December 2022:
The first draft is now done, and revisions are underway. I’ve had other writing projects drag on for a while, but this one came together pretty quickly. It was a lot of fun to write. Here’s the working thesis:
“When it comes to the most likable characters in C.S. Lewis’s Narnia Chronicles, the Beavers are always near the top for readers. They are not the kind of characters that draw the ire of its fandom. Although the Beavers do not fit the mold of controversial characters, they are among those whose depth and significance have been overlooked. And in our day and age, where the household is under attack and being displaced, the Beavers and their home are a helpful and needed antidote to the chaos that envelops our world.
Amidst a winter that is waging war on them, the Beavers’ home is a joyful outpost that’s filled with home, hearth, and “a great and gloriously sticky marmalade roll.” And it is not by accident that it is this way. Whether they know it or not, the Beavers’ home endears readers, because these characters are servants of Aslan, the great lion. They have their home ordered in such a way that captures how Godly kings and queens cultivate what has been given to them
From masculinity, femininity, hospitality and feasting, to Biblical rest, this book explores the simple glory this little home had on Narnia, and how these furry creatures were instrumental in the coming of spring.”
October 2022: I am currently writing a manuscript focusing on the household economy of the beavers in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. I expect to have the first draft done by the end of 2022. I expect it be a shorter book (around 80-100 pages…right now I’m at about 45-50 pages), but the content is, I think, very important, primarily because our world has displaced the household and the duties given to men and women.
We’ll see if this is publishable when it’s all said and done. At the very least, it’s a lot of fun to reread The Lion, and some of Lewis’s lesser known works.
From Shore to Shire 