Into the Wardrobe

Interesting. It really sounds like if Lewis held any fondness at all for the Sherlock Holmes series, it was for those relaxing evenings where one desires books that don't require the full-use of your mental facilties. A relaxing book to unwind with, if you will.

It strikes me as odd though. I would have thought Lewis would have found Holmes' use of deductive reasoning thought-provoking. If not that, then at least I can imagine Lewis hyper-analyzing the literary significance between Watson's and Holmes' relationship, which is an interesting amalgamation of friendship and the mentor/protege relationship.

But who's to say he didn't. Perhaps he just didn't feel the need to put pen to paper about every facet of life he thought profound. It is probably beyond comprehension at the unwritten library we lost on that dreadful day in 1963.

I am reading(skimming) A preface to Paradise Lost His love of great literature shines through. I have never completely read Paradise Lost but have meant to for a long time. Lewis makes you want to really read the books He talks about. He must have loved PL since he wrote a bk. on it, and lectured hugely on it. But I think he was disappointed at the ending, although he loved Milton's genius.

There's a volume called C.S.Lewis on Stories and Other Essays on Literature (ISBN 015-668788-7) that will give you a whole list of books that he liked enough to (mostly) write positive essays about, or write a more critical essay in one venue or another. For example, he thought George Orwell made his point about totalitarianism far more effectively in Animal Farm than in 1984 (one of the essays in the book).

This book also has his take on book reviews that have written about his inner motivations for various novels, often quite far off according to the author, which he then builds on to question much "modern" biblical criticism - very interesting and thought-provoking essay.

Partly from reading Lewis' essay on Rider Haggard in this book, I bought a copy of She a few years ago for beach reading, the only Rider Haggard novel I've ever read so far. Lewis' take on it was that Haggard had a mythopoeic gift, at its best in She, but was not that great a writer per se, and I thought that was a good assessment after I read the book. I really enjoyed it as a "B" novel, but only read it once. I enjoyed knowing the Lewis had also liked it as escapist literature when I read it though!

One literary device that I wondered if he may have partly taken from Haggard was the use of pseudo-documentation, (like the letter at the end of Out of the Silent Planet in which Ransom gives his review of the MS). I have had occasional college students seriously ask me whether the novel really happened, whether Lewis was reporting real events, because of that letter! Haggard does a lot of stuff like that in She, including correspondence at the end. Very clever. (Of course, the degree to which someone like Dan Brown has apparently taken this trick in Da Vinci Code strikes me as more sinister - haven't bothered to read it, friends who have tell me it's not only a polemic, it's a dreadfully written polemic.)

She is "She Who Must Be Obeyed", an immortal, beautiful and utterly merciless African queen, who most men cannot help but fall in love with if they get too close, even if costs them their lives. Thinking about some of the recent discussion on another thread, "Why are so many of Lewis' villians women?", and remembering just now that Lewis really liked She makes me wonder if She played a part somewhere in the formation of Jadis the White Witch and some other lead villians? Jadis does resemble her the more I think about it.

Responding to the Holmes thread, in "On Science Fiction" Lewis writes, "I don't like detective stories and therefore all detective stories look much alike to me: if I wrote about them I should therefore infallibly write drivel." He goes on to say, "Many reviews are useless because, while purporting to condemn the book, they only reveal the reviewer's dislkie of the kind to which it belongs. Let bad tragedies be censured by those who love tragedy, and bad detective stories by those who love the detective story. Then we shall learn their real faults."

I would, of course, love it if Sherlock Holmes was an exception to Lewis's rule in any way.

On another thread, I'm interested if any of you can help me with another question: I was rereading "On Three Ways of Writing for Children," and I came across this quote:

"E. Nesbit’s trilogy about the Bastable family . . . . is a ‘children’s story’ in the sense that children can and do read it: but it is also the only form in which E. Nesbit could have given us so much of the humours of childhood. It is true that the Bastable children appear, successfully treated from the adult point of view, in one of her grown-up novels, but they appear only for a moment. I do not think she would have kept it up. Sentimentality is so apt to creep in if we write at length about children as seen by their elders."

Does anyone know which of E. Nesbit's adult novels contains an appearance of the Bastable children?

(And I'm afraid you can tell from my posts that I'm working on a project on Conan Doyle and Nesbit . . . But thanks! And I hope these posts are somewhat interesting anyway. . .)

The thing that always irritated me about the Bastables is that they were meant to be too poor to go to school oe have a tutor (in the first book) , and yet their father could afford a maid and a cook. What was wrong with the local primary?

Yes, E. Nesbit's socialist Fabian society did debate the question of whether or not it was okay to have maids. Harding's Luck is also an interesting book on this question. As soon as Dickie learns a trade that can make enough money for he and Beale to survive without begging or robbing, they rent a house. As soon as they can afford furniture, "A decent young woman--Amelia by name--was engaged to come in every day and 'do for' them." ("Buried Treasure" chapter)

Thanks so much for The Red House reference!

And have you all noticed how very much like Nesbit Lewis is? Not just the references like Wardrobeinspareroom, but also views on women and forms of narration.

At the moment I'm thinking particularly of The Story of the Treasure Seekers and The Horse and His Boy:

From The Story of the Treasure Seekers: “[The lady] didn’t talk a bit like a real lady, but more like a jolly sort of grown-up boy in a dress and hat” (Chapter 4 “Good Hunting”)

Compare to Corin’s assessment of Susan and Lucy in The Horse and His Boy: Shasta asks, “And where is the Queen Susan?” “At Cair Paravel,” said Corin. “She’s not like Lucy, you know, who’s as good as a man, or at any rate as good as a boy. Queen Susan is more like an ordinary grown-up lady. She doesn’t ride to the wars, though she is an excellent archer” (176).

Well, in both stories the character is giving a view on women from a boy's perspective--and it happens to be the same view. That's why I mentioned it.

However, I do think that a lot of the characters' quotes on women can show some of Lewis's thoughts as well (particularly the "good" characters' opinions on women)--though Lewis might not think much of me for saying so. And you're right that Corin alone is not enough to make my case. I do agree with you that Corin is a boy who often shows his limits of perspective.

In another quick Nesbit/Lewis aside, I'm also enjoying the fact that in Harding's Luck, the magic in other times/worlds take no time at all in the other world. (And which is the REAL world?)

Does anyone happen to know where I can find a copy of George Sayer's "Jack on Holiday" essay? I guess he mentions Jack having read Harding's Luck aloud.

Thanks, as always, for your interesting comments.

Both Harding's Luck and The House of Arden are on my Xmas Wish List. Aren't they out of print though?

I got my copy of Harding's Luck from the library, but it does appear to be on Amazon (Books of Wonder, April 1999, ISBN 092960590X).

And I was able to find the Jack on Holiday essay, by the way. It's in Como's Remembering C. S. Lewis (formerly C. S. Lewis at the Breakfast Table).