1950 children's novel by C. S. Lewis
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is a portal fantasy novel for children by C. S. Lewis, published by Geoffrey Bles in 1950. It is the first published and best known of seven novels in "The Chronicles of Narnia" (1950–1956). Among all the author's books, it is also the most widely held in libraries. It was the first of "The Chronicles of Narnia" to be written and published, but is marked as volume two in recent editions that are sequenced according the stories' internal chronology. Like the other "Chronicles", it was illustrated by Pauline Baynes, and her work has been retained in many later editions.
Most of the novel is set in Narnia, a land of talking animals and mythical creatures that is ruled by the evil White Witch. In the frame story, four English children are relocated to a large, old country house following a wartime evacuation. The youngest, Lucy, visits Narnia three times via the magic of a wardrobe in a spare room. Lucy's three siblings are with her on her third visit to Narnia. In Narnia, the siblings seem fit to fulfil an old prophecy and find themselves adventuring to save Narnia and their own lives. The lion Aslan gives his life to save one of the children; he later rises from the dead, vanquishes the White Witch, and crowns the children Kings and Queens of Narnia.
Lewis wrote the book for (and dedicated it to) his goddaughter, Lucy Barfield. She was the daughter of Owen Barfield, Lewis's friend, teacher, adviser and trustee. In 2003, "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" was ranked ninth on the BBC's The Big Read poll. "Time" magazine included the novel in its list of the 100 Best Young-Adult Books of All Time, as well as its list of the 100 best English-language novels published since 1923.
Plot.
Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy Pevensie are evacuated from London in 1940, to escape the Blitz, and sent to live with Professor Digory Kirke at a large house in the English countryside. While exploring the house, Lucy enters a wardrobe and discovers the magical world of Narnia. Here, she meets the faun named Tumnus, whom she addresses as ""Mr" Tumnus". Tumnus invites her to his cave for tea and admits that he had intended to report Lucy to the White Witch, the false ruler of Narnia who has kept the land in perpetual winter, but he repents and guides her back home. Although Lucy's siblings initially disbelieve her story of Narnia, Edmund follows her into the wardrobe, finds himself in a separate area of Narnia and meets the White Witch, who calls herself the Queen of Narnia. The Witch plies Edmund with Turkish delight and persuades him to bring his siblings to her with the promise of being made a prince. Edmund reunites with Lucy and they return home. However, Edmund denies Narnia's existence to Peter and Susan after learning of the White Witch's identity from Lucy.
Soon afterwards, all four children enter Narnia together, but find that Tumnus has been arrested for treason. The children are befriended by Mr and Mrs Beaver, who tell them of a prophecy that the White Witch's rule will end when "two Sons of Adam and two Daughters of Eve" sit on the four thrones of Cair Paravel, and that Narnia's true ruler – a great lion named Aslan – is returning after several years of absence, and will go to the Stone Table. Edmund slips away to the White Witch's castle, where he finds a courtyard filled with the Witch's enemies turned into stone statues. Edmund reports Aslan's return to the White Witch, who begins her movement towards the Stone Table with Edmund in tow, and orders the execution of Edmund's siblings and the Beavers. Meanwhile, the Beavers realise where Edmund has gone, and lead the children to meet Aslan at the Stone Table. On the way they meet Father Christmas, who had been kept out of Narnia by the Witch's magic, and he leaves the group with magical gifts, including weapons. 
Meanwhile, the White Witch and her party realise that the snow is melting, and they have to abandon the sledge. 
The children and the Beavers reach the Stone Table and meet Aslan and his army. The White Witch's wolf captain Maugrim approaches the camp and attacks Susan, but is killed by Peter. The White Witch arrives and parleys with Aslan, invoking the "Deep Magic from the Dawn of Time" which gives her the right to kill Edmund for his treason. Aslan then speaks to the Witch alone, and on his return he announces that the Witch has renounced her claim on Edmund's life. Aslan and his followers then move the encampment into the nearby forest. That evening, Susan and Lucy secretly follow Aslan to the Stone Table. They watch from a distance as the Witch puts Aslan to death, as they had agreed in their pact to spare Edmund. The next morning, Aslan is resurrected by the "Deeper Magic from before the Dawn of Time", which has the power to reverse death if a willing victim takes the place of a traitor. Aslan takes the girls to the Witch's castle and revives the Narnians that the Witch had turned to stone. They join the Narnian forces battling the Witch's army. The Narnian army prevails, and Aslan kills the Witch. The Pevensie children are then crowned kings and queens of Narnia at Cair Paravel.
After a long and happy reign, the Pevensies, now adults, go on a hunt for the White Stag who is said to grant the wishes of those who catch it. The four arrive at the lamp-post marking Narnia's entrance and, having forgotten about it, unintentionally pass through the wardrobe and return to England; they are children again, with no time having passed since their departure. They tell the story to the Professor, who believes them and reassures the children that they will return to Narnia one day when they least expect it.
Writing.
Lewis described the origin of "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" in an essay titled "It All Began with a Picture":
The "Lion" all began with a picture of a Faun carrying an umbrella and parcels in a snowy wood. This picture had been in my mind since I was about 16. Then one day, when I was about 40, I said to myself: 'Let's try to make a story about it.'
At the beginning of the Second World War, many British children were evacuated from London and other cities to the countryside to escape bombing attacks by Nazi Germany. On 2 September 1939, three schoolgirls, Margaret, Mary and Katherine, came to live at The Kilns in Risinghurst, Lewis's home east of Oxford city centre. Lewis later suggested that the experience gave him a new appreciation of children, and in late September he began a children's story on an odd sheet that has survived as part of another manuscript:
This book is about four children whose names were Ann, Martin, Rose and Peter. But it is most about Peter, who was the youngest. They all had to go away from London suddenly because of Air Raids, and because Father, who was in the Army, had gone off to the War and Mother was doing some kind of war work. They were sent to stay with a kind of relation of Mother's who was a very old professor who lived all by himself in the country.
How much more of the story Lewis then wrote is uncertain. Roger Lancelyn Green thinks that he might even have completed it. In September 1947, Lewis wrote in a letter about stories for children: "I have tried one myself, but it was, by the unanimous verdict of my friends, so bad that I destroyed it."
The plot element of entering a new world through the back of a wardrobe had certainly entered Lewis's mind by 1946, when he used it to describe his first encounter with really good poetry:
I did not in the least feel that I was getting in more quantity or better quality a pleasure I had already known. It was more as if a cupboard which one had hitherto valued as a place for hanging coats proved one day, when you opened the door, to lead to the garden of the Hesperides ...
In August 1948, during a visit by an American writer, Chad Walsh, Lewis talked vaguely about completing a children's book he had begun "in the tradition of E. Nesbit". After this conversation, not much happened until the beginning of the next year. Then everything changed. In his essay "It All Began With a Picture", Lewis continues: "At first I had very little idea how the story would go. But then suddenly Aslan came bounding into it. I think I had been having a good many dreams of lions about that time. Apart from that, I don't know where the Lion came from or why he came. But once he was there, he pulled the whole story together, and soon he pulled the six other Narnian stories in after him."
The major ideas of the book echo lines Lewis had written 14 years earlier in his alliterative poem "The Planets":
... Of wrath ended
And woes mended, of winter passed
And guilt forgiven, and good fortune
J is master; and of jocund revel,
Laughter of ladies. The lion-hearted
... are Jove's children.
This resonance is a central component of the case, promoted chiefly by Oxford University scholar Michael Ward, for the seven "Chronicles" having been modelled upon the seven classical astrological planets, "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" being based on Jupiter.
On 10 March 1949, Roger Lancelyn Green dined with Lewis at Magdalen College. After the meal, Lewis read two chapters from his new children's story to Green. Lewis asked Green's opinion of the tale, and Green said that he thought it was good. The manuscript of "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" was complete by the end of March 1949. Lucy Barfield received it by the end of May. When on 16 October 1950 Geoffrey Bles in London published the first edition, three new "chronicles", "Prince Caspian", "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader", and "The Horse and His Boy", had also been completed.
Illustrations.
Lewis's publisher, Geoffrey Bles, allowed him to choose the illustrator for the novel and the "Narnia" series. Lewis chose Pauline Baynes, possibly on J. R. R. Tolkien's recommendation. In December 1949, Bles showed Lewis the first drawings for the novel, and Lewis sent Baynes a note congratulating her, particularly on the level of detail. Lewis's appreciation of the illustrations is evident in a letter he wrote to Baynes after "The Last Battle" won the Carnegie Medal for best children's book of 1956: "is it not rather 'our' medal? I'm sure the illustrations were taken into account, as well as the text".
The British edition of the novel had 43 illustrations; American editions generally had fewer . The popular U.S. paperback edition published by Collier between 1970 and 1994, which sold many millions, had only 17 illustrations, many of them severely cropped from the originals, giving many readers in that country a very different experience when reading the novel . All the illustrations were restored for the 1994 worldwide HarperCollins edition, although these illustrations lacked the clarity of early printings.
Reception.
Lewis very much enjoyed writing "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" and embarked on the sequel "Prince Caspian" soon after finishing the first novel. He completed the sequel by the end of 1949, less than a year after finishing the initial book. "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" had few readers during 1949 and was not published until late 1950, so his initial enthusiasm did not stem from favourable reception by the public.
While Lewis is known today on the strength of the Narnia stories as a highly successful children's writer, the initial critical response was muted. At the time, children's stories being realistic was fashionable; fantasy and fairy tales were seen as indulgent, appropriate only for very young readers and potentially harmful to older children, even hindering their ability to relate to everyday life. Some reviewers considered the tale overly moralistic, or the Christian elements overstated attempts to indoctrinate children. Others were concerned that the many violent incidents might frighten children.
Lewis's publisher, Geoffrey Bles, feared that the Narnia tales would not