Lewis contrarian

[isomeme]

You can't swing a dead Christ symbol these days without hearing about the Chronicles of Narnia. I know many of my friends were addicted to this series as children, and I can understand the attraction. But for me, Lewis's earlier "cosmic" trilogy -- Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, and That Hideous Strength -- held a far greater attraction.

Comments

"Rise to Adore the Mystery of Love"

[christeos_pir]

Silent Planet was the weakest of the three for me, with That Hideous Strength amusing in a kind of Weirdstone of Brisingamen way, but I still adore Perelandra, Garden of Eden fable or no. The descriptions of the planet in the beginning, the cinematic scenes of Ransom and the Tempter arguing for the Queen's favor, and then the amazing dazzling Gnostic vision at the end, left an impression for life.

BTW, have you read fellow Inkling Charles Williams' "Greater Trumps?"

[zayin93]

Oooh I may have to re-read them myself!

[divineserpent]

The Screwtape Letters certainly had an impact on my interest of manipulation.

[contentlove]

Well, me too, but not until I was around 30.

[contentlove]

I just don't think the crypto-Christian thing is such a big deal. I re-read these books within the last few years before gifting them to various children of my acquaintance or relation. Moreover, his various (obvious to an adult) digs at various parts of the social system of his time didn't kill my pleasure. They're there though. But they're in a lot of literature, something to be discussed with children perhaps, but I don't think the fact of this is something that would cause me to shun literature ;) For instance, people like to make a big deal of his dig at liberal education. For me, that flew right over in favor of just understanding that some kids don't fit in at their school and mean kids suck. The bit about what kind of school it was and what the teaching philosophy of the educators was irrelevant because I already knew the meat of the truth: teachers don't really know what's going on socially with the kids, or maybe they do, but as a group they act oblivious WHY

Re: Well said...

[contentlove]

besides a person who limited what he read to only stuff he agreed with would soon curtail his own personal growth.

Yes. And something I've always wondered about "reading only stuff one agrees with" - how does one know in advance without reading it for oneself? Because one always believes in other people's ability to pre-digest it and mirror it back? That strikes me, as a way of being, as remarkably lacking in both courage and curiosity.