Customer Reviews

The Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis, Volume 3: Narnia, Cambridge, and Joy, 1950 - 1963

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Given the fact that this letters collection deals mainly with the latter stages of Lewis's life, I really think this is the best of the three collections.

The main reason is that we get a clearer picture into the mind of the man who created Narnia, wrote the painfully honest and cathartic "A Grief Observed" after the loss of his wife, Joy and we start to see a man who takes faith to a new level in his life, from an intellectual and notionalistic approach to a real, raw encounter with God.

It is very easy to see how Lewis has influenced so many writers today, even the new gneration, who are just beginning to write. His legacy continues on in the minds and pens of Christian thinkers and writers who desperately want to help individuals grow closer to God and examine their faith to keep it vital.

And Lewis is relevant, as J.G. Marking, author of "A Voice Is Calling," so clearly stated, "I believe to some degree every Christian author is likened to C.S. Lewis because he is the intellectual and literary bar that we are all measured against. And thus, in some way, his voice will resonate in all of ours, maybe forever."

This collection reveals more of the soul of Lewis than the mind, which is an even more intriguing glance.

It was absolutely fascinating to crawl around inside the head of this brilliant man as he entered the most tumultuous period of his life. I cannot help but think of Till We Have Faces, as Lewis stuggles through the same difficult lessons of learning to let someone you love go into the arms of God and away from your own. Utterly real, this book is worth the 1700 page read.

All three of the volumes of Lewis's letters are spectacular, of course, but it's unfortunate that HarperCollins decided (after plenty of us had bought vols. 1 and 2 in paperback) that they were only going to release this volume in hardcover. I suppose I should have guessed since they put the first two paperback volumes in a slipcover (which never made sense to me before--who would buy that knowing the third volume was imminent?), and the IMMENSE size of this volume probably wouldn't have done well in paperback. All the same, it would have been nice to know ahead of time. Now I have to buy the first two volumes AGAIN, this time in hardcover, in order for my set to match. A more cynical man would find a conspiracy there.

At any rate, I can't be the only one checking back here periodically to see if/when they'll issue Vol 3 in paperback, so I hope this note (not really a review, I'm afraid) is helpful to others.

On a windy day last fall I had the chance to visit the Kilns, the home of Jack and Warren Lewis, uphill from Oxford. One thing that caught my eye was how ad hoc and miscellaneous the house seemed. One could see how someone who lived in that house could write so ramshackle a novel as That Hideous Strength, and where the attic between houses in The Magician's Nephew came from, and (moving up the hill past the pond) why Dryads and Naiads bend in the wind, as they turn into maples and oaks. Like Ransom's St. Annes, or the Professor's in Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe this was a house with a personality, one that collects people, animals, and stories.

It is fitting that the final volume of Lewis' correspondence is also miscellaneous and ad hoc. Yes, there are more letters to T. S. Elliot -- studiously polite in the early years, more friendly (it seems to me) later on -- Tolkien (a few), Sayers, Roger Green, Griffiths. (The Washington Post reviewer gets a lot right, but I think misses Lewis' true tone here -- it seems to me he's worried about Griffiths move away from orthodoxy.) Half or more of the correspondents are writers. Others are children (Lewis seems to put his heart into answers to children) or pests to whom Lewis is trying to be polite, one guesses.

Not all the letters are equally interesting, of course. Some seem a bit pro forma. What struck me about Volume 2 was the enormous amount of fun Lewis had. I didn't laugh quite as often reading this volume. I think the reason is, Lewis is famous now, and writes often here from duty, rather than pleasure. On the plus side, we're past WWII, and the numerous "thank you" letters for ham from the States that take up so much space in volume two.

What would bring this volume to life would be more letters to and from Joy, her boys, Tolkien, and maybe with Warren to and from Irish pubs. Oh, well, there's still quite a bit of good stuff in here -- I found it more interesting than volume 1, less than volume 2, overall.

Walter Hooper does a magnificent job of collecting, collating, and explaining, without getting in the way. He always seems to provide a note just when you want one, and answer the right questions.

author, The Truth Behind the New Atheism: Responding to the Emerging Challenges to God and Christianity

I can't recommend this highly enough. I had thought this would be fairly bland, to be honest. I didn't really go for the "Letters to Children" collection. But this is a whole new ballgame.

Yes, there are times when, for example, letters of thanks for parcels of ham (during the rationing after The War) start to sort of run together. But I found something interesting in every letter, and many, many moments of insight into his thought and life that are exclusive to these letters.

I'm not sure how to predict the appeal of this collection for a casual Lewis fan. A lot depended, for me, on knowing a good deal about Lewis's life and work already (though plenty is instantly accessible as well). I would say it's primarily for the fan who has read much or most of Lewis's books. But people mean two different things when they say a work is "more for the established fan than the newcomer" and so on. They might mean that the work isn't very good but a firmly entrenched fan will enjoy it anyway... the way a Humphrey Bogart fan will get a kick out of "Beat the Devil," whereas nonfans judging it strictly as a film may find it taxing.

But alternately, they might mean that only a firmly entrenched fan will be able to thoroughly access and experience this very good work - that the advantage of being an insider is especially big. That's what I mean here If you've read the apologetics, the autobiography, the major fictions, and especially if you've also read the literary essays, you're the reader for whom this collection will be a great prize. Happy reading.

Nice collection of letters and especially gives insight into his relationship with his wife Joy.