Mythos & Magic

If you could go back in time and read any book again for the first time, what book would it be?

I first read the Narnia series when I was seven years old. I read it side-by-side with my mom, on her bed, in the afternoons after lunch. It was as if the author, C.S. Lewis, spliced my understanding of the actual world and then grafted it together with the potential of other worlds. Reality mixed with mythos and magic.

Interestingly, the person who first did that magical-world-grafting for Lewis was a Scottish fellow named George MacDonald, who wrote Phantastes. I read most of MacDonald’s work (including Phantastes and Lilith) in the last few years, while working at a remote field station in the Dry Tortugas. And I can see why Lewis loved McDonald so.

Stories are strange little creatures. They do not all resonate with everyone. In my experience, many of the great stories (the ones that most resonate with people) possess common features, but arranged in a peculiar manner. Both Narnia and Phantastes contain much of the same elements. You could say, they share some of the same DNA.

For me, reading Phantastes was the closest I could get to reading Narnia again for the first time. To become deeply acquainted the thing that inspired the books I loved, was certainly a revelation. But unlike Dorothy in Oz, my glimpse behind the curtain did not leave me disappointed.

Who is the “man behind the curtain” in your world of books? Have you ever thought about exploring the inspiration behind the stories you love?