Into the Wardrobe (PDF)

Published in the early 1950s, C. S. Lewis's seven Chronicles of
Narnia were proclaimed instant children's classics and have
been hailed in The Oxford Companion to Children's Literature
as "the most sustained achievement in fantasy for children by a
20th-century author." But how could Lewis (a formidable critic,
scholar, and Christian apologist)conjure up the kind of adventures
in which generations of children (and adults) take such delight? In
this engaging and insightful book, C. S. Lewis expert David C.
Downing invites readers to join his vivid exploration of the
Chronicles of Narnia, offering a detailed look at the
enchanting stories themselves and also focusing on the
extraordinary intellect and imagination of the man behind the
Wardrobe.

Downing presents each Narnia book as its own little wardrobe -
each tale an opportunity to discover a visionary world of bustling
vitality, sparkling beauty, and spiritual clarity. And Downing's
examination of C. S. Lewis's personal life shows how the content of
these classic children's books reflects Lewis's love of wonder and
story, his affection for animals and homespun things, his shrewd
observations about human nature, along with his vast reading,
robust humor, theological speculations, medieval scholarship, and
arcane linguistic jokes. A fun glossary of odd and invented words
will allow readers to speak with Narnian flair, regaling friends
and family with unusual words like cantrips, poltoonery, hastilude,
and skirling. A masterful work that will appeal to both new and
seasoned fans of Narnia, Into the Wardrobe offers a journey
beyond Narnia's deceptively simple surface and into its richly
textured and unexpected depths.