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An Experiment in Criticism (Canto)

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C.S. Lewis' "Experiment in Criticism" is one of those great books that gives one a new lens with which to view life. This book caused me to do a lot of self-examination and reflection on how I interact not just with literature, but also with culture as a whole.

Lewis' point is that there is not a real "bad" or "good" literature. The value of what we read is in how we interact with it. Lewis defines how people interact with culture in terms of "The Few" and "The Many."

"The Few" are the literary (in other fields they would be musical, have a palette capable of enjoying the best food, or an eye for art). The literary count reading as valuable, read books more than once, are able to be changed by what they read, and remember and share works or pieces of works with others.

"The Many" are the unliterary. Unliterary people generally don't accuse the literary of reading the wrong books-they wonder why literary people make such a big fuss about books at all. They never read a book twice. Their interaction with a work is not deeply felt. Though they may "read a lot" they don't "set much store by it."

Lewis draws some interesting comparisons with other forms of cultural involvement. He compares these two styles of reading with how some people interact with art and music. Just because one is in the literary "Few" does not mean that they are part of the "Few" in other venues.

Chapter five, "On Myth," is incredibly valuable in discussing myth as well as the value of modern genres such as Fantasy and Science Fiction. It is a wonderful area to start exploring what has come to be termed "Mythopoeic literature."

Another notable section is chapter seven which is a discussion of realism. Lewis' definition is broader than the usual. Personally, in changing my perception of what "realistic" fiction is, this chapter probably influenced me more than any other.

This is a book capable of changing the reader's view of culture. It is therefore of great value. I give it my heartfelt recommendation.

Typical of Lewis's deeper insight into things, his "Experiment" consists in a reversal of the usual method of literary judgement. Instead of classifying BOOKS, he classifies READERS and how they "use" or "receive" books. The true (unbiased) critic does not pontificate a judgement of 'good' or 'bad' upon a book without careful cosideration of the possible confusion between degrees of merit and differences of kind. "I want to convince people," says Lewis, "that adverse judgements are always the most hazardous... A negative proposition is harder to establish than a positive. One glance may enable us to say there is a spider in the room; we should need a spring-cleaning (at least) before we could say with certainty that there wasn't. When we pronounce a book good we have a positive experience of our own to go upon... In calling the book bad we are claiming not that it can elicit bad reading, but that it can't elicit good. This negative proposition can never be certain."

Central to his argument is the fact that the same book may be read in different ways. It follows then that there is a certain speculative nature to evaluative criticism, and therefore no amount of reliance upon literary criticism can absolve one from the responsibility of becoming a GOOD READER. And what is a good reader? Well, that is the question isn't it? In my opinion (and it is just that... an opinion) I feel that reading Lewis's "Experiment" can answer that question more effectively than anything I've ever come across. Read it, and see where you fit into Lewis's categories of the "literary" and the "unliterary" person (too lengthy to enumerate here). If at any point, you feel offended and want to hurl the book across the room... you are of the latter category.

Lewis deplored the technical dissection of what he loved so dearly... the simple act of reading. I loved his image in chapter 2 of the "status seeker" type of readers, gathered to discuss the finer (and, of course HIDDEN) points of "approved literature" while the only real literary experience in such a scenario "may be occurring in a back bedroom where a small boy is reading Treasure Island under the bed-clothes by the light of an electric torch."

Lewis sought in books (as he called it here) an "enlargement of his being". He says on page 52, "I am probably one of many who, on a wakeful night, entertain themselves with invented landscapes. I trace great rivers from where the gulls scream at the estuary, through the windings of ever narrower and more precipitous gorges, up to the barely audible tinkling of their source in a fold of the moors. But I am not there myself as explorer or even as tourist. I am looking at that world from outside." This is a terrific/significant book that will be read, re-read, and cherished by anyone who has ever had similar musings. Oh, and by the way... all GOOD readers have !

As a person whose life is dedicated to art in all its various incarnations, this has proved the single most enlightening work I have ever had the pleasure of reading. While it itself is literary criticism and in one sense not literature but a study thereof, it's the most radical, revolutionary book I have read regarding art. Before I can continue, one point needs to be cleared first.

I'm a Christian, and I believe the single most important priority is to lead people to the knowledge and saving grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. You can do such through art. However, anything that Lewis wrote that lead someone to Jesus is, of course, more important than this book in that respect. Jesus comes first, art comes underneath that in priority, as do all things. That being said:

AN EXPERIMENT IN CRITICISM is the single most important work C. S. Lewis has produced when it comes to literature and the arts. THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA, the SPACE TRILOGY, and TILL WE HAVE FACES are literature, but this overwhelms them all - not because of what it is (a universal principle that can be applied to art), but because of what it is not (a story or work of art that not everyone will have the same taste for). People may or may not like his fiction (although I find it rare to meet a person who doesn't like NARNIA) - but this book anyone can appreciate, especially those interested in literature in specific and art in general (for, although it concerns itself primarily with literature, this book also stands in defense of drama, music, painting, and the artistic endeavours of humankind in general). Because there are differing tastes in terms of fiction, people who will not read Lewis's own literature will (or should) read this. This element comes into play at the last chapter, where Lewis brings out how hard it is to take down a work with this apparatus, because, while you may not enjoy a work, others may. Literature is a very highly subjective experience.

CRITICISM's central argument rests in the fact that books should not be judged by some arbitrary critical analyses, but by what response it elicits in the reader. This book contains one of Lewis's famous quotes, at the end of the Epilogue: "But in reading literature I become a thousand men and yet remain myself." That is the central thesis of this work: not to approach a piece of literature, or movie, or painting, or drama, as something to experience and forget immediately afterward, but to enter into it, surrender to it, and approach it with an open mind. That is one thing that is so great about this book - even people who have prejudices against Lewis can read this work.

It also points out the central flaw in evaluative criticism: it may dominate and wipe away the chance at a reader appreciated the work for what it really is, and to experience it in the reader's own way. Lewis does not argue that all evaluative criticism is bad - there's a very human need, he says, to `compare notes', and that is normal, but to much has been given over to this `note comparison' and not enough to the actual work of art. People, especially students (Lewis was, by profession, a medieval literature professor), had quite a broad range of knowledge concerning Chaucerian and Shakespearian criticism and hardly any of Chaucer or Shakespeare (he cited this example at the end of the last chapter). To much has been given over to criticism.

Although I will continue to write reviews, this book has forever changed my approach. Lewis states that one can have an appreciation of a work without the critics, but one CANNOT have an appreciation of the critics without the author. Now I propose that all reviewers should read this book, and keep this in mind when writing. I certainly will. It is also my personal belief that anyone in universities who are studying literature should be required to read this book at the start of their very first semester, so they may examine their motives of precisely WHY they are in this study.

Indeed, the biggest tragedy of this book is, I fear, it is not highly enough read. Regardless of your views on C. S. Lewis, this is one book everyone should read who professes a love for art, and ESPECIALLY by all who write literary criticism. And while that profession does have a place in our world (where would academia be without it? `Publish or perish!'), it is superseded in importance by the art that it deals with, and we should first immerse ourselves in it, sometimes several times over, before we turn away and reach for that scholarly volume. And if it's a good work, it will only encourage you more to go to the work at hand and discover for yourself what the art can do for you. (Shippey's ROAD TO MIDDLE-EARTH is a good example of a well-written criticism). Lewis said one good element about criticism is, if the critics truly care for the art, the enthusiasm will be apparent, and it may cause you to read literature otherwise unknown to you. Also, a central element is the difficulty in producing condemnation to a work. It's a good case against censorship, because although a great work can be abused, it can also be used properly. One may classical images and use it as pornography - while one may look at it and fall in love with the Renaissance. Of course, PLAYBOY is mainly used for lust.

A side note: Pay close attention to the chapter on MYTH, which is a central element in both Tolkien and Lewis. This alone should make it required reading for anyone who study the lives of these two great Christian writers. This work also shows you the depth of versatility of how well-read C. S. Lewis actually was, and shows his phenomenal memory of such things.

Contents:

I The Few and the Many
II False Characterisations
III How the Few and the Many use Pictures and Music
IV The Reading of the Unliterary
V On Myth
VI The Meanings of Fantasy
VII On Realisms
VIII On Misreading by the Literary
IX Survey
X Poetry
XI The Experiment

Epilogue, Appendix

While this work is clearly a scholarly work, aimed at a scholarly audience, it is neither desirable that it be excluded from the modern scholar's library (because it is written by C.S. Lewis) or the amateur literary lover's library (because it is scholarly). In fact, this text is so lucid in analysis, so reasonable in proposition, and so erudite in perspective that it is a must for every English or Humanities undergrad or graduate student, and any person who desires a deeper understanding of literature.

Lewis examines what makes for beneficial reading and why. He does not judge; he merely describes. However, he does draw some startling conclusions (especially to the modern literary mind) as a result of his analysis-conclusions that are in many respects more applicable today than when they were first composed.

Regardless of the reader's agreement with Lewis' propositions, the mere journey through his critical process is an enrichment and a delight. I urge all serious students of literature to engage in the dialogue contained herein. It is well worth the effort.

--The Medieval Chick

According to Lewis, we judge a person's taste by what he or she reads. Instead, Lewis proposes an experiment: to judge literature by the way person read it. Thus, good literature is that which compels good reading.

Lewis begins his discussion of good reading by an analysis of viewing pictures and listening to music - to the experience of art generally. Of the two ways to experience art, receiving and using, receiving art is best because it helps us transcend ourselves. When we receive art we allow our senses to follow the pattern defined by the artist. The art thus enriches our life, allowing us to see or experience something foreign and new. On the other hand, when we use art, we are merely using it to confirm or facilitate ideas, feelings, and beliefs that we already hold. We have not allowed art to enrich our life.

Lewis mostly defines good reading by comparing it to bad reading. He, of course, describes in detail these habits. Ultimately, Lewis believes that we read literature to transcend ourselves, and yet paradoxically we are never more ourselves than when we do.

Like famed Canadian novelist Robertson Davies, C.S. Lewis believed that a great reader is someone who enters fully into the experience of the writer, who gives his whole attention to what he is reading, and who brings to a book a curiosity and a sympathy to surrender to the work on which the author is engaged. In this way, great reading is similar to love, moral action, and intellectual achievement. Even those who with whom we disagree can teach us to see the world through their eyes. As Lewis says, "in reading great literature I become a thousand men and yet remain myself." In this way, literature can enlarge ourselves and our view of the world. Lewis argues it is less important to decide between reading what is considered "high brow" versus "low brow" than it is to learn to read greatly. AN EXPERIMENT IN CRITICISM was a delightful book to read, chock full of illustrations to demonstrate the points being made. Avid readers will enjoy this book.

Despite the dry title, this book is a must-read for anyone whose life has been shaped by books. In AN EXPERIMENT IN CRITICISM, Lewis explores the experience of reading. He suggests that the majority of people "use" reading, for information, or entertainment, or distraction. Others use reading as a subject to be studied and become experts at technical criticism. But for some few people reading is a much more significant activity. Such people don't use the books they read; they receive them. They return over and over to the same books which provide "a sort of iconography by which they interpret or sum up their own experience." For such readers, reading changes the consciousness, and the experience of reading a particular book may be as significant as experiences of romance, or travel, or spiritual insight for other people. Lewis doesn't suggest that the few readers who have this experience of reading are more intelligent than the many who do not. Other people may create the iconography of their lives based on music, or visual art, or personal relationships. But for those few who read in the way Lewis describes here, reading is central to life. If reading is central to your life, you must experience this book.

Well-worth your time! Yes, Lewis is elitist, and yes, he creates a binary of sorts between the many and the few. However... talk about a fresh look at reader-response criticism!

Lewis argues that the best readers do not "use" texts to write their own stories within. Rather, the best readers are those who "receive" the text. In an era where ideology threatens literature and authors, Lewis offers a more noble route.

This book changed the way I read. And its not too long. =)

"You can't get a book long enough or a cup of tea big enough to suit me," C.S. Lewis once said. Well of course-- an Oxford and Cambridge prof. I'm the opposite: I should like a small cup and a brief book, preferably one with short chapters I can read at a sitting. This brief book doesn't fulfill Lewis' criteria, but it does mine. I also like to read slowly, with a book mark under the line, savoring every word. This book reads delightfully slow and is, oddly enough, a book about reading.

Given the fact that Lewis seems to be replying to some thesis or idea of which I am unaware, which is far more the case in The Abolition of Man, which many people nevertheless read with profit, and that one might question the very idea of a book about reading (who needs that?) this remains one of my favorite Lewis books and has done its work so well that I nearly cannot say why. What I do know is that it's entirely changed the way I read (and view reading), and made it a pleasure above TV and video games. I still don't desire to delve into thick tomes or to quaff large steaming cups of of Earl Grey, but this Oxford don has given my small small draughts and slim pages a deeper enjoyment.

C.S. Lewis is the very embodiment of the open-minded Christian, of which "An Experiment in Criticism" is perhaps the best example.

Many Christians today have what C.S. Lewis calls a "problem of belief." If they read books like "Harry Potter" at all (which they usually do not), they quickly voice their disagreement with certain ethical implications or their concern that the books incite dangerous magical practices (they also frequently voice their disagreement even when they have not read the books). Or they point out that God is totally left out of the picture.

Aside from the question whether such qualms are justified, C.S. Lewis would reply that in good reading there ought to be no "problem of belief." "A true lover of literature should be in one way like an honest examiner, who is prepared to give the highest marks to the telling, felicitous and well-documented exposition of views he dissents from or even abominates," says Lewis in "An Experiment in Criticism." "I read Lucretius and Dante at a time when (by and large) I agreed with Lucretius. I have read them since I came (by and large) to agree with Dante. I cannot find that this has much altered my experience, or at all altered my evaluation, of either."

In the book, C.S. Lewis maintains that one of the prime achievements in every good fiction "has nothing to do with truth or philosophy or a Weltanschauung" (worldview) at all. This is especially true of Lewis's favorite kind of fiction: fantasy. The primary value he saw in reading fantasy was not that he could learn truths about life but that through it he could be more than himself. He wanted to "see with other eyes, to imagine with other imaginations, to feel with other hearts," as well as with his own. Reality, even seen through the eyes of many, was not enough. He wanted to see what others had invented.

He would therefore (I think) have delighted to enter into the beliefs of J.K. Rowling or Philip Pullman, even though, as a Christian, he would have thought certain aspects of them untrue. His defense for doing this, "for occupying his heart with stories of what never happened and entering vicariously into feelings" which he tried to avoid having in his own person, was that in reading them he became "a thousand men and yet remained" himself. He saw "with a myriad eyes," but it was still he who saw. "Here, as in worship, in love, in moral action, and in knowing," he transcended himself; and was never more himself than when he did. "The man who is contented to be only himself, and therefore less a self, is in prison," he wrote.

It is needless to say that in this way C.S. Lewis learned much more from his reading than a person who looks in every book for truths about life, only to find on every page his own face staring at him. Such a person, says Lewis, "attributes to his chosen author what he believes to be wisdom; and the sort of thing that seems wise to him will obviously be determined by his own caliber. If he is a fool he will find and admire foolishness; if he is a mediocrity, platitude, in all his favourties. At best he is a profound thinker himself, and what he acclaims as his author's philosophy might in itself be good, but in reality be merely his own."

C.S. Lewis was not like that. He honestly tried to put himself into the shoes of the authors he was reading.

Whether or not you agree with C.S. Lewis's approach to reading, if you want to get to know Lewis the READER and not just the writer, "An Experiment in Criticism" is your prime source.

An admirable and provocative little book.

- Jacob Schriftman, Author of The C. S. Lewis Book on the Bible: What the Greatest Christian Writer Thought About the Greatest Book