Log24

Realism

In memory of Humphrey Carpenter:

"Aslan's last words come at the end of The Last Battle: 'There was a real railway accident […] Your father and mother and all of you are–as you used to call it in the Shadow-Lands–dead. The term is over: the holidays have begun. The dream is ended: this is the morning.' The final paragraph of the novel, which follows these words, functions as a coda; it is full of the conventions which signal the wrapping up of a story. This direct speech is the true climax of the Chronicles. Aslan is given the last word in these quiet but emphatic lines. He is the ultimate arbiter of reality: 'There was a real railway accident.' Plato, in addition to the Christian tradition, lies behind the closing chapters of The Last Battle….

'It's all in Plato, all in Plato: bless me, what do they teach them at these schools!' "

— Joy Alexander, Aslan's Speech

See also From Tate to Plato (Nov. 19, 2004), Habeas Corpus (Nov. 24, 2004), and the Log24 entries of last Friday through Sunday.