Dust jacket of first edition

Author C. S. Lewis

Illustrator Pauline Baynes

Cover Pauline Baynes

artist

Country United Kingdom

Language English

Series The Chronicles of Narnia

Subject The creation of Narnia

Genre Children's fantasy novel,

Christian literature
 Publisher The Bodley Head

Publicatio 2 May 1955

n date

Media type Print (hardcover)

Pages [1]
183 (first edition)

[2]
41,062 words (US)

ISBN 978-0-00-671683-9 (Collins,

[1]
1998; full-colour)

OCLC 2497740

LC Class [3]
PZ8.L48 Mag

Preceded The Horse and His Boy

by

Followed The Last Battle

by

The Magician's Nephew is a fantasy children's novel by C. S. Lewis, published in 1955 by The
Bodley Head. It is the sixth published of seven novels in The Chronicles of Narnia (1950–1956). In
recent editions, which sequence the books according to Narnia history, it is volume one of the series.
Like the others, it was illustrated by Pauline Baynes whose work has been retained in many later
editions. The Bodley Head was a new publisher for The Chronicles, a change from Geoffrey Bles
[1][3]
who had published the previous five novels.
The Magician's Nephew is a prequel to the series. The middle third of the novel features the creation
of the Narnia world by Aslan the lion, centred on a section of a lamp-post brought by accidental
observers from London in 1900. The visitors then participate in the beginning of Narnia history, 1000
[a]
years before The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (which inaugurated the series in 1950).
The frame story, set in England, features two children ensnared in experimental travel via "the wood
between the worlds". Thus, the novel shows Narnia and our middle-aged world to be only two of
many in a multiverse, which changes as some worlds begin and others end. It also explains the
origin of foreign elements in Narnia, not only the lamp-post but also the White Witch and a human
king and queen.
Lewis began The Magician's Nephew soon after completing The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,
spurred by a friend's question about the lamp-post in the middle of nowhere, but he needed more
than five years to complete it. The story includes several autobiographical elements and explores a
number of themes with general moral and Christian implications, including atonement, original sin,
temptation and the order of nature.
Contents
● 1
● Plot summary
●
● 2
● Principal characters
●
● 3
● Writing
○ 3.1
○ The Lefay Fragment
■ 3.1.1
■ Authenticity
■
○ 3.2
○ Autobiographical elements
○
● 4
● Style
●
● 5
● Reading order
●
● 6
● Themes and interpretations
○ 6.1
○ Parallels with the Book of Genesis
○
○ 6.2
○ The Holy Spirit and the breath of life
○
○ 6.3
○ Nature and a natural order
○
● 7
● Influences
○ 7.1
○ John Milton's Paradise Lost
○
○ 7.2
 ○ The Garden of the Hesperides
○
○ 7.3
○ Edith Nesbit
○
○ 7.4
○ J. R. R. Tolkien
○
○ 7.5
○ Morgan Le Fay and Pandora's Box
○
○ 7.6
○ The Atlantis legend
○
● 8
● Adaptations
○ 8.1
○ Theatrical
○
○ 8.2
○ Film
○
○ 8.3
○ TV
○
○ 8.4
○ Radio
○
○ 8.5
○ Manga
○
● 9
● Critical reception
●
● 10
● Notes
●
● 11
● References
●
● 12
● Further reading
●
● 13
● External links
●

Plot summary[edit]
The story begins in London during the summer of 1900. Two children, Digory and Polly, meet while
playing in the adjacent gardens of a row of terraced houses. They decide to explore the attic beyond
Digory's house, but do not walk far enough, and find themselves in Uncle Andrew's study. Uncle
Andrew tricks Polly into touching a yellow magic ring, causing her to vanish. Then he explains to
Digory that he has been dabbling in magic, and that the rings allow travel between one world and
another. He blackmails Digory into taking another yellow ring to follow wherever Polly has gone, and
two green rings so that they both can return.
Digory finds himself transported to a sleepy woodland with an almost narcotic effect; he finds Polly
nearby. The woodland is filled with pools. Digory and Polly surmise that the wood is not really a
proper world at all but a "Wood between the Worlds", similar to the attic that links their houses back
in England, and that each pool leads to a separate universe. They decide to explore a different world
before returning to England, and jump into one of the nearby pools. They then find themselves in a
desolate abandoned city of the ancient world of Charn. Inside the ruined palace, they discover
statues of Charn's former kings and queens, which degenerate from the fair and wise to the unhappy
and cruel. They find a bell with a hammer and an inscription inviting the finder to strike the bell.
Despite protests from Polly, Digory rings the bell. This awakens the last of the statues, a witch queen
named Jadis, who—to avoid defeat in battle—had deliberately killed every living thing in Charn by
speaking the "Deplorable Word". As the only survivor left in her world, she placed herself in an
enchanted sleep that would only be broken by someone ringing the bell.
The children recognise Jadis as evil and attempt to flee, but she follows them back to England by
clinging to them as they clutch their rings. In England, she discovers that her magical powers do not
work, although she retains her superhuman strength. Dismissing Uncle Andrew as a poor magician,
she enslaves him and orders him to fetch her a "chariot"—a hansom cab—so she can set about
conquering Earth. They leave, and she attracts attention by robbing a jewellery store in London. The
police chase after her cab, until she crashes at the foot of the Kirke house. Jadis breaks off and tears
an iron rod from a nearby lamp-post, using it to fight off police and onlookers.
Polly and Digory grab her and put on their rings to take her out of their world – along with Uncle
Andrew, Frank the cab-driver, and Frank's horse, Strawberry, who were all touching each other when
the children grabbed their rings. In the Wood between the Worlds, Strawberry, looking to drink from
one of the ponds, accidentally brings everyone into another world: a dark, empty void. At first, Digory
believes it to be Charn, but Jadis recognises it as a world not yet created. They then all witness the
creation of a new world by the lion Aslan, who brings stars, plants, and animals into existence as he
sings. Jadis, as terrified by his singing as the others are attracted to it, tries to kill Aslan with the iron
rod; but it rebounds harmlessly off him, and in the creative soil of the new world it sprouts into a
growing lamp-post. Jadis flees in terror.
Aslan gives some animals the power of speech, commanding them to use it for justice and
merriment or else risk becoming regular animals once again. Aslan confronts Digory with his
responsibility for bringing Jadis into his young world, and tells Digory he must atone by helping to
protect the new land of Narnia from her evil. Aslan transforms the cabbie's horse into a winged horse
called Fledge, and Digory and Polly fly on him to a distant garden high in the mountains. Digory's
task is to take an apple from a tree in this garden and plant it in Narnia. At the garden Digory finds a
sign warning not to steal from the garden.
Digory picks one of the apples for his mission, but their overpowering smell tempts him. Jadis
appears, having herself eaten an apple to become immortal, leaving her with pale white skin. She
tempts Digory either to eat an apple himself and join her in immortality, or steal one to take back to
Earth to heal his dying mother. Digory resists, knowing his mother would never condone theft, but
hesitates. He sees through the Witch's ploy when she suggests he leave Polly behind – not knowing
Polly can get away by her own ring. Foiled, the Witch departs for the North, and taunts Digory for his
refusal to eat the apple and gain immortality. Digory returns to Narnia and plants the apple, which
grows into a mature tree behind them while the coronation proceeds. Aslan tells Digory how the tree
works - anyone who steals the apples gets their heart's desire, but in a form that makes it unlikeable.
In the Witch's case, she has achieved immortality, but it only means eternal misery because of her
evil heart. Moreover, the magic apples are now a horror to her, such that the apple tree will repel her
for centuries to come, but not forever. With Aslan's permission, Digory then takes an apple from the
new tree to heal his mother. Aslan returns Digory, Polly, and Uncle Andrew to England. Frank and
his wife, Helen (transported from England by Aslan) stay to rule Narnia as its first King and Queen.
The Narnian creatures live in peace and joy, and neither the Witch nor any other enemy came to
trouble Narnia for many hundreds of years.
Digory's apple restores his mother's health as his father returns for good after being away on
business in India, and he and Polly remain lifelong friends. Uncle Andrew reforms and gives up
magic, but still enjoys bragging about his adventures with the Witch. Digory plants the apple's core
with Uncle Andrew's rings in the back yard of his aunt's home in London, and it grows into a large
tree. Soon afterwards, Digory's family inherits a mansion in the country, and many years later the
apple tree blows down in a storm. Digory, now a middle-aged professor, has its wood made into a
wardrobe, setting up the events in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

Principal characters[edit]
● Digory Kirke: The boy who becomes the Professor in The Lion, the Witch and the
Wardrobe
● Polly Plummer: Digory's friend, who lives next door
● Mabel Kirke: Digory's mother
● Andrew Ketterley: Digory's uncle, a minor magician
● Letitia Ketterley: Uncle Andrew's sister
● Jadis: Empress of Charn, who becomes the White Witch appearing in The Lion, the
Witch and the Wardrobe
● Aslan: The Lion who creates Narnia and kills Jadis in The Lion, the Witch and the
Wardrobe
● King Frank: A cabby who becomes the first king of Narnia and forefather of the kings of
Archenland
● Queen Helen: The wife of King Frank, the first queen of Narnia, and the ancestress of
the Archenlanders
● Fledge: The winged horse, formerly the cab-horse Strawberry, who carries Polly and
Digory to the mountain garden
●
 Dust jacket of first edition

Author C. S. Lewis

Illustrator Pauline Baynes

Cover Pauline Baynes

artist

Country United Kingdom

Language English

Series The Chronicles of Narnia

Subject The creation of Narnia

Genre Children's fantasy novel,

Christian literature
 Publisher The Bodley Head

Publicatio 2 May 1955

n date

Media type Print (hardcover)

Pages [1]
183 (first edition)

[2]
41,062 words (US)

ISBN 978-0-00-671683-9 (Collins,

[1]
1998; full-colour)

OCLC 2497740

LC Class [3]
PZ8.L48 Mag

Preceded The Horse and His Boy

by

Followed The Last Battle

by

The Magician's Nephew is a fantasy children's novel by C. S. Lewis, published in 1955 by The
Bodley Head. It is the sixth published of seven novels in The Chronicles of Narnia (1950–1956). In
recent editions, which sequence the books according to Narnia history, it is volume one of the series.
Like the others, it was illustrated by Pauline Baynes whose work has been retained in many later
editions. The Bodley Head was a new publisher for The Chronicles, a change from Geoffrey Bles
[1][3]
who had published the previous five novels.
The Magician's Nephew is a prequel to the series. The middle third of the novel features the creation
of the Narnia world by Aslan the lion, centred on a section of a lamp-post brought by accidental
observers from London in 1900. The visitors then participate in the beginning of Narnia history, 1000
[a]
years before The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (which inaugurated the series in 1950).
The frame story, set in England, features two children ensnared in experimental travel via "the wood
between the worlds". Thus, the novel shows Narnia and our middle-aged world to be only two of
many in a multiverse, which changes as some worlds begin and others end. It also explains the
origin of foreign elements in Narnia, not only the lamp-post but also the White Witch and a human
king and queen.
Lewis began The Magician's Nephew soon after completing The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,
spurred by a friend's question about the lamp-post in the middle of nowhere, but he needed more
than five years to complete it. The story includes several autobiographical elements and explores a
number of themes with general moral and Christian implications, including atonement, original sin,
temptation and the order of nature.
Contents
● 1
● Plot summary
●
● 2
● Principal characters
●
● 3
● Writing
○ 3.1
○ The Lefay Fragment
■ 3.1.1
■ Authenticity
■
○ 3.2
○ Autobiographical elements
○
● 4
● Style
●
● 5
● Reading order
●
● 6
● Themes and interpretations
○ 6.1
○ Parallels with the Book of Genesis
○
○ 6.2
○ The Holy Spirit and the breath of life
○
○ 6.3
○ Nature and a natural order
○
● 7
● Influences
○ 7.1
○ John Milton's Paradise Lost
○
○ 7.2
 ○ The Garden of the Hesperides
○
○ 7.3
○ Edith Nesbit
○
○ 7.4
○ J. R. R. Tolkien
○
○ 7.5
○ Morgan Le Fay and Pandora's Box
○
○ 7.6
○ The Atlantis legend
○
● 8
● Adaptations
○ 8.1
○ Theatrical
○
○ 8.2
○ Film
○
○ 8.3
○ TV
○
○ 8.4
○ Radio
○
○ 8.5
○ Manga
○
● 9
● Critical reception
●
● 10
● Notes
●
● 11
● References
●
● 12
● Further reading
●
● 13
● External links
●

Plot summary[edit]
The story begins in London during the summer of 1900. Two children, Digory and Polly, meet while
playing in the adjacent gardens of a row of terraced houses. They decide to explore the attic beyond
Digory's house, but do not walk far enough, and find themselves in Uncle Andrew's study. Uncle
Andrew tricks Polly into touching a yellow magic ring, causing her to vanish. Then he explains to
Digory that he has been dabbling in magic, and that the rings allow travel between one world and
another. He blackmails Digory into taking another yellow ring to follow wherever Polly has gone, and
two green rings so that they both can return.
Digory finds himself transported to a sleepy woodland with an almost narcotic effect; he finds Polly
nearby. The woodland is filled with pools. Digory and Polly surmise that the wood is not really a
proper world at all but a "Wood between the Worlds", similar to the attic that links their houses back
in England, and that each pool leads to a separate universe. They decide to explore a different world
before returning to England, and jump into one of the nearby pools. They then find themselves in a
desolate abandoned city of the ancient world of Charn. Inside the ruined palace, they discover
statues of Charn's former kings and queens, which degenerate from the fair and wise to the unhappy
and cruel. They find a bell with a hammer and an inscription inviting the finder to strike the bell.
Despite protests from Polly, Digory rings the bell. This awakens the last of the statues, a witch queen
named Jadis, who—to avoid defeat in battle—had deliberately killed every living thing in Charn by
speaking the "Deplorable Word". As the only survivor left in her world, she placed herself in an
enchanted sleep that would only be broken by someone ringing the bell.
The children recognise Jadis as evil and attempt to flee, but she follows them back to England by
clinging to them as they clutch their rings. In England, she discovers that her magical powers do not
work, although she retains her superhuman strength. Dismissing Uncle Andrew as a poor magician,
she enslaves him and orders him to fetch her a "chariot"—a hansom cab—so she can set about
conquering Earth. They leave, and she attracts attention by robbing a jewellery store in London. The
police chase after her cab, until she crashes at the foot of the Kirke house. Jadis breaks off and tears
an iron rod from a nearby lamp-post, using it to fight off police and onlookers.
Polly and Digory grab her and put on their rings to take her out of their world – along with Uncle
Andrew, Frank the cab-driver, and Frank's horse, Strawberry, who were all touching each other when
the children grabbed their rings. In the Wood between the Worlds, Strawberry, looking to drink from
one of the ponds, accidentally brings everyone into another world: a dark, empty void. At first, Digory
believes it to be Charn, but Jadis recognises it as a world not yet created. They then all witness the
creation of a new world by the lion Aslan, who brings stars, plants, and animals into existence as he
sings. Jadis, as terrified by his singing as the others are attracted to it, tries to kill Aslan with the iron
rod; but it rebounds harmlessly off him, and in the creative soil of the new world it sprouts into a
growing lamp-post. Jadis flees in terror.
Aslan gives some animals the power of speech, commanding them to use it for justice and
merriment or else risk becoming regular animals once again. Aslan confronts Digory with his
responsibility for bringing Jadis into his young world, and tells Digory he must atone by helping to
protect the new land of Narnia from her evil. Aslan transforms the cabbie's horse into a winged horse
called Fledge, and Digory and Polly fly on him to a distant garden high in the mountains. Digory's
task is to take an apple from a tree in this garden and plant it in Narnia. At the garden Digory finds a
sign warning not to steal from the garden.
Digory picks one of the apples for his mission, but their overpowering smell tempts him. Jadis
appears, having herself eaten an apple to become immortal, leaving her with pale white skin. She
tempts Digory either to eat an apple himself and join her in immortality, or steal one to take back to
Earth to heal his dying mother. Digory resists, knowing his mother would never condone theft, but
hesitates. He sees through the Witch's ploy when she suggests he leave Polly behind – not knowing
Polly can get away by her own ring. Foiled, the Witch departs for the North, and taunts Digory for his
refusal to eat the apple and gain immortality. Digory returns to Narnia and plants the apple, which
grows into a mature tree behind them while the coronation proceeds. Aslan tells Digory how the tree
works - anyone who steals the apples gets their heart's desire, but in a form that makes it unlikeable.
In the Witch's case, she has achieved immortality, but it only means eternal misery because of her
evil heart. Moreover, the magic apples are now a horror to her, such that the apple tree will repel her
for centuries to come, but not forever. With Aslan's permission, Digory then takes an apple from the
new tree to heal his mother. Aslan returns Digory, Polly, and Uncle Andrew to England. Frank and
his wife, Helen (transported from England by Aslan) stay to rule Narnia as its first King and Queen.
The Narnian creatures live in peace and joy, and neither the Witch nor any other enemy came to
trouble Narnia for many hundreds of years.
Digory's apple restores his mother's health as his father returns for good after being away on
business in India, and he and Polly remain lifelong friends. Uncle Andrew reforms and gives up
magic, but still enjoys bragging about his adventures with the Witch. Digory plants the apple's core
with Uncle Andrew's rings in the back yard of his aunt's home in London, and it grows into a large
tree. Soon afterwards, Digory's family inherits a mansion in the country, and many years later the
apple tree blows down in a storm. Digory, now a middle-aged professor, has its wood made into a
wardrobe, setting up the events in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

Principal characters[edit]
● Digory Kirke: The boy who becomes the Professor in The Lion, the Witch and the
Wardrobe
● Polly Plummer: Digory's friend, who lives next door
● Mabel Kirke: Digory's mother
● Andrew Ketterley: Digory's uncle, a minor magician
● Letitia Ketterley: Uncle Andrew's sister
● Jadis: Empress of Charn, who becomes the White Witch appearing in The Lion, the
Witch and the Wardrobe
● Aslan: The Lion who creates Narnia and kills Jadis in The Lion, the Witch and the
Wardrobe
● King Frank: A cabby who becomes the first king of Narnia and forefather of the kings of
Archenland
● Queen Helen: The wife of King Frank, the first queen of Narnia, and the ancestress of
the Archenlanders
● Fledge: The winged horse, formerly the cab-horse Strawberry, who carries Polly and
Digory to the mountain garden
●