Tumnus’ Bookshelf: The NarniaFans Book reviews: “Inside Voyage of the Dawn Treader”

Hey, everybody! Welcome back to Tumnus’ Bookshelf, where we review any and all books relating to and inspired by CS Lewis and the land of Narnia. For today’s review, we’ll be looking at Professor Devin Brown’s Inside Voyage of the Dawn Treader, the latest installment in the Inside Narnia series.

Title: Inside Voyage of the Dawn Treader ( book 3 in the Inside Narnia Series.)

Author: Devin Brown

Publisher: Baker Books (October 1, 2010)

ISBN 10-0801071658

ISBN 13-978-0801071652

Summary:

Return to magic, return to hope, Return to Narnia… but dare you go further into the Voyage of the Dawn trader, past the nautical adventures? In the insightful third volume of the Inside Narnia Series, Professor Devin Brown looks at the adventures of Caspian, Lucy, Edmund, Eustace and Reepicheep on their journey to the world’s end on the Dawn Treader.

Review:

Prior to his adventures in Narnia, Eustace Clarence Scrubb would probably not have liked this book. It makes reading about a book fun and only illuminates an already well-done book series. With so many books out there analyzing Narnia, Devin Brown found a rare and special niche for his project in writing one corresponding book for each series. This continues to allow for some of the best research into Narnia in existence.

Professor Brown knows what’s he’s talking about .He has taught on CS Lewis and the Narnian Chronicles for over a decade at Ashbury University where he is a member of the English faculty. He continues to show not only how much he knows about Narnia and Lewis; but about myths, fantasy, and literature as well. He draws allusions to many great works of literature; from Shakespeare, to the Arthurian Legends, to similarities that Caspian and Ramandu’s daughter share with Aragorn and Arwen in Lord of the Rings. Even aspects of Lewis’ own life and letters are drawn from to round out the scholarship.

He also addresses issues people may have with the books; namely the idea that Lewis seems anti-progress with the characters of Harold, Alberta and Eustace Scrubb. Brown reminds readers that Lewis was more against “chronological snobbery”, or the idea that just because something is new and modern it is there by morally better. An example he sites, is the vegetarianism of the Scrubbs.  Brown reminds readers that while the haughty Scrubbs may have been vegetarians, so too was the heroic Elwin Ransom in CS Lewis’ Space Trilogy.

Professor Brown also addresses the continuity errors in the books, such as the dryad who sang the prophesy to Reepicheep as an infant when it had previously been written that the dryads had been silent until Aslan and the four Pevensies intervened. Brown doesn’t make apologies or excuses for such errors, but addresses these frustrations readers have. He even writes about the changes between the British and original American printings; namely the changes in the Dark Island Chapter and argues that the revision is, in some ways, much stronger.

Another exceptional thing about Brown’s series is the fact he also cautions his readers on not seeing parallels where Lewis may not have intended. Lewis himself encountered this in his life and it is as true now as it was today. One such example Brown gives is when readers try to interpret the feast laid out at Aslan’s Table on Ramandu’s island as the Eucharist. Citing other prominent Lewis scholars, he points out that they eat and drink to The Lady ( Ramandu’s daughter ) and that no reference or remembrance to Aslan’s sacrifice is ever made . More then anything he encourages readers to enjoy not only the spiritual aspects of Narnia, but the literary and fantastic as well.

As with Inside Prince Caspian, where he began the book with a look back at the film of The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, Brown begins this book by looking back on the Prince Caspian film. It may upset some readers to find that Brown is not a “purist”, and that he even defends a few controversial changes. However, much like many of his other claims in the book, what Brown says is so well founded and so well backed up that unless you are Phillip Pullman ( author of the Golden Compass and a vowed Lewis hater) you will have a hard time disagreeing with him, or at least appreciating where he is coming from.

Whoever decided that studying literature was suppose to be boring, tiresome work, never meet Devin Brown nor had they read his exquisite Inside Narnia Series. I have had the pleasure of reading and reviewing the first two books in this series, and am pleased to say that the third volume Inside Voyage of the Dawn Treader, is just as fun an insightful as Inside Narnia, and Inside Prince Caspian. Great for devotionals, study groups, book clubs and secondary sources for essays; Inside Voyage of the Dawn Treader is sure to illuminate the land of Narnia for fans of all ages.

5 out of 5 shields