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Re: "Tolkien's friend"!
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Posted:
January 20th, 2006, 3:52 pm
by A#minor
Re: "Tolkien's friend"!
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Posted:
May 9th, 2009, 4:58 am
by Hrosskell
Yes, I made a forum account just to respond to this.
The first topic I'd like to address is "prolific(ity, ness?)." I'm wondering if I missed out on some of Lewis's work--given, I am American, and British literature is not as easy to come by as copies of Hemingway and Faulkner, or even Fitzgerald--that being said, I think there's a slight discrepancy between "work published" and "works composed". Tolkien's son later dropped all of Tolkien's written backstory, giving us books like the (pardon my spelling, I'm too lazy to look it up at the moment) Silmarillion and innumberable "Untold Tales" volumes. In addition to these were various Old English stories translated and published (seen in America only under academic light, otherwise not readily available) by Tolkien, including Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the Pearl, etc.
The second is "credibility". While Lewis did write various essays themed outside of fiction, and worked allegory into the Chronicles, I do not feel he was as devoted to storytelling as Tolkien was. All of Tolkien's books come in the style of a well-versed oral tradition; he was, and intended to write as, a storyteller only. Lewis, like has been noted, was whimsical in his pursuit of a coherent/cohesive storyline, but expressed himself magnificently in his essays/letters. I think that to compare them in each field in a "who's better" manner is silly. It's like comparing Bradbury and Vonnegut--both are going for two very different goals, even though they use the same genre and similar style.
The third and final issue I would like to speak on is "friendship". They were bros. Sure, bros grow apart, but all bros do.
And we, as educated and thoughtful individuals, can remember them as bros, even if we know that like all other bros, they fell apart towards the end.
Re: "Tolkien's friend"!
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Posted:
May 9th, 2009, 6:12 pm
by A#minor
Well said, Hrosskell! I like your insight.
Re: "Tolkien's friend"!
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Posted:
May 9th, 2009, 11:55 pm
by Tuke
Re: "Tolkien's friend"!
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Posted:
May 10th, 2009, 9:27 pm
by msd1835
I read and fell in love with Tolkien's Lotr before I had really even heard of Lewis (yes because of the movies). But I have to say that I find Lewis's works far more interesting and entertaining. I believe Lewis had a better method of "trimming the fat." I find that Tolkien has times in Lotr the storytelling seems to stop. Many chapters don't support the rest of story, and inspire me now to just skip them. Lewis's works seem to be crafted like a symphony composed by a master composer. There is not one note in the Chronicles, or other works, that Lewis did not create for a specific reason. This is why Lewis is my favorite compared to J.R.R.. I don't mean to take anything away from the Lotr I think they are awesome; they just did not change my life the way Lewis's works have. Now I am sure that there is something Lewis probably would've rewrote if he could, but I would not change a thing.
Re: "Tolkien's friend"!
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Posted:
February 26th, 2010, 10:47 am
by ladysherlockian
"Tolkien's friend" - well, many people, including myself, would not be evan aware of the existence of CS Lewis, if they had not learned about him through Tolkien. I would not know about Tolkien either, had it not been for the films by Peter Jackson. Yes, I heard about the guy, but what I heard did not interest me enough to find out more. Only after the films did I became a Tolkien fan. And this is how I got to Lewis. Now I do not really remember how I learned that Lewis was Tolkien's friend, perhaps it was somewhere on Tolkien forum. But then I thought "Wow, Tolkien's friend, I must read something about him. His books are probably very interesting. Let's look into this matter." Maybe I would not be interested in Lewis if I had not read Tolkien first, and what I would be missing... Like msd1835, I am now interested more in Lewis than in Tolkien, but this changes constantly, sometimes I focus more on Tolkien and sometimes more on Lewis in my reading. But they both are always important for me.
Perhaps the authors of the article wanted to esablish some connection in the reader's mind, introduced something they could relate to? Before the Narnia films, maybe Lewis was not so well-known? Nowadays most people are aware that Lewis is the author of Narnia, but then? Maybe writing of Lewis as "Tolkien's friend" is not fair, as he was a great author in his own right, but on the other hand...any way to make more people interested in Lewis is something good, isn't it?
Re: "Tolkien's friend"!
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Posted:
February 26th, 2010, 11:26 am
by agingjb
Tolkien's friend? Betjeman's enemy? Eliot's adversary? Hmm.
(And I first became aware of Lewis in 1955, Tolkien in 1956, and knew they were friends for the sufficient reason that my English teacher was at Oxford in the 1930's. She lent me The Hobbit and Perelandra and entrusted me with collecting her pre-ordered copy of one volume of LOTR from the local bookshop.)
Re:
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Posted:
February 27th, 2010, 10:57 pm
by Mr Hooper
Re: "Tolkien's friend"!
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Posted:
February 28th, 2010, 12:32 am
by maralewisfan
I read The Hobbit while in junior high, well before the movies. I am one of those people who watch the movies and realize where the differences are between the books and the movies. I also do this with CON. I read Lewis long before the movies came out also. I prefer the apologetics and have been re-reading the CON and reading the space trilogy for the first time (my son got them for me for Christmas about two years ago).
Considering as how Lewis died the year I was born, I must say that it makes no difference to my desire to find and read as much as I can. I recommend his books as often as I can.
Now on the subject of friendships...unfortunately things happen in life that separate us from our friends, sometimes for a short time and sometimes for the duration, however I would still consider those that I am separated from as my friends because of the relationship we did have even though we do not have that same relationship now.