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East of the Wardrobe: The Unexpected Worlds of C. S. Lewis
A fascinating look at the rich but under-appreciated Eastern sources behind the Narnia book
C. S. Lewis was no great traveller but he was a prodigious bibliophile who absorbed the world's traditions of myth, religion, and cosmology. The Chronicles of Narnia are steeped in allusions to the Bible, Greek mythology, and medieval literature, all of which has been amply discussed by critics. But, until now, what has been overlooked are Lewis' significant borrowings from Eastern Arabian Nights and the Persian poets, great travellers from Herodotus and Marco Polo to T. E. Lawrence and Robert Byron, and the famous fictional adventurers Baron Munchausen, Gulliver, and Sindbad.
In East of the Wardrobe , Warwick Ball explores hitherto unrecognised and unexpected Eastern aspects in and influences on C. S. Lewis' Narnia books. These include storylines, themes, imagery, religious elements, and even the cities and landscapes of the East, as well as the 'Persian' style adopted by the illustrator of Narnia, Pauline Baynes. Themes borrowed from the great epics can also be found, from The Odyssey and Aeneid to the Kalevala and The Knight in the Panther's Skin . Delve deeper and Christianity is there along with paganism, but so too are Zoroastrian, Manichaean, and even Islamic and Sufi messages. Ultimately, these influences act as a reflection of the complex intellectual world that Lewis inhabited, of both his own unique philosophy and the wider social and intellectual climate of Oxford in the first half of the twentieth century. All readers of Lewis will find in East of the Wardrobe surprising new paths into the world of Narnia.
C. S. Lewis was no great traveller but he was a prodigious bibliophile who absorbed the world's traditions of myth, religion, and cosmology. The Chronicles of Narnia are steeped in allusions to the Bible, Greek mythology, and medieval literature, all of which has been amply discussed by critics. But, until now, what has been overlooked are Lewis' significant borrowings from Eastern Arabian Nights and the Persian poets, great travellers from Herodotus and Marco Polo to T. E. Lawrence and Robert Byron, and the famous fictional adventurers Baron Munchausen, Gulliver, and Sindbad.
In East of the Wardrobe , Warwick Ball explores hitherto unrecognised and unexpected Eastern aspects in and influences on C. S. Lewis' Narnia books. These include storylines, themes, imagery, religious elements, and even the cities and landscapes of the East, as well as the 'Persian' style adopted by the illustrator of Narnia, Pauline Baynes. Themes borrowed from the great epics can also be found, from The Odyssey and Aeneid to the Kalevala and The Knight in the Panther's Skin . Delve deeper and Christianity is there along with paganism, but so too are Zoroastrian, Manichaean, and even Islamic and Sufi messages. Ultimately, these influences act as a reflection of the complex intellectual world that Lewis inhabited, of both his own unique philosophy and the wider social and intellectual climate of Oxford in the first half of the twentieth century. All readers of Lewis will find in East of the Wardrobe surprising new paths into the world of Narnia.
- GenresLiterary Fiction
320 pages, Hardcover
Published June 3, 2022
2 people are currently reading
24 people want to read
About the author
Warwick Ball
20 books17 followersWarwick Ball is an Australian-born near-eastern archeologist.
In the past 30 years, Ball has mainly excavated in Jordan, Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan.
Ball was formerly director of excavations at The British School of Archaeology in Iraq. He is the editor of the scholarly journal Afghanistan. His publications include the volume The Monuments of Afghanistan, History, Archaeology and Architecture, I.B. Tauris, London 2008. The book consists of exceptional photography of numerous rare archaeological sites no longer well accessible today for reasons of security.
He currently resides in Scotland.
In the past 30 years, Ball has mainly excavated in Jordan, Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan.
Ball was formerly director of excavations at The British School of Archaeology in Iraq. He is the editor of the scholarly journal Afghanistan. His publications include the volume The Monuments of Afghanistan, History, Archaeology and Architecture, I.B. Tauris, London 2008. The book consists of exceptional photography of numerous rare archaeological sites no longer well accessible today for reasons of security.
He currently resides in Scotland.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
May 21, 2023
For decades, Christians have been drawn to Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia, finding their beliefs reflected, enriched, and reimagined in its pages. Though Lewis warned against reading the series as Christian allegory, modern scholarship on C.S. Lewis is dominated by Christian writers from explicitly Christian academic institutions. This has led to an imbalance in our understanding of the inspiration and sources from which Lewis drew in writing the Narnia series.
Lewis read widely and voraciously, including many texts originating from ‘the East’ (e.g. Islamic, Zoroastrian, Buddhist). In fact, Lewis was captivated by the unique storytelling, imagery, and philosophical insight of these texts. Drawing from a lifetime of archaeological and academic engagement with the Near and Middle East, Warwick Ball sets out to correct this imbalance. If a kind of lazy orthodoxy has gradually been established about Narnia, East of the Wardrobe challenges readers to reconsider.
East of the Wardrobe is as enjoyable as it is important. Ball betrays intimate familiarity with the Chronicles, undertaking close-reading (even exegesis) of the texts that will delight Narnia fans. Theologians will be fascinated by the variety of Eastern concepts evident in books whose secrets were thought to be long revealed. Dozens of photographs (most of them the author’s own, though unfortunately only black and white) accompany the text, as well as frequent side-by-side comparisons of illustrations from the Chronicles with eastern art. Even the endnotes were amusing and intriguing, with many meriting footnote status.
C. S. Lewis emerges as a more complex and sympathetic author than commonly understood, whose bibliophilia sparked a love of beautiful stories, regardless of provenance. Laced with Ball’s humour and humanity, this book has something for every reader.
Lewis read widely and voraciously, including many texts originating from ‘the East’ (e.g. Islamic, Zoroastrian, Buddhist). In fact, Lewis was captivated by the unique storytelling, imagery, and philosophical insight of these texts. Drawing from a lifetime of archaeological and academic engagement with the Near and Middle East, Warwick Ball sets out to correct this imbalance. If a kind of lazy orthodoxy has gradually been established about Narnia, East of the Wardrobe challenges readers to reconsider.
East of the Wardrobe is as enjoyable as it is important. Ball betrays intimate familiarity with the Chronicles, undertaking close-reading (even exegesis) of the texts that will delight Narnia fans. Theologians will be fascinated by the variety of Eastern concepts evident in books whose secrets were thought to be long revealed. Dozens of photographs (most of them the author’s own, though unfortunately only black and white) accompany the text, as well as frequent side-by-side comparisons of illustrations from the Chronicles with eastern art. Even the endnotes were amusing and intriguing, with many meriting footnote status.
C. S. Lewis emerges as a more complex and sympathetic author than commonly understood, whose bibliophilia sparked a love of beautiful stories, regardless of provenance. Laced with Ball’s humour and humanity, this book has something for every reader.
Displaying 1 of 1 review