C.S. Lewis
February 24, 2004 7:21 AM   Subscribe

Into the Wardrobe: a website devoted to C. S. Lewis. [more]
posted by hama7 (9 comments total)
 


besides being an interesting fantasy author, C.S. Lewis was a pretty important religious philosopher. i call him that because i don't know if he did a lot of research and such, so i can't call him a 'scholar', but his books Mere Christianity and The Screwtape Letters, among others, are classics of Christian literature.

from 'the bible and c.s. lewis' link above:

His writings and radio talks became so popular that he was called an "apostle to the sceptics" by Time magazine.

i think that's awesome...his writings are full of wit and rational thought. it's quite a difference from the bully pulpits of jerry falwell, et al.
posted by taumeson at 7:58 AM on February 24, 2004


I loved the Narnia books when I was a kid. I must have read them a dozen times. Last year, I read all of them to my youngest boy who also loved them. I tried to get my older boy to read them but he kept resisting. Finally I told him that if he read the first book for 15 minutes and didn't like it, I'd leave him alone.

He finished the series in a week.
posted by maurice at 9:14 AM on February 24, 2004


Glad to see hama7 that you finally ame out of the wardrobe as a lewis fan ;).
posted by johnnyboy at 9:38 AM on February 24, 2004


I'm not going to self-link, but I will say this: if you go to Google and search the words Narnia and order, you will spy the rant I wrote some time back about the "new order" in which the publishers are packaging the books. It's far too detailed to post here, but if you are a Narnia lover it might be of interest... especially if it has been a while for you and so you had no idea that they are making "Magician's Nephew" the first book in the series now.

I know that Jack Lewis is more than just Narnia, to most people, but not for me -- I've not read any of his other books. So, I apologize in advance if I seem squealy when I say I am wildly excited about the movie, to see if the books can be done justice.
posted by pineapple at 10:57 AM on February 24, 2004




Narnia didn't convert me from atheism, but it's been instrumental in helping me understand religion. (And Lewis's heirs desecrating his work is a good argument for copyright reform. "Removing the christian references that diminished it." Phff. What are they going to do, take out Aslan?)
posted by Tlogmer at 4:21 PM on February 24, 2004


Tlogmer, I felt the same way when I read that phrase. "Remove the Christian references?" and have what - a three-page booklet?

Count me in also with pineapple against the asinine re-ordering. "Wardrobe" should definitely be read before "Magician's Nephew," if only for the frisson of getting to the very end of the latter and coming upon the wardrobe from the other side. (But also because the creation scene is much more powerful as it dawns on you - ha! - what's being created.)

However, when I read these to my son, I actually started with "Horse and His Boy." Since it's the only book centered around characters who don't appear in any of the other books, and it's got a straightforward adventure storyline, I thought it made a good prelude to the world of Narnia and its concerns. The one problem I have with starting at "Wardrobe" is that the crucifixion scene is so intense (after a story in which Santa Claus has previously set the tone) that I thought it could do with more than a few chapters of preparation.

Still, that was my personal choice; putting the books in the wrong order and telling the reading public it's right because it's "chronological" is simply absurd, no matter what any of Lewis' relatives say.
posted by soyjoy at 8:10 AM on February 25, 2004




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