Enter your mobile number or email address below and we'll send you a link to download the free Kindle App. Then you can start reading Kindle books on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

  • Apple
  • Android
  • Windows Phone
  • Android

To get the free app, enter your mobile phone number.
Download to your computer
Kindle Cloud Reader

Planet Narnia: The Seven Heavens in the Imagination of C. S. Lewis 1st Edition

by
Michael Ward (Author)
› Visit Amazon's Michael Ward Page
Find all the books, read about the author, and more.
See search results for this author
Are you an author? Learn about Author Central
Michael Ward (Author)
4.7 out of 5 stars 55 customer reviews
ISBN-13: 000-0195313879
ISBN-10: 0195313879
Why is ISBN important?
ISBN
This bar-code number lets you verify that you're getting exactly the right version or edition of a book. The 13-digit and 10-digit formats both work.
Scan an ISBN with your phone
Use the Amazon App to scan ISBNs and compare prices.
Have one to sell? Sell on Amazon

Sorry, there was a problem.

There was an error retrieving your Wish Lists. Please try again.

Sorry, there was a problem.

List unavailable.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest <Embed>
Buy used On clicking this link, a new layer will be open
$29.90 On clicking this link, a new layer will be open
Buy new On clicking this link, a new layer will be open
$32.33 On clicking this link, a new layer will be open
More Buying Choices
32 New from $19.99 32 Used from $3.23 1 Collectible from $117.92
65 used & new from $3.23
See All Buying Options
Free Two-Day Shipping for College Students with Prime Student Free%20Two-Day%20Shipping%20for%20College%20Students%20with%20Amazon%20Student

Wiley Summer Savings Event.
Wiley Summer Savings Event.
Save up to 40% during Wiley's Summer Savings Event. Learn more.
$32.33 FREE Shipping. Only 9 left in stock (more on the way). Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.
click to open popover

Frequently Bought Together

  • Planet Narnia: The Seven Heavens in the Imagination of C. S. Lewis
  • +
  • The Narnia Code: C. S. Lewis and the Secret of the Seven Heavens
  • +
  • The Narnia Code
Total price: $49.38
Buy the selected items together

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1
This shopping feature will continue to load items. In order to navigate out of this carousel please use your heading shortcut key to navigate to the next or previous heading.
Back
  1. The Narnia Code: C. S. Lewis and the Secret of the Seven Heavens
    Michael Ward
    4.4 out of 5 stars 47
    Paperback
    $10.88 Prime
  2. The Narnia Code
    Norman Stone
    4.3 out of 5 stars 35
    DVD
    $6.17 Prime
  3. The Discarded Image: An Introduction to Medieval and Renaissance Literature (Canto Classics)
    C. S. Lewis
    4.9 out of 5 stars 68
    Paperback
    $13.96 Prime
  4. Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life
    C. S. Lewis
    4.2 out of 5 stars 288
    Paperback
    $8.31 Prime
  5. Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold
    C.S. Lewis
    4.6 out of 5 stars 521
    #1 Best Seller in Fairy Tales
    Paperback
    $8.59 Prime
  6. C. S. Lewis as Philosopher: Truth, Goodness and Beauty
    David J. Baggett
    5.0 out of 5 stars 2
    Paperback
    $23.00 Prime
Next
NO_CONTENT_IN_FEATURE
The latest book club pick from Oprah
"The Underground Railroad" by Colson Whitehead is a magnificent novel chronicling a young slave's adventures as she makes a desperate bid for freedom in the antebellum South. See more

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 347 pages
  • Publisher: Oxford University Press; 1 edition (January 15, 2008)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0195313879
  • ISBN-13: 978-0195313871
  • Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 1.3 x 6.4 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (55 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #489,691 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

    •  Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsBook Review: Planet Narnia
By David M. Talbot on February 28, 2008
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
Narnia lovers behold this book. Michael Ward's revelatory work is too edifying to ignore. For half a century we read (or had read to us) C.S. Lewis's magnificent Chronicles of Narnia. We love them because they captivate us.

The series has a mystery, however. Disparateness clouds the atmosphere; a lack of thorough artistry found in Lewis's other fiction. Lewis's mind is consistently meticulous and lucid, a chief trait of the medieval authors he taught professionally, and therein lies the secret.

More than allegory, yet nothing obviously more, Planet Narnia contends that Lewis made it so intentionally. Ward argues that each chronicle corresponds to one of the seven planets of medieval astrology. As a whole, they (the chronicles infused with the characteristic traits of the planets) create an atmosphere that is both honest to the human experience and consistent with the loveliness and sovereignty of Christ the Lord. The subtlety, an atmospheric quality, is consistent with Lewis's pneumatology, which maintains that unawareness of the Holy Spirit is a common condition in our human experience. Ward's case focuses on the peculiarities in The Chronicles, of which there are many, like the supposedly discordant appearance of St. Nicholas in The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. Suddenly they make sense - the jovial saint's laughter resonates like guilt forgiven.

Many critics mistook Lewis for slopping together a menagerie of characters and plots without a guiding principle, argues Ward. Rather, it seems that a combination of an allegorical element teetering the brink of believability and dissatisfaction, a well-known pejorative judgment by J.R.R.Read more ›
2 Comments 70 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Report abuse
5.0 out of 5 starsPlanet Narnia Exceeds High Hopes
By C. Strecker on February 25, 2008
Format: Hardcover
I have been anticipating reading Michael Ward's full treatment of his audacious thesis since I heard him lecture two years ago, and I must say that my expectations for Planet Narnia have been more than fulfilled. Not only does Ward present a staggering amount of evidence as proof that Lewis has "translated planets into plots" with his seven Narnia books, but he also presents his findings in a graceful and captivating style that one rarely finds in other literary criticism.

A great strength of the book is Ward's commanding grasp of all the works within Lewis' oeuvre. For young students of Lewis such as myself, Planet Narnia provides a taste of Lewis' less-often read essays, criticism, and poetry, as well as glimpses into the currents of thought that run through much of his work. Yet my favorite part of the book is Ward's assessment of the theological messages revealed in the planetary imagery. He succeeds in the same goal Lewis set out for himself in writing the Chronicles - to present the character of God to readers in reanimating and revelatory ways.

Planet Narnia presents so strong an explanation of the Chronicles that I find it hard to imagine anyone finishing the book unconvinced of Lewis' enduring genius, and Ward's remarkable achievement.
3 Comments 39 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Report abuse
5.0 out of 5 starsI thought "Yeah, right" -- until I read it.
By Benjamin Hoyt on May 19, 2008
Format: Hardcover
A deeper hidden meaning behind Narnia? "Yeah, right."

That's what I thought -- until I read the book.

Actually, that's not quite true either. I thought this only until I read Ward's FAQ on planetnarnia.com. Call me a sucker, but I think I was already hooked by about question 6. By hooked I don't mean I'd already accepted his theory line and sinker, but I knew I had to get me this book.

Book finally in hand, I decided I'd better start reading with my "skeptic's glasses" firmly in place. If I kept them on, I reasoned, and still came out the other end believing Ward's theory, there must be something to it. Well, my glasses came off about half way through Chapter 1.

Even aside from the content, Ward's clear style, his sincere tone, his obvious love as well as deep knowledge of Lewis's work -- all these contribute to making this fairly academic work very readable and (to me) incredibly interesting.

Ward's work opened my eyes to a whole bunch of stuff I'd never noticed in the Chronicles before. Not to mention the Ransom Trilogy and other of Lewis's writings.

One thing I considered a weakness was how Ward mentions that certain groups of words (say "swift" and "run" in HHB) are used very frequently in one particular Chronicle. But often he doesn't state that those words are not used with that frequency in the other Chronicles, so I wondered whether it proved anything.

I mentioned as much to Ward, who wrote me a helpful and prompt response. He said it's about the atmosphere, and the key thing is the words' context, not their number. "Context is everything," he added. And I guess he's right. (In fact, that's probably one of the main themes of the book.)

But to cut a long short -- this book is one of the most exciting non-fiction works I've read in a long time.
Comment 24 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Report abuse
4.0 out of 5 starsPlanet Narnia leaves the launch pad with success
By Sørina Higgins on January 15, 2008
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
I heard Dr. Ward speak back in the summer of 2006, and I was instantly both a fan and a skeptic. His theory about the reason for seven Chronicles of Narnia is fascinating, beautiful, and--so I thought--implausible. But since Dr. Ward was a very compelling speaker (and he's coming to speak at the school where I teach; see his tour schedule at [...] ), I bought the book and am in chapter four at the moment. Wow! I'm more a fan than ever, and barely a skeptic. I've come to the conclusion (like Jim Como) that if Dr. Ward is wrong, it doesn't even matter, because his reading is completely lovely, plausible, useful, scholarly, thorough, and everything else a critic's reading can be. But it's more, too. It seems that he is inside of C. S. Lewis's head, thinking CSL's thoughts after him (if that's not sacrilegious!), quoting from all CSL's works as glibly and facilely as if he wrote them (or more; CSL was notoriously forgetful of his own writings, though of nobody else's), tying together disparate elements with ease and grace. His memory is prodigious, his scholarship impeccible, his writing clear and organized, his case lively and delightful. If Narnia needed any boost in popularity or any raising in the academic mind, here it is!
3 Comments 55 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Report abuse

Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsWOW

ENLIGHTENING, LOVE IT

Published 20 days ago by Rochelle halling
4.0 out of 5 starsNeat insights

Nicely organized and very interesting breakdown of medieval cosmology and how the planets fit into it. Makes me want to read the Narniad again.

Published 2 months ago by Lewistonian
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

went well

Published 3 months ago by clay s mclean
5.0 out of 5 starsC S Lewis still providing new insights into story telling

Planet Narnia is a very thorough presentation of a previously missed layer of meaning in the chronicles. Not exactly easy reading, but enjoyable and satisfying. Read more

Published 4 months ago by Jerry Dockery
5.0 out of 5 starsExcellent! Highly recommended!

Great book. Very interesting. I found it helpful in understanding better the Narnia books.

Published 5 months ago by B. Valentine
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

Explores C. S. Lewis Narnia on a possible deeper meaning. I agree with the book.

Published 5 months ago by Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 starsIf Michael Ward is wrong in his analysis . . .

. . . he is brilliantly wrong -- and worth reading anyway!

I've been reading Lewis for 40+ years. Read more

Published 9 months ago by David Zampino
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

Planet Narnia is well written. It provides one with a deeper understanding and appreciation of the series

Published 9 months ago by Amazon Customer
4.0 out of 5 starsVery interesting.

Still kicking around the ideas, but he presents some fascinating links, particularly between Saturn and The Last Battle, and Mercury in The Horse and His Boy. Read more

Published 10 months ago by A. Carman
5.0 out of 5 starsI recommend this book without reservation

As a writer, a reader, and an ardent admirer of C.S. Lewis, Planet Narnia is one of the most eye-opening books I've ever read. Read more

Published 12 months ago by Read Yourself to Sleep

Set up an Amazon Giveaway

Planet Narnia: The Seven Heavens in the Imagination of C. S. Lewis
Amazon Giveaway allows you to run promotional giveaways in order to create buzz, reward your audience, and attract new followers and customers. Learn more about Amazon Giveaway
This item: Planet Narnia: The Seven Heavens in the Imagination of C. S. Lewis
Set up a giveaway

There's a problem loading this menu right now.

Learn more about Amazon Prime.