Ah, yes! In his Abolition of Man. Of course that's in a slightly different context, or so it seems to me. As far as reading in general, I enjoyed his An Experiment in Criticism.
"So, no, I'm not intending to deprecate readers discussing their insights and mutually benefiting from them; as I say, I should have clarified I was thinking of how young readers are introduced to the world of stories, and how these "A guide to X" books are usually deployed in contemporary Western education."
It may be my turn for clarity, but just wanted to let you know I never meant to suggest your intent was to "deprecate readers". I was just attempting to make a hopefully helpful observation (as well as a friendly one - apologies if it didn't come across that way).
I think is blogpost is related to another recent blogpost by Steve, "Why do we dream?".
ReplyDeleteAnimals may or may not dream, but for years I've come to believe that one of the many reasons God allows humans to dream is to contemplate reality/ies beyond our physical reality. If all the consciousness we ever experienced were during our waking hours, it would be much more difficult to contemplate other realities. Dreaming opens us up to the consideration of the possibility of the supernatural. So much so that most cultures thought dreams were at times (in some cultures "always") supernatural themselves, or somehow connected to the supernatural. Maybe as windows we peer through, or doorways we walk through. In dreams we encounter real or imagined gods or the God/Deity, benevolent and malevolent spirit-like entities (e.g. angels, demons, jinn etc.), the past, the future, alternative histories/realities &c.
In manga & anime, it's often an ordinary school student who's transported to another realm (Inuyasha, Märchen Awakens Romance) or else visited by an extraordinary being or power (Sailor Moon, Doraemon, Yuyu Hakusho). This is as opposed to say, a story set fully in another realm with protagonists who originate from that realm.
ReplyDeletehttps://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OrdinaryHighschoolStudent
This is to help the young shonen/shojo readers to identify with the protagonist - "I too could have something amazing happen to my boring life!"
Western equivalents would be having your mutant genome activate thus giving you superpowers, or stealing the heart of a vampire classmate.