CS Lewis

[roz (roz)]

Hi Steve:

I thought of you this week. On Sunday, my daughter got turned onto The Lion, Witch, and Wardrobe. We were out shopping and stopped at a Christian bookstore. They had a huge display of all the books and are pumping the upcoming Disney movie, The Chronicles of Narnia.

I know nothing about C.S Lewis having never read any of his works even to this day. We bought The Lion, Witch, and Wardrobe, and as of this morning, she has read 10 chapters. My daughter has never been much of a reader, but she can't put this book down! She wants the rest of the books for Christmas.

I guess this is a good thing. They have a spiritual message, correct? Are you going to the movie? It opens December 9.

Incidentally, my daughter HATES Harry Potter. In my ignorance, I would have put these on the same playing field, but now I'm guessing we're talking apples and oranges.

You've talked about Lewis' works in the past. Just wanted to share and get some thoughts.

Thanks!
Roz

PS - In our Chapel days, this book would have no doubt been considered trash due to talking animals and all the fantasy. Look where that got us.

[steve (steve)]

Hi Roz,

Very interesting that you should bring up C.S. Lewis today. I don't know if you knew about it or not, but today is the 42nd anniversary of his death. He died the very same day that JFK was assassinated (and also on which the philosopher Aldous Huxley died, by the way). Lewis died peacefully in bed at his home in Headington Quarry, Oxford, England at about 5:30 in the evening there. That's 9:30 in the morning here, so Lewis never heard that it was also the day Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas (around 1 p.m., if I remember correctly).

It would be hard for me to endorse the Narnia books too highly. I am looking forward very much to the movie that's coming out next month - as far as one can tell from the trailer, it looks like Disney's done an excellent job on it. I do think it is an extremely good thing that your daughter is interested in the books and also that she is not interested in the Harry Potter books - I dislike them not because of the depictions of wizardry in them but because I've tried to read them and found them to be dreck as literature. They simply lack the depth and skill of Lewis' story-telling.

Yes, the Narnia books do have a spiritual message, but it doesn't hit a person in the face. Basically, the lion in the story (named Aslan) is a Christ-figure who sacrifices himself to death at the hands of evil in order to save Narnia, but who returns from the dead transfigured and even stronger than he was before to help his allies defeat the evil. However, I'm told that many read and enjoy the story without even realizing they contain that allegory.

If you are interested in Lewis' other writings there is another set of fictional books known as the Space Trilogy - Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, and That Hideous Strength. These books are not really for children, however. They are more or less works of science fiction, but not really in the style of what is called science fiction today. They also contain a Christian allegory that is not obvious to non-Christian readers but probably is to all Christian readers.

For explicit Christian apologetics, I think The ScrewTape Letters is easily the best, followed by Mere Christianity. There are also a lot of his magazine essays published as collections, but they keep re-issuing them in different selections and under different titles, and I bought most of mine years ago so I don't know what the titles are nowadays. The best collection I have is titled God in the Dock, but it was published in the late sixties or early seventies and I don't think it's even in print anymore. I'm sure all the essays in it are now included in collections published under different titles, but I don't know what they are. If you're interested, I'd suggest searching Amazon.com using his name as a keyword.

I hope this helps....

(Edited for spelling and grammar only - when am I going to learn to proofread?)

(Message edited by steve on November 22, 2005)

[calv (calv)]

(proofreading.... whats that?)

[roz (roz)]

Thanks for the info, Steve. I haven't had one bit of time to do any research on the guy, but I plan to. My daughter is very interested. I plan to take her to the library soon (since we don't have internet at home) and research together with her.

Why do you say it would be hard for you to endorse the Narnia books too highly?


roz

[steve (steve)]

Roz,

I just mean that I like them a lot and think reading them is a wonderful experience that no one should miss. They are among those rare books that can transform one's world for weeks after having read them.

[steve (steve)]

By the way, if you just want a biography of C.S. Lewis, in my opinion the best one is Jack - A Life of C.S. Lewis by George Sawyer. "Jack" was Lewis' nickname. George Sawyer was one of his students at Oxford.

Lewis' autobiography, Surprised by Joy, is also excellent. Its title is taken from the first line of a Wordsworth poem, but it had an interesting double meaning in Lewis' life. Late in life, shortly after his book came out, he met and married an American lady, Joy Gresham. It is the story of her death just a few years later that is the subject of his book A Grief Observed. This was the book that was (rather loosely) made into the movie Shadowlands in 1993 with Anthony Hopkins playing Lewis.

[roz (roz)]

Steve:

Did you see the movie? I really liked it. I noticed it strayed from the book some. Did that bother you? What did you think?

[steve (steve)]

Roz - I haven't seen the movie yet, but I'm looking forward to it a lot. We'll probably wait until after the crowds have thinned out. Karla's mom is coming out this weekend for the holidays. We may go see it with her.

I don't think it will bother me that it strays from the book a little. Every movie does - besides, from what I've heard of the deviations, they are small and are well-handled in accordance with the spirit of the book.

[movinon (movinon)]

That is also one we would like to see as well, but we'll probably wait for the crowds to thin out, too! It kind of chaps my hide to pay $8 or more to get into a movie,and then $5 for popcorn and a coke! But, if you go to the dollar(?) theaters, you never quite know if your seats are going to be workable and clean!! We've had some of our worst movie theater experiences at those cheap theaters!

mo

[calv (calv)]

DVD
..... we wait!
But Im sure well dust off the wallet for this one!
I love the cheep seats! It just seems theres so much to do we seldom get out for big people fun!
When we do its for FOOD! or a walk around greenlake!
We like to ski... all going to stevens tomorrow! $$$$
only go a few times a yr but thats our family fun times!

The kids have read the book and so I know its on list of must see. They saw the harry p movies too,,, except the new one, I think they are going to have to wait on it for awhile. Both kids are into reading big time! and sports...
youth groups.... music etc....

[roz (roz)]

We went on opening day to the 3:50 matinee. There was NO crowd, and it was only 5 bucks. I was surprised you could go to a matinee on opening day. Anyway, we are going again at least one more time and maybe more. This is one of those movies you can enjoy with your kids and they love it when their parents want to take them more than once! Quality time for sure.

And then we will buy the CD when it comes out, too!