Courage, friends. Whether we live or die Aslan will be our good lord.

2024: Yes. Rilian & Puddleglum & Father Time, just yes. I am sad that we don't ever see Bism (I suppose Rilian is going to be afflicted with Chesterton's 'holy homesickness' for ever now :)) and that Caspian appears so briefly. I want to know more about his reign & his wife. I want to know more about pretty much all of Narnia, but I suppose Lewis wrote only the stories he did for a reason.

2022 thoughts:
This one is epic and captivating and truly good. I was so afraid after disliking LWW that I didn't like Narnia anymore, but thankfully that isn't the case. I love this story; the hope in Narnia and Aslan in the dark, the forgiveness and reconciliation, Caspian and Rilian (!! they're both so marvelous), and my dear Puddleglum...

I also thought long and hard this time about Puddleglum's quote:

Supppose we have only dreamed, or made up, all those things — trees and grass and sun and moon and stars and Aslan himself. Suppose we have. Then all I can say is, in that case, the made-up things seem a good deal more important than the real ones. Suppose this black pit of a kingdom of yours is the only world. Well, it strikes me as a pretty poor one. And that's a funny thing, when you come to think of it. We're just babies making up a game, if you're right. But four babies playing a game can make a play-world which licks your real world hollow. That's why I'm going to stand by the play-world. I'm on Aslan's side even if there isn't any Aslan to lead it. I'm going to live as like a Narnian as I can even if there isn't any Narnia.

I went to a series of lectures on the work of the Inklings this year, and in one of them, a professor (whom I very much respect and whose opinion I value) cited this quote as an example of Lewis promoting escapism and Romanticism. This really bothered me at the time, but after thinking about it a while, I've decided that it's a valid criticism to suggest that misguided readers of Lewis may use this quote to defend their nihilistic escapism. But the quote itself, in the context of the story, serves a different purpose.

Firstly, Puddleglum is actually talking about the truth. In the moment he's not sure he's right, but we as the readers know that Aslan and Narnia are real and true and good. This quote is a cry of I believe: help my unbelief!

And secondly, as Tolkien says in Mythopoeia:

Yes! 'wish-fulfilment dreams' we spin to cheat
our timid hearts and ugly Fact defeat!
Whence came the wish, and whence the power to dream,
or some things fair and others ugly deem?

If this is escapism, it is escapism in its proper sense: an escape from the brokenness of the world and a reminder of the goodness of God. So I will gladly say with Puddleglum that I'm going to live like a Narnian even if there's not a Narnia.