Podcast #96: The Magician’s Book and Dufflepuds (Book Commentary)
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, part 5
The bouncing monopods called Dufflepuds undoubtedly stand out in The Chronicles of Narnia. But before they are revealed, Lucy must endure one of the creepiest scenes in the series. Rilian and Glumpuddle share their thoughts. Please listen and post a comment!
Chapters discussed:
10. The Magician’s Book (1:43)
11. The Dufflepuds Made Happy (15:29)
RT 21:18
In the next podcast, Rilian and Glumpuddle will discuss the most significant difference between the original British and pre-1994 American versions of The Chronicles of Narnia: The ending of The Dark Island.
Podcast: Play in new window | Embed
I'd noticed before that the islands get stranger the nearer the ship gets to the World's end. Really cool speculation about Coriakin, the Magician's Book etc. towards the end.
It takes great skill to break "The Rules" as writer, and that is something Lewis excells at. Few things display genius like breaking them well and as Glumpuddle and Rilian point out, in this book, more than any of the others (I think), breaks so many to wonderful effect. I think the filmmakers looked at this book, saw the broken rules, and either didn't see the genius revealed behind the fragments, or didn't have the courage to break "The Rules" in their own medium. "The Rules" exsist for a reason, but complete adherence to them leads to utter mediocrity.
Also, I love the book commentaries. Great stuff. Just out of curiosity, has there been a podcast discussing the chronilogical versus written order? I'm writing an article on the subject and I'd love to hear their thoughts on the topic.
That's a great idea. We should do a podcast on that topic at some point.
I have a 3-part video series on YouTube about the issue. Click my screen name to check it out. 🙂
I'm glad someone else thought of The Last Battle when they got to the story in the Magician's Book in re-reading it. I kind of thought the same feeling the characters have in The Last Battle was experienced by Lucy in reading that story, hence why Aslan says he'll tell her the same story later.
I always found both The Dark island and The world's End very strange and intriguing scenes. I mean for instance, are they really seeing their Fears come to life or is it all illusion?
Great videos. Very intelligently presented. I now feel like my article will be redundant and I should simply copy everything you already said. I, of course, am strongly pro-publication order and it was cool to hear evidence to support it that I'd never thought of before, like the context of the oft cited letter being from a boy rereading the series. I've wondered before why HarperCollins takes such a harsh and condescending stance on the subject, like we as layman couldn't possibly have a legitimate opinion. And let's not forget these are the same people who claim that Jadis is also the Lady of the Green Kirtle. Ignorance and arrogance are not a good mixture.
Hello GlumPuddle, Hello Rilian. I've very much enjoyed
all of your podcasts over the years. Thank you both,
sincerely.
You mentioned how strange it was that the details of the
"For The Refreshment of the Spirit" spell were forgotten so
quickly by Lucy. When I first read the books, I thought this
was reminiscent to how we can often hardly remember our night
time dreams (which I believe must be generated in a place in
our brains separate from our concious memories), even when
they are joyful and profound.
From my point of view, if we are lucky, we are retold this sort
of spell in our dreams, even if only glimpses, on a regular
basis. And, ff we are lucky, we can recall tiny pieces like
how Lucy did.
I hope I can dream about a sword, a cup, and a green hill!
-Michael
Great example! Yeah I think it's just like that. Often in dreams, you can remember the emotions so clearly, but the details are really fuzzy.