Editing Calormen (section)

== Accusations of racism ==
C. S. Lewis has been accused of racism, particularly in his depiction of the Calormenes. In the ''Companion to Narnia'', the Catholic theologian Paul F. Ford wrote "C. S. Lewis was a man of his time and socioeconomic class. Like many English men of this era, Lewis was unconsciously but regrettably unsympathetic to things and people Middle Eastern. Thus he sometimes engages in exaggerated stereotyping in contrasting things Narnian and things Calormene. He intends this in a broadly comic way, almost vaudevillian. But in our post-September 11, 2001, world, he would, I am sure, want to reconsider this insensitivity."<ref>Keynote Address at The 12th Annual Conference of The C. S. Lewis and Inklings Society Calvin College, 28 March 2009 [http://www.narniaweb.com/resources-links/are-the-chronicles-of-narnia-sexist-and-racist/ Are The Chronicles of Narnia Sexist and Racist? | NarniaWeb]</ref> Outspoken atheist critic and novelist [[Philip Pullman]]<ref name=atheist01>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2005/12/26/051226fa_fact|title='Far From Narnia'|accessdate=31 October 2007|author=Miller, Laura|format=Life and Letters article|magazine=The New Yorker|quote=he is one of England’s most outspoken atheists.}}</ref> has called the ''Chronicles of Narnia'' "blatantly racist"<ref>{{cite news|last=Ezard |title=Narnia books attacked as racist and sexist}}</ref> and in an interview with ''[[The Observer]]'', criticised [[The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe|the film adaptation]] of ''[[The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe]]'' by saying the books contained "a peevish blend of [[racist]], [[misogynistic]], and [[reactionary]] [[prejudice]]".<ref>{{cite news|work=BBC News|title=Pullman attacks Narnia film plans}}</ref>

Calormenes live south of a desert, wear turbans and pointed shoes, their noblemen are called Tarkaans (similar to the medieval [[Central Asia]]n title [[tarkhan]]), they are armed with scimitars, and their money is called "crescents".

Of Lewis, [[Kyrie O'Connor]] writes: "''In his time, people thought it was amusing to make fun of other cultures. We don't. Read the stories, ask questions, and remember that the person who wrote this story was altogether too human.''"<ref>{{cite news|last=O'Connor |title=Lewis' prejudices tarnish fifth 'Narnia' book}}</ref> Claims of racism can be seen as countered by Lewis's positive portrayal of two Calormenes and the lack of racism shown to them by Narnian nobility.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Nelson |first=Michael |date=December 2, 2005|title=For the Love of Narnia |journal=[[The Chronicle of Higher Education]] |location=Washington, D.C. |volume=52 |issue=15 |pages=B14 |url=http://chronicle.com/weekly/v52/i15/15b01401.htm |format=Archive, subscription access only}}</ref>  Lewis writes in ''The Last Battle'' that those who worship Tash and who are virtuous are in fact worshipping Aslan, and those who are immoral and who worship Aslan are in fact worshipping Tash:
{{blockquote|I and [Tash] are of such different kinds that no service which is vile can be done to me, and none which is not vile can be done to him.<ref>{{cite book|last=Lewis|title=The Last Battle|url=https://archive.org/details/lastbattle00lewi|url-access=registration|chapter=Chapter XV: Further Up and Further In|date=1956 |publisher=New York, Macmillan }}</ref>}}