You Don't Know Jack

[Furrama]

Wow. This was the best thing I've read in a while.

 

[Demgar]

Well written piece. You should like totally get a job as a writer or something!

In my serious voice though, I think it's a good look at someone who is certainly considered one of the pillars of modern fantasy. I wasn't aware of who C.S. Lewis was really, though I have read his books. I feel... educated. Thank you.

It's always interesting to find out more about an author and really try to delve into the layers of a story. To get into the author's mind really. Some books take on new meanings and directions. For example, read some Heinlein, then read it again when you know who he was. Yeah, ok some of his stuff is pretty "preachy" (anti-preachy?), and maybe too obvious a comparison, but I think he's a similar case of values and morality that can be examined through the author's work.

 

[rddj623]

Before the inevitable all-encompassing flame-war starts in, I want to thank you for this thoughtful, even-handed look at the relationship between Lewis's faith and fiction. I think it's one of your best columns.

I whole heartedly agree with this!

 

[Benjamin Moore]

He would ultimately conceive a six-book chronology of a fairy tale kingdom where a familiar yet different version of Biblical history - from Creation to Apocalypse - would play itself out.

Isn't The Chronicle's of Narnia seven books long?

The Magician's Nephew
The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe
The Horse and His Boy
Prince Caspian
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
The Silver Chair
The Last Battle


I was actually expecting a look at C.S. Lewis' actual Sci-Fi story: the Ransom trilogy:

Out of the Silent Planet
Perelandra
That Hideous Strength

The first two are set on Mars and Venus respectively (the third, I;m pretty sure is set here on Earth) and looks at them as complete inhabitable worlds, which although dates them immediately, are still engaging. The interesting one, in my opinion is Perelandra, essentially the Genesis story set on a new world. In these books, the religious overtones are far more overt than they are in Narnia, and they read at times as essays on morality, especially the internal monologue of the character Ransom where C.S Lewis makes the case for a just war. They are worth a read, if you can find them...

I do like how we've reached ninety posts 'before the flame war' as the above post suggests...