I think this is a good example of what Greta Gerwig means when she describes the books as "non schematic" - i.e. they aren't a precisely calculated set of lore and mythology which conforms to an intricate set of internal rules.

I think from memory there are perhaps a few times in the books that CS Lewis narrates the stories as if these were real children that he knows in some capacity, but I don't think there's any deeper meaning to it other than just that it's a fun way to make the form of storytelling more compelling to a young audience.

Narration is something I'd definitely be interested to see in a live action movie (noting of course that Greta Gerwig's Barbie uses a third person narrator at several points) - in the hands of a great director Narration can be a really fun extra level to the cinematic experience (several Martin Scorcese films have prominent narration), though in the hands of a bad director it can often be a crutch to cover for poor visual communication in film.

Either way, I'd definitely consider it if done well, since I feel that the quality and tone of Lewis's narration and storytelling is perhaps just as big a part of the charm as the actual story being told.

I don't think the fact that the narrator interacted with the characters means the narrator isn't C. S. Lewis himself. I believe the intended implication of that quote is that Lewis interviewed Peter, Susan, etc. and that's how he knows about Narnia. (In the universe of the books, I mean.) Sometimes books, especially humorous ones, will have the third person narrator be an ironic persona and we're not necessarily supposed to agree with them. But I see no reason to believe that any opinions expressed by the narrator of the Narnia are meant to be interpreted that way. Just the parts about him interacting with fictional characters.  

Posted by: @col-klink

I don't think the fact that the narrator interacted with the characters means the narrator isn't C. S. Lewis himself. I believe the intended implication of that quote is that Lewis interviewed Peter, Susan, etc. and that's how he knows about Narnia. (In the universe of the books, I mean.) Sometimes books, especially humorous ones, will the third person narrator be an ironic persona and we're not necessarily supposed to agree with them. But I see no reason to believe that any opinions expressed by the narrator of the Narnia are meant to be interpreted that way. Just the parts about him interacting with fictional characters.  

Huh. So C.S. Lewis was the original Lemony Snicket, then? I don’t know if you’ve ever read “A Series of Unfortunate Events”, but author Lemony Snicket is indeed the narrator of the books and in-universe is documenting the stuff that happens to the main characters. I never get the sense that he “interviews” them, per se, although he does cross paths with them in one of the books. 

I guess it’s harder to imagine that sort of scenario for Narnia since 1), C.S. Lewis is the author’s (abriviated) name, whereas Lemony Snicket is a Pseudonym), and 2) Lemony often goes off talking about stuff that sort of relates to the story but kind of moves away from it, including stuff about himself at times. So not only do you get the sense that he’s talking to you, but that there’s an actual character here telling the story.

I admit, I might a bit biased since both of the “Unfortunate Events” adaptations feature Lemony as a character, whereas none of the Narnia adaptations feature any narration. It will be interesting to see if the Netflix one decides to try it.

I have always seen these comments as the person who is telling the story in third person narrative, stepping for a minute into first person narrative. 

It's similar to some parts of the Space Trilogy, where after telling the story he steps into a first-person comments or response. 

I like it, because it makes the characters real, since the author apparently knows them!

Posted by: @coracle

I have always seen these comments as the person who is telling the story in third person narrative, stepping for a minute into first person narrative. 

It's similar to some parts of the Space Trilogy, where after telling the story he steps into a first-person comments or response. 

I like it, because it makes the characters real, since the author apparently knows them!

Hmm, not sure what you’re referencing. 

But that’s interesting to think it’s someone telling it in third person stepping for a minute into first person. Assuming it was a character in the series, I was thinking it couldn’t be Peter, Susan, or Professor Kirke, since they were mentioned by name, but the narration could also simply be alternating by going into first person.

@nicemice2023 If you mean you don't know what the Space Trilogy is, it's another series of books by C. S. Lewis. (If I remember correctly, the first book ends with the main character telling Lewis the story so that he can write a book about it.)

Posted by: @col-klink

@nicemice2023 If you mean you don't know what the Space Trilogy is, it's another series of books by C. S. Lewis. (If I remember correctly, the first book ends with the main character telling Lewis the story so that he can write a book about it.)

Oh that’s cool that it’s a Lewis series. I’ve heard of Out of Silent Planet, my school owned it, I assume that’s one of the books?

@nicemice2023 Yes, it is. That's the first book.

I still think of Lewis’s narration as a bit different from Daniel Handler’s for reasons I explained before. But to be honest, I still think VDT being narrated by an in-universe character makes the most sense. While Lewis hearing the stories from the characters is very  interesting idea, the problem is that—-and I know this is a huge spoiler, but I’m sure most people here have finished the series—-some of them actually die towards the end and aren’t exactly available to talk to Mr. Lewis, and yet he tells us some of what happens to them afterwards.

@nicemice2023 Well, remember that C. S. Lewis hadn't written The Last Battle when he wrote The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. There's good internal evidence that he intended to end the series with VDT. After all, it ends with Edmund and Lucy, who were introduced in the first book and been prominently POV characters throughout the second two being told they will never return to Narnia and being given a summary of the reasons why they were brought to Narnia in the first place, the implication being that it corresponds to the readers' relationship with Narnia. (Though, to be sure, there's also evidence Lewis hadn't completely decided yet. He deliberately leaves open the possibility of Eustace returning.) The simplest and best explanation IMO is that he intended one thing when he was writing VDT and another thing later when he was writing LB.

The main reason I believe that the narrator isn't supposed to be one the characters is that none of them have a voice that sounds at all like C. S. Lewis's literary voice and if he meant his narrative persona to be a completely fictional, there's no reason he wouldn't have written more about them or explained it in the text as he did with the aforementioned Space Trilogy and Till We Have Faces. Also, remember that the comparison between him and Daniel Handler is yours, not mine.  

Posted by: @col-klink

@nicemice2023 Also, remember that the comparison between him and Daniel Handler is yours, not mine.  

What exactly do you mean by that, if you don’t mind me asking? Was there something wrong with me making the comparison?

Sorry, it’s just it seems a bit oddly worded, and the wink also seems a bit odd for the comment, but maybe that’s because of my autism.

@nicemice2023   Sorry I didn't make that clear; I should have given more information about the Space Trilogy.

I like it for itself, but also for the parallels I find with the Narnia books. It was published in the late 1930s and 1940s, and Narnia wasn't published until 1950-56.
(I hope someone has written something comparing the two, but I haven't heard of anything yet).

@nicemice2023 I meant that you began your comment with 

Posted by: @nicemice2023

I still think of Lewis’s narration as a bit different from Daniel Handler’s for reasons I explained before.

As if I had agreed with the comparison when I actually hadn't. (I didn't want to disagree if you really found it helpful but now I guess I have to do so.) I haven't read every installment of A Series of Unfortunate Events and, truth be told, it's been a long time since I read any, but I remember that the narrator always ends with a letter to his (fictional) editor about how he's tracking down the information for the next book. And each book is dedicated to a fictional character called Beatrice. C. S. Lewis doesn't go to nearly so much trouble to create a fictional persona or framing device for the Narnia books. We're really only talking about a single quote from one book. The narrator of the Unfortunate Events books is also given a very specific style, which presumably isn't how the real author actually talks, whereas Narnia's narrator seems to convey the author's real opinions and personality.

I think that the framing device of a character telling the story to the author and the author then telling it to the world was actually pretty common back in the day. C. S. Lewis may have assumed everybody would "get it" and he wouldn't have to expound on it. Of course, I can't actually think of any other examples other than My Antonia by Willa Cather so maybe it wasn't that common. I thought I'd throw this out there anyway though. If someone can offer other examples, that's nice and if they tell me I'm wrong, well, at least I'll be the better educated.  

Roald Dahl narrates his stories in a similar way I feel - he is clearly writing in his own voice as the author of the book (i.e. not a persona existing within the story), but every little once in a while he'll do an aside to the reader which suggests that the story he is telling you is based on real things that actually happened, which as a child reader always just made things feel more magical and intriguing to me.

The recent Netflix adaptations of Roald Dahl by Wes Anderson were quite interesting in that regard, in that they exclusively used the original narration from the book for all of the dialogue, and even had Ralph Feines appearing as Dahl himself (as well as several other characters on screen). Not sure such a meta- concept would work entirely for Narnia, but i enjoyed it as an offbeat cinematic experiment.