CS Lewis....is it just me?

PrincessTeacake · Jan 12, 2011

I liked The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe when I was little but it was the only one I was able to read the whole way through. I tried reading The Silver Chair and The Last Battle (only two available in the library) but I gave up after a few chapters.

Now I'm reading the books again (since seeing the newest film version) and I find myself groaning and rolling my eyes constantly. The way he writes the characters doesn't make me like them at all, they all seem to be a bunch of little snots, even the ones that aren't meant to be brats. I haven't even got to The Horse and his Boy yet and I know that one has a few problems...

Am I the only one that feels this way? CS Lewis is one of the most revered writers in the world, and yet it seems to me he could barely write!

TerzaRima · Jan 12, 2011

CS Lewis is one of the most revered writers in the world, and yet it seems to me he could barely write!

You might be the only one who feels this way.

Deleted member 42 · Jan 12, 2011

Keep in mind two things:

When they were written, and why they were written.

He was purposefully being a didactic Protestant Christian.

And he knew nothing, at all, about children.

scarletpeaches · Jan 12, 2011

Anyone who disses Lewis, please report to my quarters for a sound thrashing.

bip · Jan 12, 2011

I read them all as a kid several times. About a year ago I got them on audio book and loved the first few as much as I had as a kid. And then they started to really drop off. I felt like he had long since run out of story but kept writing anyway, and I agree that the characters got really annoying. He also got less and less subtle about the moral messages. I found it to be a fascinating cultural study of his time period that I hadn't appreciated as a child.

Pat~ · Jan 12, 2011

scarletpeaches said:
Anyone who disses Lewis, please report to my quarters for a sound thrashing.

What she said. (Big fan of Lewis, though not just his children's books. Read several of his weightier tomes and essays before passing judgment on his writing ability.)

scarletpeaches · Jan 12, 2011

The Screwtape Letters.

Lock thread.

Pat~ · Jan 12, 2011

Scarlettpeaches, am I going to have to keep quoting you? ;D

(Yes, Screwtape Letters. And again, and again.)

scarletpeaches · Jan 12, 2011

*cough*

The Great Divorce.

Okay, now lock thread.

PriyankaB · Jan 12, 2011

As a child I never knew the Narnia series was Christian allegory at all (I'm Hindu), but I thoroughly enjoyed them. As an adult I can appreciate the problematic nature of several aspects of the Narnia books, but I still like them.

I've never read the Screwtape Letters, but they're on my list now!

PrincessTeacake · Jan 12, 2011

I guess I am being unfair, I haven't read any of his work that wasn't Narnia related. Could you recommend something?

scarletpeaches · Jan 12, 2011

Definitely start with The Screwtape Letters. Try to find the edition with Screwtape Proposes a Toast included.

Deleted member 42 · Jan 12, 2011

scarletpeaches said:
Anyone who disses Lewis, please report to my quarters for a sound thrashing.

He thought lesbians should be lobotomized if a clitorectomy wasn't sufficient to "cure" them.

He broke Tolkien's heart.

He plagiarized works by both his partners.

Deleted member 42 · Jan 12, 2011

I'm partial to The Allegory of Love, regarding so-called "Courtly love" in the middle ages.

And his History of English Literature in the Sixteenth Century is required reading.

scarletpeaches · Jan 12, 2011

Medievalist said:
He thought lesbians should be lobotomized if a clitorectomy wasn't sufficient to "cure" them.

He broke Tolkien's heart.

He plagiarized works by both his partners.

*sticks fingers in ears*

La la la can't hear y-- WHUT!

A whutorectomy?

*winces and checks hers is still there*

Yup, all present and correct.

RichardLeon · Jan 12, 2011

scarletpeaches said:
Definitely start with The Screwtape Letters. Try to find the edition with Screwtape Proposes a Toast included.

Clever, but shamelessly manipulative.

Not unlike the Narnia series.

Someone bought me Screwtape, and it didn't take long for me to throw it against the wall. I don't mind having a point, but having a message - an obvious, anvillicious, in your face, take no prisoners message - is usually enough to make me dislike anything.

maxmordon · Jan 12, 2011

About Narnia, I am partial. I mean, I really liked A Boy and His Horse but The Magician's Nephew felt mostly flat to me.

amyashley · Jan 12, 2011

scarletpeaches said:
The Screwtape Letters.

Lock thread.

NUFF SAID.

PriyankaB · Jan 12, 2011

Medievalist said:
He thought lesbians should be lobotomized if a clitorectomy wasn't sufficient to "cure" them.

He broke Tolkien's heart.

He plagiarized works by both his partners.

What I wonder is how that topic even came up in conversation...? Who actually spends time talking in detail about how to "cure" lesbians?

Pat~ · Jan 12, 2011

'Messages' are only annoying to me if the author thinks he's cleverly hiding them. Lewis didn't try to hide anything in Screwtape Letters.

And manipulated? It was a book written about Lewis' view of how the devil and his minions operate. There are tons of books about the supernatural on the market today. Why take it personally if you don't believe in it?

scarletpeaches · Jan 12, 2011

maxmordon said:
About Narnia, I am partial. I mean, I really liked A Boy and His Horse but The Magician's Nephew felt mostly flat to me.

I have completely the opposite view. THAHB was the most 'bleh' Narnia book for me and TMN just edges LWW as my favourite, I think.

scarletpeaches · Jan 12, 2011

Pat~ said:
'Messages' are only annoying to me if the author thinks he's cleverly hiding them. Lewis didn't try to hide anything in Screwtape Letters.

And manipulated? It was a book written about Lewis' view of how the devil and his minions operate. There are tons of books about the supernatural on the market today. Why take it personally if you don't believe in it?

Yep. Objecting to a message in Christian fiction seems as pointless as complaining that a romance has a happy ending, or that fantasy novels talk about magic.

amyashley · Jan 12, 2011

He was an atheist who was converted to Christianity! Of course his books had a message.

I may not agree with everything he believed, but I sincerely doubt I agree with everything every author I love thinks. I read for the words they write. Sometimes I read things I disagree firmly with too, just to understand others better. If those things have messages, I knew it when I went in.

Narnia stuff is for children, and I did love them as a child. Some of his other works I found more appealing. He could write and was obviously very intelligent. Writing is subjective, as always. You hate it, then say it was a valiant effort and stick to Harry Potter.

Pat~ · Jan 12, 2011

scarletpeaches said:
*cough*

The Great Divorce.

Okay, now lock thread.

The Problem of Pain.

(But don't lock thread yet, as I'm sure another title will come up I'll also agree with.)

scarletpeaches · Jan 12, 2011

I'm 34 and I still read the Narnia books.

CS Lewis....is it just me?

PrincessTeacake

TerzaRima

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Deleted member 42

scarletpeaches

bip

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Pat~

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scarletpeaches

Pat~

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PriyankaB

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Deleted member 42

Deleted member 42

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RichardLeon

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maxmordon

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PriyankaB

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Pat~

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scarletpeaches

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