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Lewis and Dostoevsky

PostPosted: March 25th, 2008, 2:22 pm
by mgton
Does Lewis discuss Dostoevsky anywhere? I can't remember any mention of him, but Lewis' professional work on literature, and his essays that are strictly on literature, are the ones that I have read the least. :think:

PostPosted: March 25th, 2008, 9:42 pm
by Tuke
Nowhere in his literary criticism (most of which I have). If he mentions Dostoevsky elsewhere, it would be as a passing allusion not the main subject of an essay.
I only found one reference, in the personal Letters Of CS Lewis to his brother Warnie on 12/25/31:
"I have bought The Brothers Karamazov but not yet read it with the exception of some special detachable pieces (of which there are many). Thus read it is certainly a great religious and poetical work: whether, as a whole, it will turn out a good, or even a tolerable novel I don't know."
I can't recall if Lewis and Arthur Greeves discuss Dostoevsky in their collected letters They Stand Together. Novels are the special purview of their correspondence, so it may be worth checking your local library or even online.
Lewis had more to say about Tolstoy, "another great favourite of mine." Again from the Letters: "War & Peace is in my opinion the best novel - the only one which makes a novel really comparable to epic. I have read it about three times."

PostPosted: March 26th, 2008, 3:44 am
by rusmeister

PostPosted: March 26th, 2008, 7:58 pm
by mgton
Thanks for that info. It doesn't surprise me that there's no memorable talk of dostoevsky from Lewis. I remember hearing Peter Kreeft say once that Lewis didn't like Kierkegaard, that he thought Kierkegaard was "pathological." I can't imagine Lewis reading "notes from underground" with delight. But Maybe I be wrong. :smile:

PostPosted: March 26th, 2008, 9:23 pm
by Tuke

PostPosted: March 27th, 2008, 2:17 am
by rusmeister

PostPosted: March 29th, 2008, 9:47 pm
by greg544

PostPosted: March 30th, 2008, 2:43 am
by rusmeister

Tolstoy

PostPosted: April 1st, 2008, 6:28 pm
by arthur111
Tolstoy was important to me when I first began to think that maybe this material world was not all there was, and maybe life could be lived another way. He seemed an idealist who could actually try to forgo some of the temptations of life. In other words he went through a conversion process. He was very helpful to me as I struggled to get out of the mire. I haven't read him in a long time (20 years). When I did read him, I wasn't looking for doctrinual nuances, but a sighting of another kind of life, which maybe young people need these days. I need to go back and read him again.

Re: Tolstoy

PostPosted: April 2nd, 2008, 1:00 am
by rusmeister

Re: Tolstoy

PostPosted: April 2nd, 2008, 6:53 pm
by Dan65802

PostPosted: April 2nd, 2008, 8:06 pm
by arthur111
I don't know what "little principal" you are referring to, but maybe Lewis and certainly myself was impressed by Tolstoy's actions ,his denying himself many things (money, power, egotism). In other words, Tolstoy"s works combined and flowing from faith. I feel that Lewis was much in the same vein. Anyway, Lewis thought Tolstoy was the best writer around, and that is sufficient for me. I certainly agree with you that I should read the Gospels And the rest of the New Testament again...and again...and again..etc. I only wish that I could act on them as Lewis and Tolstoy did. Maybe that is One of the main differences between Jesus and the Pharasees.

PostPosted: April 2nd, 2008, 9:23 pm
by repectabiggle

PostPosted: April 2nd, 2008, 11:26 pm
by arthur111
Lewis said Tolstoy wrote the best novel. That is, he said that at one point. I certainly don't think that means Lewis thought Tolstoy was the best writer. If I had to guess, I'd say he would give that honor to a poet, possibly Spenser or Dante.[/quote]

I stand corrected. Thank you. I was playing a little fast and loose. But I would also nominate Milton. I can't remember where in Lewis' works, but he seemed to me to be greatly influenced by Milton. I I think I read somewhere that Milton's theology was not considered "orthodox" by many. Although Marvel praised him in his introductory poem to Paradise Lost. And of course, Lewis wrote a preface to "Paradise Lost".

PostPosted: April 3rd, 2008, 1:15 am
by repectabiggle