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11. Were there other characters based on people you and Jack knew? Did those people know they inspired these great books? How are the characters similar to the people who inspired them?

Jack had an almost uncanny talent for writing unpleasant characters who turned out to be the living images of people he was about to meet [or his readers are about to meet]. He always said that his villains were modeled on himself. There were other characters that he drew from friends and acquaintances, but he was always very careful not to let it become obvious, so he would mix and match his characters’ personalities and appearances to avoid anyone ever being able to recognize them. He couldn’t fool Warnie, however; and sometimes Warnie would tell me that “so and so was modeled on an old fool at Merton” or wherever. But Jack never gave a character taken from someone he knew an appearance in any way similar to that person, nor even a similar profession. Jack protected his models.

12. What made C. S. Lewis decide to write The Magician’s Nephew well after writing and publishing The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe ? Why was the series reordered to put The Magician’s Nephew first?

Jack listened to his Muse and also to his audience. People were asking how it all came to be, why and how Narnia had come into existence in the first place. But also I think that he knew that he would not be allowed or able to end Narnia until he had first begun it. As for the “reordering” of Narnia, the putting of numbers on the spines of books was an American idea and one which I felt was superfluous, feeling that we should all be allowed to read the books in any order we like (and I do), but the first American publisher set the precedent. I asked Jack what order the books should be read in when The Magician’s Nephew had appeared and The Last Battle finally came out. He told me that his preference was for them to be read in order of Narnian chronology but that it didn’t really matter. I agreed completely, and many years later when HarperCollins took over the worldwide English language publication of the books, they decided to retain numbers on the spines and asked me what order they should be in. I told them to go with what Jack himself preferred. And they did!

13. How do you think the perception of Narnia has changed since C. S. Lewis first wrote The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe?

Not a lot really, at least not among those very wise folk who read the books. Of course we have made movies of several of the books, and that has spread the knowledge of Narnia even farther than the worldwide publication of the books in many languages had already achieved. But Narnia is Narnia and appeals to young men and women, to children, and to white-bearded ancients alike, no matter where they live or what language they speak, and it always will.

14. November 22, 2013, marks the fiftieth anniversary of C. S. Lewis’s passing. What do you remember about this event?

Very little, actually. That whole time is a faded haze in my mind. I remember his funeral at which I stood as the leading mourner, and I remember the single candle that stood upon his coffin, first in the church and then under the tree at the graveside. There was a strange and perhaps holy stillness about the air that day, not a breath of wind stirred; and the candle flame stood straight and tall, never so much as even wavering, only to be extinguished as it was taken from the coffin (by whom I did not see) as it was lowered into the grave. We buried more than a man that day; we buried a light as well. Had Jack not written so much so well, the world would today be a much darker place for so many people. That was a hard, bitter time for me. There were many condolence letters, but I didn’t read them nor even open the envelopes. Loneliness is really the only thing I remember. Once again, all that I loved, all that I valued had been swept away, and I was alone.

15. Do you recall how fans reacted to the news of C. S. Lewis’s death?

Hardly at all; his death passed at first almost unnoticed, as President Kennedy was assassinated the same day.

16. C. S. Lewis is being honored with a memorial stone in Westminster Abbey’s Poets’ Corner on the anniversary of his death. How do you feel about this? How do you think Jack would have responded to this tribute?

I think he would have certainly found it gratifying and would smile.

17. Why do you think so many people connect to The Chronicles of Narnia? What do readers take from it? Why do they keep returning to Narnia?

Readers return to Narnia simply because mankind has been gifted with a sense of truth. It is stronger in some than in others, but we all have it to some degree or another. In Narnia, we sense the truth of what is written, no matter who we are or where we are from.

Narnia, and all it stands for and represents, rings true.

THE MAGICIAN’S NEPHEW

Dedication

To The Kilmer Family

Contents

Dedication

Chapter One: The Wrong Door

Chapter Two: Digory and His Uncle

Chapter Three: The Wood Between the Worlds

Chapter Four: The Bell and the Hammer

Chapter Five: The Deplorable Word

Chapter Six: The Beginning of Uncle Andrew’s Troubles

Chapter Seven: What Happened at the Front Door

Chapter Eight: The Fight at the Lamp-post

Chapter Nine: The Founding of Narnia

Chapter Ten: The First Joke and Other Matters

Chapter Eleven: Digory and His Uncle Are Both in Trouble

Chapter Twelve: Strawberry’s Adventure

Chapter Thirteen: An Unexpected Meeting

Chapter Fourteen: The Planting of the Tree

Chapter Fifteen: The End of This Story and the Beginning of All the Others

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