Since this month we’re discussing “The Last Battle”, David talks to Kat Coffin, an Inklings scholar who has the definitive Twitter thread on the subject…
Discussion
01. “Lewis Background”
- The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis
- The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
- Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis
02. “The Twitter Thread”
03. “The Text”
“Sir,” said Tirian, when he had greeted all these. “If I have read the chronicle aright, there should be another. Has not your Majesty two sisters? Where is Queen Susan?”
“My sister Susan,” answered Peter shortly and gravely, “is no longer a friend of Narnia.”
“Yes,” said Eustace, “and whenever you’ve tried to get her to come and talk about Narnia or do anything about Narnia, she says, ‘What wonderful memories you have! Fancy your still thinking about all those funny games we used to play when we were children.'”
“Oh Susan!” said Jill. “She’s interested in nothing nowadays except nylons and lipstick and invitations. She always was a jolly sight too keen on being grown-up.”
“Grown-up, indeed,” said the Lady Polly. “I wish she would grow up. She wasted all her school time wanting to be the age she is now, and she’ll waste all the rest of her life trying to stay that age. Her whole idea is to race on to the silliest time of one’s life as quick as she can and then stop there as long as she can.”
C.S. Lewis, The Last Battle
- J.K. Rowling
- Neil Gaiman
- Phillip Pullman
- Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
04. “The Problem”
- Prince Caspian by C.S Lewis
05. “The Response”
“Where did you think you saw him?” asked Susan.
“Don’t talk like a grown-up,” said Lucy, stamping her foot. “I didn’t think I saw him. I saw him.”
C.S. Lewis, Prince Caspian
“Well, there’s just this,” said Edmund, speaking quickly and turning a little red. “When we first discovered Narnia a year ago – or a thousand years ago, whichever it is – it was Lucy who discovered it first and none of us would believe her. I was the worst of the lot, I know. Yet she was right after all. Wouldn’t it be fair to believe her this time? I vote for going up.”
C.S. Lewis, Prince Caspian
Susan was the worst. “Supposing I started behaving like Lucy,” she said. “I might threaten to stay here whether the rest of you went on or not. I jolly well think I shall.”
C.S. Lewis, Prince Caspian
“Susan.” Susan made no answer but the others thought se was crying. “You have listened to fears, child,” said Aslan. “Come, let me breathe on you. Forget them. Are you brave again?”
“A little, Aslan,” said Susan.
C.S. Lewis, Prince Caspian
C.S. Lewis, Letters to Children
Haven’t you noticed that in the two books that you’ve read, she’s rather fond of being too grown-up?
C.S. Lewis, Letters to Children
The books don’t tell us what happened to Susan. She is left alive in this world at the end, having been turned into a rather silly, conceited young woman. But there is plenty of time for her to mend, and perhaps she will get to Aslan’s country in the end—in her own way. I think that whatever she had seen in Narnia she could (if she was the sort that wanted to) persuade herself, as she grew up, that it was ‘all nonsense.’
C.S. Lewis, Letter to Marcia
06. “The end for Susan?”
Q. Why is it that people think that everything is done and dusted with Susan?
- C.S. Lewis’ Letters to Children by C.S. Lewis
07. “The story continues…”
- A Grief Observed by C.S. Lewis
- God in the Dock by C.S. Lewis
No one ever told me that grief felt so like fear.
C.S. Lewis, A Grief Observed
08. “Enigmatic Joy”
Q. What else are you working on, and what future projects do you have coming up?
- Joy Davidman
- Yet One More Spring: A Critical Study of Joy Davidman by Don W. King
- Joy: Poet, Seeker, and the Woman Who Captivated C.S. Lewis by Abigail Santamaria
- Becoming Mrs. Lewis by Patti Callahan
- S7E10 – AH – “The Major and the Missionary”, After Hours with Dr. Diana Glyer and Dr. Don W. King
- The Major and the Missionary: The Letters Of Warren Hamilton Lewis And Blanche Biggs by Diana Pavlac Glyer
- Miracles by C.S. Lewis
- Shadowlands (1986)
