Adult Fiction and Non-Fiction of C.S. Lewis [Archive]

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hectorberlioz

11-28-2005, 07:26 PM

C.S Lewis is of course known for The Chronicles of Narnia, but anybody who says they are his most important life's work are either in the dark about his more adult works, or haven't read any of them.

The Four Loves
Anybody else read it?
I thought it was wonderful. The wit was warm (as always), the explanations seemed quite fully explained;). I think I'll read it again soon.

The Screwtape Letters
Unlike others, I didn't think much of it was funny. Amusing yes, but the advice sounded real enough if you were to give advice to a devil nephew of yours...

A Grief Observed
Like Madeleine L'Engle, for me it wasnt a tear jerker. It was sad, and truthful.

Mere Christianity
Often called the Ultimate christian apologetic book, and for good reason. It remains my favorite Lewis Non-fiction.
It's a book I can't put down even after three go-throughs.

Pending...
The Problem of Pain
Miracles
The Great Divorce
The Pilgrim's Regress

Mercutio

11-28-2005, 07:31 PM

We read Screwtape for school. That's an impressive book.

You forgot the Abolition of Man (which my mom has a section marked for me to read...) about the modern education system teaching kids to see through everything and that all is relative to your own emotions and such...

and the Space Trilogy. The best one from that is That Hideous Strength I believe.

Elanor

11-28-2005, 07:45 PM

I read the Pilgrim's Regress with my sister last summer. She's read almost everything by C.S. Lewis. I wish his works were more widely available in my area... Anyway, the allegory in this story is way over the top (and people say Narnia's allegory is oppressive!), and we had to laugh at a lot of the imagery. But it was certainly interesting at times, and makes several religious points very well.

In my Freshman English class at college we studied Till We Have Faces, a mythological fantasy, but very adult, I think. This is a fascinating book, and makes a lot of points about inner and outer beauty. Anyone could enjoy this one.

tolkienfan

11-28-2005, 10:18 PM

I've read Mere Christianity, I thought it was really good. I've also read Letters to Children. Are you counting that one?

brownjenkins

11-29-2005, 10:41 AM

i read screwtape, which i thought was a pretty original idea and done well

i also read the out of the silent planet trilogy a few times... it was pretty well done... not top-ten material, but one of the better series in the scifi/fantasy genre

mere christianity is interesting, i don't agree with all his conclusions, but i appreciate its noncombative stance... an it, along with many of his letters, show a degree of flexibility and openmindedness that is good to see among strong believers

sun-star

11-29-2005, 01:40 PM

I've recently read The Discarded Image, one of his excellent books on medieval literature, where he explains the view of the universe in the Middle Ages and the dangers of imposing a modern mindset on it. It's been helpful to me in reading Chaucer.

I don't really like the Space Trilogy that much, but that's probably because I don't like sci-fi and I'm not going to like it just because it's by Lewis. The Pilgrim's Regress makes more sense if you've read Surprised by Joy. IIRC it's one of his earlier works, and covers the same ground as SBJ but not as well.

ETA: Surprised by Joy hasn't been mentioned yet? I think it might be my favourite of Lewis' non-fiction works. It's very interesting and, of course, extremely well-written.

hectorberlioz

11-29-2005, 07:25 PM

Well, there are two Lewis books mentioned that I didnt know about...
(and I was listing the ones I had read in the first post:D)

So...

The Screwtape Letters
The Space Trilogy (which counts as three)
Till We Have faces (which I have been meaning to get)
The Chronicles of Narnia
The Pilgrim's Regress

The Abolition of Man
Miracles
The Great Divorce
The Problem of Pain
The Discarded Image
Surprised by Joy
Mere Christianity
The Four Loves
A Grief Observed
Letters to Children

any more?

inked

11-30-2005, 08:30 PM

several.

The Oxford History of English Literature in the 16th Century, excluding Drama (usually referred to as the OHEL for short)

Preface to Paradise Lost

Words

Medieval and Renaissance Literature

essay collections:
God in the Dock
The Psalms
The Personal Heresy
An Experiment in Criticism

Letters to Arthur Greeves, to his Brother, Collected

:)

sun-star

12-01-2005, 02:15 PM

The Allegory of Love and Letters to Malcolm, plus collections of his diaries, narrative poems, lectures, essays etc.

rohirrim TR

12-02-2005, 04:34 PM

wow i haven't read half of these, didn't know half of em existed, all i've read is the space trilogy, screwtape, and the pilgrims regress. all excellent.

littleadanel

12-03-2005, 04:21 PM

Hmm, what our library here has...

The Screwtape Letters
The Four Loves
Mere Christianity
Surprised by Joy
Miracles
The problem of Pain

Of Other Worlds - Essays and Stories (edited by... *goes to library database* Walter Hooper.)

And that's all. I borrowed Four Loves, Surprised by Joy and Miracles - I had to ask for them to be brought out from the library storage... I've just started reading Four Loves.

hectorberlioz

12-07-2005, 07:10 PM

Wow! I read recently he wrote more than 30 works! (I'm sure they werent counting individual letters;)) Some are short of course...
Hmm, what our library here has...

The Screwtape Letters
The Four Loves
Mere Christianity
Surprised by Joy
Miracles
The problem of Pain

Of Other Worlds - Essays and Stories (edited by... *goes to library database* Walter Hooper.)

And that's all. I borrowed Four Loves, Surprised by Joy and Miracles - I had to ask for them to be brought out from the library storage... I've just started reading Four Loves.
A great book too.
On sunday I'm going to buy Till We Have Faces. I'm interested in reading more of his fiction...

Elanor

12-07-2005, 07:24 PM

Cool. Tell us what you think of Faces. I wonder if I still have the essay I wrote on it...

hectorberlioz

12-07-2005, 07:29 PM

Cool. Tell us what you think of Faces. I wonder if I still have the essay I wrote on it...

I will indeed:). Btw, you're nearing 1000;)

Rían

12-12-2005, 02:08 PM

There's a brilliant short story about some space explorers who fly to Mars, IIRC, then say one sentence, then all transmission is cut off. This happens several times, and then there's going to be one more try... the guy lands, and decides to not talk until he's scouted things out for awhile ... then ...

Anyone read that one? I'm looking for it, but I think I loaned it out. There's also a short story called something like "The man born blind" - how a man who is blind since birth gets his sight through a new operation, and how difficult it is to adjust.

Rían

12-12-2005, 02:10 PM

"Faces" is brilliant - one of my favorite books of all time.

mere christianity is interesting, i don't agree with all his conclusions, but i appreciate its noncombative stance... an it, along with many of his letters, show a degree of flexibility and openmindedness that is good to see among strong believersYes, I like that quality a lot in him, and try to do the same myself. One feels that one could get a fair hearing from Lewis, altho apparently he didn't suffer fools :D

Elanor

12-12-2005, 03:08 PM

I will indeed:). Btw, you're nearing 1000;)
Yeah, I'm excited. I would have been there already if I had kept all my posts under the same name, but oh well...

C.S. Lewis is awesome. I especially love this quote:
“Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on: you knew those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently he starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of—throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were going to be made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace” (C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, New York: MacMillan Co., 1960, p. 160).

And this one:
“It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or the other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations—these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit—immortal horrors or everlasting splendors. … Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbor is the holiest object presented to your senses.” (The Weight of Glory, New York: Collier Books, Macmillan Publishing Co., 1980, pp. 18–19.)

Rían

12-12-2005, 05:13 PM

yes, I like that WoG quote. I bought a sandwich for one of those immortals last night who said he didn't have money for food ... he was so courteous, he said he didn't want to be greedy so should he order the small sandwich? I told him to please order the large one because he was hungry. Then he gave me the change back. I wasn't sure if I should take it or not, but I thought it gave him a dignity (which is all too often stripped from people) to give to me after I gave to him, so I took it, since I had to get back to the kids in the car, so I just made a quick decision. As I thought about it, I wish I would have told him to keep it for breakfast, but I did the best I could with what I had at the time.

hectorberlioz

12-14-2005, 08:59 PM

Elanor

12-14-2005, 10:50 PM

I've been trying to get the Space Trilogy, but it's checked out of the library and I haven't seen it in my local bookstore.

inked

12-16-2005, 04:03 PM

Poetry, too.

Dymer

Spirits in Bondage

Collected Poems

hectorberlioz

01-03-2006, 06:49 PM

I bought "Till We Have Faces". Still reading Miracles...I ahvent been reading much.

hectorberlioz

01-03-2006, 06:51 PM

I bought "Till We Have Faces". Still reading Miracles...I havent been reading much.

hectorberlioz

01-25-2006, 07:20 PM

I bought "Till We Have Faces". Still reading Miracles...I havent been reading much.

I bought "Till We Have Faces". Still reading Miracles...I ahvent been reading much.

whoa, that was Two different occasions...

Well, I have finished Miracles, and also The Pilgrim's Regress. Both excellent.

inked

01-26-2006, 08:21 PM

My Dad, may he rest in peace, taught me bit of doggerol when he was my Sunday School teacher when I was about 9 years old. It goes...

You are writing a book
A chapter each day
By the deeds that you do
And the words that you say.
Men read what you write
Whether faithful or true,
Say, what is the Gospel
According to you?

I remembered that when I chanced on this article:

http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/1/242006b.asp

Perhaps the best book CS Lewis wrote was the one my Dad said we are writing?

Rían

01-26-2006, 10:22 PM

good verse, inked!

Reminds me of a Chris Rice song -

"Every day is a journal page
every man holds a quill and ink
there's plenty of room for writing in
all you say and do and think

So will you compose a curse
or will today bring a blessing?
Fill the page with rhyme and verse
or some random sketching?

Teach us to count the days
teach us to make the days count
Lead us in better ways
sometimes our souls forget
life means so much, life means so much,
life means so much.

Every day is a bank account
time is our currency
There's no one rich; no one poor
we have 24 hours each

So how are you gonna spend?
will you invest or squander?
Try to get ahead
or help someone who's under?

etc.

inked

02-06-2006, 12:39 PM

A review of the review for those interested...

(teaser)
The Lion, The Witch and The New York Review of Books
February 1st, 2006
Alison Lurie is a novelist who teaches at Cornell and has published on the subject of children’s books. In the latest New York Review of Books, she has ostensibly written a review of Alan Jacob’s The Narnian; a collection of essays entitled Revisting Narnia: Fantasy, Myth and Religion in C. S. Lewis’ Chronicles; and the recent movie version of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. I say “ostensbly” because, while she does consider the items just listed, she also shares her own thoughts about Lewis and his Narnia series.

read it all at: http://rathernot.classicalanglican.net/

hectorberlioz

02-06-2006, 07:18 PM

I just bought and am reading "The Weight of Glory". And also "Till We Have Faces".

Here's something funny: "C.S.Lewis & Narnia for Dummies" was written by a guy named Richard Wagner. As an admirer of Wagner Operas, I'm sure Lewis would have loved that coincidence.

littleadanel

02-17-2006, 04:32 AM

crickhollow

02-18-2006, 07:05 PM

I just bought and am reading "The Weight of Glory". And also "Till We Have Faces".
"The Weight of Glory" changed my life. and that's not an exaggeration. goes right along with this quote from Thomas Merton:

I have the immense joy of being human, a member of the race in which God himself became incarnate. As if the sorrows and stupidities of the human condition could overwhelm me now that I realize what we all are. If only everybody could realize this! But it cannot be explained. There is no way of telling people that they are all walking around shining like the sun.

hectorberlioz

02-19-2006, 03:43 PM

'Till We Have Faces is great :) Just finished reading it yesterday. I think I'll be a frequent customer in my university's bookstore, as long as they sell such books. I never even saw any Lewis books elsewhere (apart from re-published Narnia, but I bet it's only because of the movie... :rolleyes: ).

It was very excellent! Me, my sis, and my younger borther all read it in the space of a week:p...

And Crick, I also finished reading WoG:), I thought the essay "Is theology poetry?" was the best.

tolkienfan

03-16-2006, 11:57 PM

I just borrowed The Screwtape Letters and The Four Loves. I read the introduction to The Four Loves, it sounds really good!

hectorberlioz

03-21-2006, 06:25 PM

I just borrowed The Screwtape Letters and The Four Loves. I read the introduction to The Four Loves, it sounds really good!

The Four Loves is definitely among Lewis' best (I always say that about everything of his, but in this case it IS TRUE...as it is for everything else of his...:p)

tolkienfan

03-22-2006, 12:33 AM

hectorberlioz

03-22-2006, 03:13 PM

I finished The Four Loves. It was really good. I was a little confused about the chapter on friendship. I don't think I really agreed with it. But the rest of the book was great. Maybe I should reread the friendship chapter...

That chapter didnt confuse me, but one in "Miracles" did. It was the last one, about "Extraordinary things that can happen scientifically" or something like that.

tolkienfan

03-29-2006, 05:43 PM

I finished Screwtape Letters a few days ago. It was really interesting. Kind of messes with your mind. Very good.
I got The Inspirational Writings and Collected Works of C.S. Lewis for my birthday!

hectorberlioz

03-29-2006, 05:49 PM

I finished Screwtape Letters a few days ago. It was really interesting. Kind of messes with your mind. Very good.
I got The Inspirational Writings and Collected Works of C.S. Lewis for my birthday!

wow! :) I wish I could have C.S. Lewis, Letters Vol.II for my birthday...
it's interesting to look up famous people in the index. He wrote letters to Arthur C Clarke, and he was a devoted Wagnerian, and he attended some of Sir Thomas Beecham's concerts.

tolkienfan

03-29-2006, 09:16 PM

He dedicated The Screwtape Letters to J.R.R. Tolkien!

Curubethion

03-30-2006, 12:45 AM

I'm reading through Mere Christianity right now. I like it-it's a lot more readable than some of his other classics. Although nothing so far has beaten Screwtape. (where did he get that brilliant name, anyway?)

BTW, did you know that Screwtape is playing off-Broadway as a musical?

GreyMouser

04-15-2006, 06:56 AM

He dedicated The Screwtape Letters to J.R.R. Tolkien!

I wondered if Tolkien was happy about that, since he disapproved of the book?

hectorberlioz

04-17-2006, 06:03 PM

I wondered if Tolkien was happy about that, since he disapproved of the book?

I think that was partly the reason Lewis dedicated it to him:p...he had that kind of humour;)

inked

05-09-2006, 03:42 PM

CONFERENCE OPPORTUNITY for CS Lewis fans:

http://www.cslewis.org/programs/institute/summer2006.htm

Held this side of the Pond for the first time ever!

tolkienfan

05-11-2006, 06:56 PM

I've been thinking a lot about that chapter on friendship in The Four Loves, and I think I understand what he was saying now. A very good book.

sun-star

05-12-2006, 04:35 AM

If you don't mind me asking, what did you have problems with the first time you read it? Personally I don't like The Four Loves as much as other Lewis books (though it's very well-written and well-argued, of course), and I'd be interested to hear someone else's thoughts :)

tolkienfan

05-13-2006, 10:39 AM

inked

05-14-2006, 10:57 PM

Well, here's a lovely replay of Screwtape which really makes one recall the original:

http://churchofthemasses.blogspot.com/2006/05/reprise-screwtape-on-da-vinci-code.html

Reprise: Screwtape and the Da Vinci Code

enjoy, fellow Lewis readers! :D

sun-star

05-15-2006, 03:47 PM

I was confused, I didn't understand what he was trying to say. I kept thinking about it and now I get it. It's a slightly different way of looking at friendship then how I used to look at it. More selective I guess. You can't call just anybody a real friend.

I see what you mean. To me his definition of friendship seems very limited actually - I think there are other kinds of friendship which can be equally important and valuable. Not many people experience Lewis' kind of friendship, and that doesn't mean their friendships aren't real.

Of course, he also doubts whether women can be friends in this way, so maybe I'm just too female to understand :rolleyes: