Narnia reborn in The Lion, the Witch and new stories
Peter T. Chattaway
Richard Brooks, Arts Editor
THE magical world of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is to come alive
again. More than 50 years after C S Lewis wrote the first of his
Chronicles of Narnia, new books based on the characters are to be
commissioned.
The original work, first published in 1950 before the six other Narnia
books, was chosen as the most influential children's book of the 20th
century last year by parents, teachers and librarians. It has been adapted
for television, video and the stage.
Ever since Lewis died 40 years ago his estate has guarded his work with
care as his books achieved worldwide sales of 65m. Now Douglas and David
Gresham, his stepsons, and the C S Lewis Company, which looks after the
rights, are to co-operate with the publisher HarperCollins to bring out
new Narnia novels and picture books for younger children.
Simon Adley, managing director of the C S Lewis Company, said: "What we
wanted to avoid is what I call the Pooh situation. In other words,
exploitation of the books." Disney has been criticised for its commercial
development of A A Milne's Winnie the Pooh and associated characters.
HarperCollins and the C S Lewis Company are selecting authors to write the
new Narnia books. "They will not be sequels as such, but books using the
same characters and with story lines which fill in the gaps of existing
ones," said Susan Katz, president of HarperCollins children's division.
"We're looking for established children's fantasy writers who will not
mimic Lewis," said Adley.
Writers who might be approached include Diana Wynn Jones, who has written
the successful Chrestomanci series, Berlie Doherty, best known for Snake
Stone, Geraldine McCaughrean, Robin Jarvis and Debbie Cliori.
However, A N Wilson, Lewis's biographer, is against the idea. "It's
ridiculous and I'm sure Lewis would have thought so, too," he said.
--- Peter T. Chattaway --------------------------- pe...@chattaway.com ---
"I detected one misprint, but to torture you I will not tell you where."
Winston Churchill to T.E. Lawrence, re Seven Pillars of Wisdom
Peter B. Juul
> Ever since Lewis died 40 years ago his estate has guarded his work with
> care as his books achieved worldwide sales of 65m. Now Douglas and David
> Gresham, his stepsons, and the C S Lewis Company, which looks after the
> rights, are to co-operate with the publisher HarperCollins to bring out
> new Narnia novels and picture books for younger children.
I have complete trust in Douglas' ability to make sensible choices
(after having "met" him in this newsgroup), so I welcome the
project. If the books are good, it probably will mean a revival for
the classic books.
--
Peter B. Juul, o.-.o "Yes," said Winnie-the-Pooh.
The RockBear. ((^)) "I see now," said Winnie-the-Pooh.
I speak only 0}._.{0 "I have been Foolish and Deluded," said he,
for myself. O/ \O "and I am a Bear of no Brain at All."
Andrew
>
>HarperCollins and the C S Lewis Company are selecting authors to write the
>new Narnia books. "They will not be sequels as such, but books using the
>same characters and with story lines which fill in the gaps of existing
>ones," said Susan Katz, president of HarperCollins children's division.
>
What order should I read them in?
I though I should say it before anyone else did.
--
Andrew
Peter B. Juul
> >HarperCollins and the C S Lewis Company are selecting authors to write the
> >new Narnia books. "They will not be sequels as such, but books using the
> >same characters and with story lines which fill in the gaps of existing
> >ones," said Susan Katz, president of HarperCollins children's division.
> >
> What order should I read them in?
Sometimes someone post a one-liner on a newsgroup.
Sometimes you wish you thought of it first.
--
Peter B. Juul, o.-.o Dyt, hvis du er Mel B. (fra Spice Girls)
The RockBear. ((^))
I speak only 0}._.{0
for myself. O/ \O
AJA
What made Douglas make such an about-face? This is rather amazing to
me. One could pull any number of posts from this group and MereLewis
where Doug absolutely refused to even consider anything like sequels
or take-offs on the Narnia series.
Best,
Ann
goh...@home.com
books has greatly increased with the popularity of Harry Potter.
m...@mooreffoc.com
Now that sounds like a good idea. The content of the world
is one thing, and Lewis' style/voice is another. Someone
else pretending ot be Lewis with the editorial asides and
such would be almost impossible. (He would have to begin
with a Screwtape or Ransome's Friend sort of preface
claiming to have found old manuscripts or to be channelling
Lewis. :-)
However some other narrator visiting Narnia and telling
different events in a different style could be very
believable. If it is a real world 'out there', and there are
many gates -- then why not?
If he'd agree to a lot of psychotherapy first, I'd think of
Piers Anthony.... :-)
Mary
>
>Writers who might be approached include Diana Wynn Jones, who has written
>the successful Chrestomanci series, Berlie Doherty, best known for Snake
>Stone, Geraldine McCaughrean, Robin Jarvis and Debbie Cliori.
..........................................
http://www.sonic.net/mary/homepage/
My site on CSL story sources:
http://pub50.bravenet.com/forum/show.asp?usernum=4248876121
Rilstone's FAQ for alt.books.cs-lewis:
http://www.aslan.demon.co.uk/cslfaq.txt
caliban
> Andrew,
>
> What made Douglas make such an about-face? This is rather amazing to
> me. One could pull any number of posts from this group and MereLewis
> where Doug absolutely refused to even consider anything like sequels
> or take-offs on the Narnia series.
>
> Best,
> Ann
And can we expect "Return to Perelandra", "The Pilgrim's Egress", "Screwtape on
Holiday"?
John Bennett
Peter C. Jones
>And can we expect "Return to Perelandra", "The Pilgrim's Egress", "Screwtape on
>Holiday"?
in message <3aefd47...@news.sonic.net>, Mary <m...@mooreffoc.com> writes:
>else pretending ot be Lewis with the editorial asides and
>such would be almost impossible. (He would have to begin
>with a Screwtape or Ransome's Friend sort of preface
>claiming to have found old manuscripts or to be channelling
>Lewis. :-)
Speaking of "Screwtape on Holiday" or "Screwtape's Friend", I'm really
surprised noone else has brought up "Lord Foulgrin's Letters", by Randy
Alcorn. He took the letters from manager to worker demon concept, and
interspersed the letters with slightly more traditional narrative from the
humans' perspective, giving a new modern take on Screwtape.
[I read it last month, and did a quick search through this newsgroup to
see if anyone else had commented upon it, but couldn't find any. So this
seemed a good opportunity to mention it.]
--
Peter C. Jones pet...@aracnet.com http://www.aracnet.com/~petercj/
"D-O-G spelled backwards is man's best friend." -- (Original Source Unknown)
Dan Drake
> Do you really need to ask? Am sure the market for children's fantasy
> books has greatly increased with the popularity of Harry Potter.
>
>
> On Tue, 01 May 2001 23:37:51 GMT, ahne...@microdsi.net (AJA) wrote:
>
> >Andrew,
> >
> >What made Douglas make such an about-face? This is rather amazing to
> >me. One could pull any number of posts from this group and MereLewis
> >where Doug absolutely refused to even consider anything like sequels
> >or take-offs on the Narnia series.
Well, yes, but the copyright is still in force for the Narnia books, and
it will continue in force till Doomsday; and there has already been
promotional activity to piggyback Narnia on the Potter craze. Oh, and the
current flap over _Gone with the Wind_ seems to show there's no reason to
fear a bunch of vulgar (or excellent) knock-offs of Narnia. So one still
wonders about this. Still seems unlikely that anything bad will get
authorized, though.
When you hear the word "Disney" you can reach for your gun. Oops, sorry,
I mean, you can start worrying.
--
Dan Drake
d...@dandrake.com
http://www.dandrake.com/index.html
Curt Coman
established by Robert E. Howard for the Conan stories and had developed a
number of other books describing Conan's further adventures. Quite frankly
I'm surprised it hasn't happened already to the Narnia books.
If it's going to be done, do you think we can get some cheezy Conan-style
cover art to spice things up a bit?
;-)
Curt
[ducking and running...]
<m...@mooreffoc.com> wrote in message news:3aefd47...@news.sonic.net...
[snipped]
Carrington Dixon
wrote:
>I seem to recall seeing that Robert Jordan had taken the storyline
>established by Robert E. Howard for the Conan stories and had developed a
>number of other books describing Conan's further adventures. [...]
Jordan was one of many and far from the first. Sprague de Camp began
by converting unpublished, non-Conan Howard stories into Conan yarns.
When he ran out of those, he began creating them from a whole cloth.
>If it's going to be done, do you think we can get some cheezy Conan-style
>cover art to spice things up a bit?
Why stop there? How about a Conan-Narnia cross-over? (Or in honor of
LSdC, Conan and Harold Shea go to Narnia?)
From the slippery slope...
Carrington Dixon
-----------------------------------------------
Carrington Dixon
(For email replay change "nospam" to "home.com"
gyeakley
practical as well. As Tolkien and Lewis were very good friends, a much more
plausible crossover would be Narnia/Middle Earth.