I've always sort of assumed that the Narnia Chronicles - while fabulous and fun to read - are a bit on the racist end of literature. I'm open to people disagreeing - which is part why I post this - because I don't think I've ever "talked this one out", except with a rather disagreeable young man who thought that Lewis was probably right to "stick it" to the darkies because Islam (particularly) is something to fear, abhor - and perhaps even assail. This has not become a fruitful relationship.
Throughout the Narnia stories a race of avowed enemies (the only comparable/consistent nemesis would be the Witch, Lewis' devil) are the Calormemes of Calormen, a region of desert people who wear turbans, baggy trousers and pointy shoes. They arrange marriages, put the symbol of the crescent on their money, fight with scimitars and - in The Last Battle - are even referred to as "darkies". Friends, with a little poco-muscle there are oodles of dissertations buried here.
I think this is pretty clear, but I'm not sure it takes away from my love of the stories themselves, though I wouldn't want my children to read The Horse and His Boy. After all, I love and revere writers, thinkers and public figures who had far from enlightened racial perspectives - among them Abraham Kuyper. But should we be more attentive how we read - what are obviously very broken and sinful racial constructs - through our history and literature?
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Aslan, the Racist Lion
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5 comments:
Tolkein has been accused of a similar thing.
Question: do you think that Lewis's treatment of the Calormene who walks through the door in the last battle sheds any light on his thought there?
And, what do you mean by root out?
O'O
I'm asking - not accusing, and certainly not dismissing based on the question. We all live within the times we are given.
I think that scene does shed some light. This is the scene where Lewis is suggested to be a universalist (all who did good did it in the name of Aslan, all those who did evil were of Tash).
I suppose the suggestion is not necessarily a racial one, but a religious one - that these Calormene's lived in the darkness of Tash, but may yet be invited into the eternal life of Aslan.
That said, the suggestion is also racially sensitive. This side of the Narnian eschaton Calormene's are autocrats and brutes, who worship money and the dark terror that is Tash.
Finally - you commented more quickly than I edited! I deleted that last sentence about "rooting out" literature. What I was trying to say was that there seems to be a pervasive culture of fear and Orientalist otherness regarding Islam in western Christendom - where Christian/rational light/white is often juxtaposed to Islamic/passionate/irrational/dark.
This is a problem.
On your last point: that might be true, but it seems to be something that should be more closely associated with the enlightenment project than with western Christendom as a whole. Many medievals interacted with Muslim philosophers and indeed Thomas Aquinas -- the great philosopher of Christendom -- benefited and quoted Muslim philosophers, particularly as they interpreted Aristotle. So, I think that the "regarding Islam irrational and passionate" label doesn't quite fit. Though, that said, the people of Tours might have thought that the description of Muslims as passionate to be a major understatement! In other words, for the people of Christendom, particularly of the middle ages, the Muslims are "other" and something to be feared with good cause. Perhaps that is why, even when the wars ceased that you still find that stream in subsequent literature.
All of which is to say that while there certainly are many times when those descriptions do fit, it certainly can't be said to be pervasive. In other words, I think the whole "orientalism" dichotomy set up by Said, while having an element of truth to it, is more complicated and not as useful as many po-mo students make it out to be.
Thoughts?
I think the orientalist lit can be pretty useful - especially as it alerts us to racial and ethnic constructions, within western discourse. I don't for a moment suggest these are accurate caricatures - quite the opposite. Nor do I suggest these caricatures are endemic in Christianity - merely that they are prevalent in European lit, especially 19th century to present.
I think what I wanted to tease out, particularly with regard to the reference of Tours is how much those constructions are built to reflect certain historical realities?
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