Customer Reviews

The Narnian: The Life and Imagination of C. S. Lewis

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Alan Jacobs, you did your homework for this one. That becomes apparent by the end of the introduction. I think I have probably read everything still in print about CSL, and what I appreciate about your book are the following: Your data is correct; there are no hazy vaguenesses ignored, all are fully "admitted" (I refer to events in the life of CSL about which biographers have always had to guess); and "put-downs" by modern authors, such as Philip Pullman, are answered. (That last mattered to me especially, as I resent terribly PP's reference to Narnian "drivel." Pettiness prompts me to remark about some of PP's own drivel, but I digress.)
Mr. Jacobs also handled the Joy Gresham era masterfully, considering how Hollywood, and the BBC, have managed to change it into something it never really seemed to be. Mr. Jacob's account, though admittedly speckled with his own personal guesswork, seems so much nearer the mark, so much more in keeping with the sense of CSL's personality we get through the previous bios.
Well done, Mr. Jacobs!

The Narnian is a literary/theological biography of C.S. Lewis. Although it covers the basic facts of Lewis' life as competently as any other biography, the real strength of Jacobs' work lies in the fascinating discussions of Lewis' thought processes and religious/literary development.

Jacobs makes no bones about his deep admiration for Lewis, which makes his work seem rather defensive when dealing with Lewis' critics. At times this defensiveness seems justifiable, especially when it is employed against critics like Philip Pullman who obviously haven't studied Lewis very thoroughly. At other times it seems rather overdone, as when Jacobs abruptly dismisses J.R.R. Tolkien's (one of Lewis' closest associates) critiques.

This is nevertheless a very satisfying work which will illuminate much for people who seek more information on Lewis' life, work, and theology.

. . . about this review -- and really wanted to give this book a fourth star. I just could not bring myself to do so, however!

First, I want to thank the publisher of "The Narnian" for the complimentary copy sent to me.

I, myself, have been a serious student of Lewis, having began reading his works more than 30 years ago (and an even more serious student of Tolkien, having begun reading HIS works more than 26 years ago.) I have given lectures and presented papers on the subject, and include a great deal of both Lewis and Tolkien in the classes I teach. I will probably be using this book as a secondary -- "SECONDARY" -- reference work in some of my classes. To this reviewer, it fails as a primary source.

"The Narnian" was presented as a "literary" biography. As such, I expected a great deal more literary criticism than actually appeared in the book.

"The Narnian", it is to be presumed, was supposed to place Lewis within the context of his great fictional creation -- the land of Narnia. Unfortunately, this was not the case.

The author, in his introduction, suggests that he will pass over much material which one might find in a traditional biography in order to concentrate on more literary concerns. Whether he succeeded in concentrating on literary concerns is for the reader to decide -- but he DID include most of the pertinent biographical information of Lewis' life -- the enormous majority of it having been presented elsewhere.

There were some things I learned from this book, much to my delight.

1) I was greatly interested to learn more of the background behind "The Abolition of Man" -- a text I require for my Introduction to Theology students. I will be substantially adding to my lecture notes thanks to what I learned.

2) I was greatly interested to learn of the background behind Lewis' debating partner with regard to "Miracles". I was under the impression that she was an atheist -- and was intrigued to learn that she was a practicing Catholic.

3) I was greatly interested to learn of the long correspondence between Lewis and an Italian priest -- now up for Canonization! I'm sure that Lewis must be pleased!

This being said, there were some significant detrations to this book, which prevent me from giving it a higher rating.

1) I'm uncomfortable with the author's use of previous biography. The biography of Lewis used most often, is A.N. Wilson's biography -- arguably the worst of the three most often cited. In the Introduction, the author praises the work of Walter Hooper (another major detraction for me) but the work by Green and Hooper is hardly mentioned. The best of the biographies -- "Jack" by George Sayer (who knew Lewis well for 29 years) is never mentioned -- and Sayer himself is only mentioned a couple of times in passing. In other words, the biography of the man who knew Lewis the best and the longest, is the biography which is ignored.

2) The author gets the relationship between CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien just plain wrong. It is fashionable these days to suggest that the friendship between these two men "crashed and burned" beyond repair -- and this is just not the case. Yes, their friendship went through several stages -- and had cooled off considerably toward the end of Lewis' life, but the author uses terms like "diseased" and suggests that the friendship ended completely upon Lewis' marriage. This is just not factually correct. Tolkien was, indeed, hurt and disapproving of Lewis' marriage -- but Tolkien's wife and Joy actually became good friends. Tolkien considered Lewis' death to be an "axe blow at the roots" and was one of the few present at the funeral.

3) In "The Abolition of Man", Lewis criticized the authors of "The Green Book" for engaging in amateur philosophy -- when they were supposed to be teaching English grammar. I submit that the author of "The Narnian" engaged in amateur pyschoanalysis when he was supposed to be providing literary criticism. I found his analysis of the relationship between Joy and Lewis to be tedious at best and condescending at worst. This is an especially egregious example of where the author should have consulted George Sayer's writings. Sayer was present at the very first meeting between Joy and Lewis, and was probably closer to the situation than any other of Lewis' friends.

4) Readers of my other reviews on Lewis will recall that I am particularly suspicious of Walter Hooper and strongly question the authenticity of some of what has been published by Hooper under Lewis' name. Indeed, over the past 20 years, much has been written on both sides of this debate. Questions of authenticity were raised only once in this book -- and dismissed with a sentence -- and without naming Hooper's chief detractor. Katherine Lindskoog's contributions to the study of Lewis and his writings should have at least been mentioned.

5) There are several instances in which careless factual errors are made -- errors which any reader of "The Chronicles of Narnia" will quickly pick up. For someone, like the author, who has spend a quarter-century studying Lewis, this sloppiness is inexcusable.

So there it is: a reasonably good effort, which I have praised when appropriate -- but also with significant flaws which seriously detract from the overall effort.

Three stars.

Does the world need another biography of C. S. Lewis? Probably not. Jacobs admits even that he did not need to write one -- it was his agent's fault. Still, he does a generally excellent job in this book. As another life-long reader of Lewis, who had already read several biographies and almost everything by Lewis several times over, I learned quite a bit from this biography. Having sampled several Lewis biographies, like a fan of Hamlet who waits impatiently for Polonius to appear on stage, one gets to like and enjoy reading about other characters just as much -- Lewis' brother, Warnie (who wrote at least one pretty good book, too), the dramatic character he married, and all those incredibly bright friends he hung around with and swilled beer. (A reprise, perhaps, of Chesterton's friendships with Shaw & Wells etc.)

What I really liked about this book was the good sense Jacobs brings to the project, and his own deep reading in many of the works and people that inspired Lewis. He swerves nimbly around the road-blocks that tumbled Wilson. True, he might have consulted Sayer. But he more than makes up for the occasional error in judgement or lapse in biographical expertise by offering frequent insight into dozens of works that were so much a part of Lewis' thought world. One gets the feeling that Lewis would have enjoyed talking with Jacobs.

Jacobs is careful to maintain a critical distance from his subject, (some fail here) though he obviously admires him much, which keeps the book from becoming cloying. One area I did not think that worked was the rather tiresome pages in which he takes Lewis to task for (essentially) failing to conform to 21st Century orthodoxy on sexual equality. Some of us (like Lewis) go to the books of another era precisely to take a break from the stale pieties of our own. And it is ludicrous to identify Orual with Minto -- could any two women be less alike? -- Jacobs almost lapses into cheap psychobabble here. But if a writer sheds important light on a subject, and does so with style, I am inclined to forgive him a few such lapses.

An obviously well-informed reviewer below finds more to complain about. I agree the title is a bit deceptive: the book is only occasionally about Narnia. I didn't think Jacobs was that far off, or negative, on the later Tolkien relationship. Nobody can know everything. Jacobs knows a lot, and pours much careful thought into this biography. It's also a pleasure to read.

The subtitle for the book is "The Life and Imagination of C.S. Lewis." There is quite a bit about the life of this writer; however, the background seems more on the psychological than the biographical. This doesn't make a bad book at all, but it may not be as straightforward as some would like.

There are a lot of parts of Lewis's life that I wasn't familiar with, and all that was provided here. There is a quick mentioning of the Inklings and Lewis's friendship with Tolkien. However, getting everything out of this book is not easy. I am not familiar with all of Lewis's works, which makes following this book a little more difficult. Given the extent to which the author here draws parallels to Lewis's life, the reader of this book needs to do some background research.

In different parts of the book, the author highlights theories from other authors about why Lewis did what he did. Towards the beginning, he explains why those authors may not have come to the right conclusion. This is interesting. Towards the end of the book, the disagreement with other authors becomes almost shrill. It was a little off-putting and made reading uncomfortable.

Overall, if you, like me, have little background with C.S. Lewis, this book will provide a good explanation. If you want to get the most out of this book, then you need to be more than familiar with his writing, the different Narnian Chronicles as well as his Christian writings.

As a life-long fan of C.S. Lewis, I was delighted to find this biography of the beloved author. Alan Jacobs has dedicated his biography of Lewis to the aspects most important in the author's life; therefore, it is not a straight-forward, chronological telling. Rather it is a mixed dish of biography, criticism and a little speculation into the life of one of the twentieth century's greatest writers and defenders of the Christian faith. This biography gives readers the best opportunity to meet the man who was C.S. Lewis; the Oxford don, the defender of his faith, the man for whom you could "never get a book long enough or a cup of tea big enough to suit" him.

There is much about C.S. Lewis that remains an enigma; there are aspects of his life that even those closest to him (such as his older brother Warnie) weren't given access to. And for such a famous, public figure, Lewis was happiest when he was left to himself, with a good book and a cup of tea. Much about him also seems contradictory; Lewis was a devout atheist who gradually came to believe in God and practice the tenets of Christianity, not necessarily because he wanted to, but because (intellectually) he knew that it was true. He would devote the rest of his life to defending his faith and instilling its virtues throughout his writings.

Lewis' writings are prolific and diverse and Jacobs has paid homage to all of them in his biography, by intertwining Lewis' life with his writings. Jacobs is frank when he comes to a topic that is mere speculation and thorough when examining the well-known facets of Lewis' life. "The Narnian" is an enjoyable read, best for those who are familiar with the wide array of Lewis' works; not just the Narnia tales, but his apologetics and his science fiction. The writings and the worlds of C.S. Lewis have sparked imaginations the world over, and will continue to do so as long as his legacy lives on; and as long as there is a child reading and encountering another world for the first time, the imagination behind the man will be at work.

Alan Jacobs does a great job in his biography of Lewis. A professor at Wheaton College in Illinois, Jacobs is extremely fair in his portrayal of Lewis. He does not gloss over the darker events of Lewis's life. Jacobs helps the reader connect the events that eventually led Lewis to a faith in Christ and to a career as a Christian apologist and writer.

Jacobs elaborates on the symbolism of some of Lewis's work, and explores many of Lewis's friendships with other well known people of his day including Tolkien. Tolkien had a great deal of influence on Lewis's journey of faith and to a lesser degree his writing.

Another aspect of the book that I appreciated was that Jacobs answered all questions I asked as I read the book. He ties events together clearly to illustrate the way Lewis thought. This biography does not delve much into his childhood or his marriage. Although, the author mentions specific events which he believed help shape Lewis's general outlook on life and his writing.

It is a shame that someone whose style of writing is as fine as Jacobs should nevertheless produce a book of sloppy scholarship and questionable pronouncements. On the plus side, Jacobs writing style is lively, he creates fine links between Lewis's written works and people/events from Lewis's life, and he gives interesting interpretations of Lewis's works in all the various literary genres in which he wrote.

However, this book receives a two-star rating for several reasons. First, the scholarship is sloppy: numerous factual errors are sprinkled throughout the book, everything from incorrectly labeled photos to wrong dates to incorrect medical information. (One can't help but think that the proofreaders at HarperSanFrancisco were sleeping on the job.) Second, Jacobs seems to be of the A.N. Wilson school of thought in which a biography is an attempt to psychoanalyze the dead by rummaging around through their literary productions and making pronouncements on the inner life (that are not uncommonly contrary to what the biographical subject claimed while alive). Third, while some of Jacobs' theological pronouncements were sound, there were others that seemed naive or just plain muddle-headed. More than anything, it was apparent that while the author has been reading Lewis for a long time, he hasn't read as widely as someone writing a biography should, for several of his opinions would be altered if he knew more about the subject (e.g., Jacobs writes, "The Pilgrim's Regress was C.S. Lewis's least successful book as he himself knew"; but in fact, Lewis did not acknowledge this to be the case; moreover, while some people thought the book unsuccessful, others thought well of it, including folks such as Norman Pittenger, A.N. Wilson, or J.I. Packer, the latter of whom thought it was the single best thing Lewis ever wrote. Certainly it was not the least successful of Lewis's books in terms of either sales or public opinion.)

Between the numerous factual errors, the lack of sufficient research, the theological absurdities, and the amateurish psychoanalysis, this book would have greatly benefited from some rather heavy-handed editing. The best I could say about it is that it is a decent-though-heavily-flawed book. Bottom line: if you want a reliable account of Lewis's writings, go with Walter Hooper's superb "C.S. Lewis Companion and Guide" or "The C.S. Lewis Readers' Encyclopedia" (ed. by Schultz and West); if you want a fine biography, read George Sayer's "Jack: C.S. Lewis and his Times". While Jacobs does do many things well, I'm afraid my pronouncement of "The Narnian" is a statement of Samuel Johnson's: "It is more from carelessness about truth than intentional lying that there is so much falsehood in the world."

This is a fascinating look at the man and the Chronicles: well-written, fun, imaginative, brilliant. Jacobs interweaves Jack's life with events in Narnia, to get at the deeper meaning of the story and of Christian understandings of God and hope and human destiny.

Jacobs has a keen appreciation of the role myth and story play for us all, and how the Christian message can be seen as the realization of the longing for a TRUE story that makes sense of our lives and our world. In this he follows Lewis & Tolkien & Chesterton: Life is an adventure, for us and for God, and our story can only be understood as part of God's story.

A book rich in wisdom, insight, and love for Narnia. Far superior to anything else written about Narnia and Lewis.

Alan Jacobs' book is insightful, outstandingly written and thoughtful. Due to the movie, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, one had to suspecta fresh horde of books would be printed and old ones re-printed and re-packaged. Being a fan of Lewis' works and already having quite a library of Lewis "stuff" I knew some would get some Lewis "stuff" for me (I can always count on Lewis, Batman, or Steelers gifts, and it is a great life). My Godfather got me Jack's Life and my wife gave me this one. Both these books compliment each other as Jack's Life is an intimate version of Lewis and this book is a biography, but not in the usual sense of a chronological narrative.

First, this book is more concerned with themes in Lewis' life and imagination than he is with strict chronology. This keeps the pace going, and why in one respct it reads like a chronological tale (at the end of the book, one will initially remember reading the life in chronology), in other ways, it is anything but, because one will remember certain themes that are prevelant in Lewis' life and works (his imagination, Christian transformation, and friendships).

Secondly, Jacobs also debunks many Lewis myths (C.E.B. Anscombe debate and the Mrs. Moore affair). Why not making hard fast conclusions, his overall pitcure moves the reader in a direction that captures the life and works of Lewis. I find it fascinating that Jacobs focus much time as Lewis of a man of honor and connects this to his love of literature (old books) and Christina transformation. Leiws was a dedicated man to his country, fellow man, "pen-pals", friends, and God. We observe the strain on his friendships at times and the strain on his life.

A great book.