A Narnian Close Read: Friday Feature

A resource recently came to me from a homeschool mom. I am honestly not very connected to that kind of network, so I was pleased to bump into the “Close Reads Podcast,” hosted at the Circe Institute. Past books featured on the podcast include Wind in the Willows, Pride & Prejudice, and works by Flannery O’Connor, so I’m bound to be in sympathy.

This week’s podcast is called “Narnia Nostalgia,” featuring C.S. Lewis because The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe had won some sort of poll of Great Books. Another Narnia podcast isn’t that exciting as they are seasoning the internet all over the world. But this one is quite smart. They are very interested in putting Narnia in its medieval context, and then from that standpoint they consider some of the Christian principle and literary merits.

Even better than the Narnian bit, they spend the first half hour discussing what our posture as Christian readers should be. They discuss this question in light of Lewis’ An Experiment in Criticism, and it makes for a good ad hoc discussion on some of the implications of that unusual and too-quickly-forgotten book.

You can find the podcast here, and have a great weekend!