JF wrote:
[...]
> C S Forester had to write retros for his hero captain when said hero was
> a junior officer. Capt W E Johns did something similar with his
> Bigglesworth hero.
You no doubt know more about Biggles than I do, so perhaps my
recollection is faulty -- that the first Biggles really was the first
chronologically: a chain-smoking, badly shaken RFC pilot with a voice
always on the edge of squeaky hysteria. There's a brief but permanently
haunting description of an aerial dog-fight viewed from above. Johns's
gardening writing wasn't bad.
[...]
>
> In the case of the Jack Lewis retro, The Magician's Nephew, at least he
> made a bold attempt to remedy the cock-up brought about by the success
> of LWW. As Douglas Grisham explained when he introduced TMN as the
> opening story in the Narnia Chronicles, Jack Lewis considered it the
> most im****tant of all the novels.[...]
Sadly, I never met Lewis, but my supervisor knew and loved him, so I'm
always a little diffident on the subject. But I'm here to tell you all
that Narnia is poor stuff, and should only be read by (or, allowably,
to) those under fourteen or so (or, also allowably, in recollective
mood) in much later life. LWW etc make LOTR look good.
--
Mike.
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