Though I was very familiar with the first two books in the Chronicles of Narnia series, I had never come into contact with The Horse and His Boy before this week. Despite the book being a new read, Lewis's writing is very familiar, and I fell into the story quite quickly. To me, the story is very fantastical, and it doesn’t immediately appear to hold any sort of comments on Lewis’s beliefs about race or any other topics of this nature. If anything, the theme from the book that I believe could be construed as a comment on medievalism (as Lewis was a medieval scholar and would’ve been familiar with these terms) is the sort-of “reverse chivalry” that Isabella commented on in our class discussion. While the relationship between Bree and Shasta is definitely a “person” in power helping a helpless person, there’s a definite irony in that the person in power is a horse, playing into the origins of the term. All of that said, I do believe there’s a good bit of Orientalism that Lewis feeds into in this book. Right up until we meet Aravis, every person native to Calormen is perceived as horrible. Shasta and Bree are both different and from a much more civilized land, while Shasta’s father and the Tarkaan are both brutish and evil in nature. Though Aravis is much more empathetic to Shasta as well as being Calormen in origin, Lewis does make it clear that she’s not like the others from her land and that she’s being rebellious by leaving. While I don't think Lewis intended to make this message clear, the spirit of Orientalism was alive and well when the book was published.
I agree with your comment of Lewis's writing reflecting medievalism. There definitively is something fantastical about this book, and it incorporates themes of medievalism we have addressed as a class, such as heavy world building. I like your point about Lewis's message in relation to orientalism being subtle. I think it's interesting that it can be read in different ways, with some readers picking up on this point and others not. While it does not seem to be the main point, it is stressed.
Although it is clear that C.S Lewis used his background in medieval studies when writing the Chronicles of Narnia series, I wonder what his inspiration was for the use of talking animals in the series. Components of his work like world-building, presence of Kings and Queens, themes of chivalry are all very medieval in nature. However, talking animals and giving them very human qualities is not necessarily a common theme within medievalism which makes me wonder what the inspiration was for this very important decision within his work.
Great question! My suspicion is that it has to do with a genre of Medieval lit that we haven't talked much about: animal fables. They're amazing--battles between chickens and foxes, talking lions, the works! Google Reynard the fox. You won't be disappointed.
I love the way you've framed the irony of the "person" in power being a horse. It really underscores how much of a deep revision Lewis is doing here to the concept of chivalry.
On Orientalism--100% agreed that this isn't "intentional." In fact, Said would say that this is how the hegemony of orientalism works--you don't necessarily intend to perpetuate it, but books like Lewis' perpetuate orientalist narratives.
On Orientalism--100% agreed that this isn't "intentional." In fact, Said would say that this is how the hegemony of orientalism works--you don't necessarily intend to perpetuate it, but books like Lewis' perpetuate orientalist narratives.