C.S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Adam Gopnik

Joe Sobran dissects a recent attack on C.S. Lewis by Adam Gopnik in the New Yorker. [I don't have a link to the New Yorker article, and I am inclined to think that it doesn't merit a link.]

The best quote of Sobran's column:

In just his first four paragraphs, Gopnik writes of Lewis’s “conservative religiosity,” his “bullying brand of religiosity,” and his “narrow-hearted religiosity.” Would someone please send this man a thesaurus?

Sobran also provides a brief preview of what we can expect in the movie adaptation of the Narnia tales:

For my part, I can say only that in his quiet way, C.S. Lewis has, like no other writer I’ve ever read, brought home to me some frightening truths — frightening, yet also consoling. And in his Narnia tales, he found a way to convey them to children too.

My own experience with Lewis' works is limited to The Screwtape Letters. I have been a Lewis fan since reading the first brief chapter of that book. I intend to review it here in the coming months and read more of Lewis' works. I also intend to see and promote the movie.



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update - 12-31-05 - I add the comments to the main post because Haloscan tends to delete all comments after a few weeks. I found these comments particularly interesting because of their perspective on Lewis and his books.
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I am a longtime fan of Lewis's work. If you have only read "The Screwtape Letters," then you have Much Exciting Fun awaiting you...
This is because "The Screwtape Letters" was Lewis's LEAST favorite of all his books. I recommend reading "The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe" if you want a good children's story with excellent philosopy woven throughout, however if you like science fiction, his "Space Trilogy" is awesome. I happened to read it in college while taking a philosophy course and was astounded at the depth of his thought and how it was not readily apparent to the uneducated (meaning that someone who didn't know philosophy wouldn't be bored by it because it was so expertly integrated into the story). The first book in the "Space Trilogy" is "Out of the Silent Planet."
Also, any of his "Theological" books are also a joy to read.

I appreciate your blog and read it daily.

Keep it up!
Stuart Taylor | 12.09.05 - 11:58 am | #

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I strongly exhort you to delight yourself with Lewis's other fiction. In particular, you're likely to enjoy The Great Divorce, Lewis's dream-tour of Hell and Heaven, and Till We Have Faces, a retelling of the myth of Cupid and Psyche that's blinding in its originality and evocative power.

He was quite a writer.
Francis W. Porretto | Homepage | 12.10.05 - 7:28 am | #

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Ah, what sad choice for your first C.S.Lewis book! You will find each of his others much more readable. Beware- your notions of God and Christianity will be challenged!
reed | 12.14.05 - 10:29 pm | #

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