Tuesday, June 05, 2007

The Narnian: the Life and Imagination of C.S. Lewis by Alan Jacobs

Clive Staples Lewis was born in 1898. At the age of four he told the family that he would not answer to anything but Jack, and Jack he remained to friends and family until his death. As a boy he and his brother, Warnie, would make up an imaginary world of Boxen. Lewis liked nothing other than reading a good book, and was very introverted. He hated school. This is probably the cause for Eustace's and Jill's horrible school. In 1914 he began working with a tutor, who declared that his translation abilities were amazing and that he had read more classics than anyone he had ever known. He considered himself an atheist, but gradually became a Christian. He did, however, continue living with a Mrs. Moore, who was twenty years older than he, until her death in the fifties. He became an Oxford don, met J.R.R Tolkein, began the Inklings, wrote many books, and married Joy Gresham. He died on November 22, 1963, and, between him and Tolkein, started a new era of literature.

Very good. I hadn't known about Mrs. Moore, or half of everything else, either. His favorite sound was 'adult male laughter'. Many fantasy writers hate him because they are atheists and find his very pronounced views of Christianity- the 'pie in the sky by and by' view- maddening. This was interesting. Wouldn't you be glad that you had eternal life? Except, of course, if you're an atheist, which would mean that you thought it was dumb. Hmm.

I GO TO GERMANY TODAY!!!!!!!!

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Ruthie I miss you!

...I just think of these things, and then I don't feel so bad!

  • Barnes and Noble (and books in general)
  • birthday parties
  • friends
  • fun words (like effervescent and uber)
  • knitting
  • learning languages
  • RUF
  • Scrabble...and other word games
  • skiing
  • sleep-overs
  • swimming
  • tea
  • traveling (not the car part, so much!)
  • weddings
  • writing fantasy stories