Good Heavens – Michael Ward and Planet Narnia at Socrates in the City 6 June 2008

Like so many of the genii, Michael Ward was daydreaming in bed when he was inspired to brilliance and reached out like Ransome to become a part of the spinning humming web of the medieval cosmology.  In this spurt of inspiration, Ward came into an understanding of C.S. Lewis that puts him officially in the ranks of Spenser and even Dante.  Ward’s idea is a new categorisation of The Chronicles of Narnia.  I never had a problem with the patched-up (as some say) mix of seven books that was big enough to shake my trust in Lewis, but apparently a lot of other people do.  Ward convinced me of the problem and then confirmed his own solution, as well as potentially solving el problemo for the trouble-makers. 

Each of the seven corresponds to one of the major bodies of the medieval cosmology, the planets.  Lewis’ other works build up to it and put his universe firmly in accord with the harmony of the spheres.  The Space Trilogy is all about Earth taking its part in the universal symphony that it jarred with discord, and about keeping the original harmony in the parts of the other planets; parts of Perelandra read like a 20th century Christian echo of Cicero’s Dream of Scipio.  Ward has a clenching argument for each book’s correspondance, but more convincing to me is the fact that this view places The Chronicles in the cosmology of The Space Trilogy.  The land of Narnia is like Ransome, the bridge between the Silent Planet and the golden Harmony of the Spheres, and the creation of Narnia aligns the work with the world-view of Lewis the consummate Medievalist and author of The Distorted Image. 

  Lewis apparently hated conspiracy theories, but is it so ridiculous that he kept the “plan” of The Chronicles a secret and even denied its existence?  he, after all, admired the Medieval value for intricacy.  One of his friends dubbed Surprised by Joy as “Suppressed by Jack“  because of the life he left out of his autobiography. Since “Jack” Lewis was such an intensely private person, Ward thinks that it makes sense of him to believe that he kept his own counsel and that there’s much more to Narnia than we see on the surface.

In an evening of chumming with NYC sophisticates, intellectual socialites and social intellects at Socrates in the City, I heard Ward’s own charming British accent – I mean, presentation of his theory (which he published as Planet Narnia: the Seven Heavens in the Imagination of C.S. Lewis).  Ward’s presentation convinced me enough to read the book, which I highly recommend as the most comprehensive view of the person of Lewis and his creations.  As Eric Metaxas, the host of Socrates in the City, a voice from Veggie Tales, certainly indubitably the most gracious, entertaining MC I have ever heard (and reputedly, ”one of the funniest persons” that the singer Moby knows) and who made Socrates in the City a night I will never forget, made infinitely clear, Dr. Ward also made a special appearance with James Bond in The World is Not Enough.  enough.

Take it and read: http://www.planetnarnia.com/