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23 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Conspiracy Theories for Lewis Fans, October 17, 2001
This review is from: Sleuthing C. S. Lewis: More Light in the Shadowlands (Paperback)
In _Sleuthing C.S. Lewis_, Kathryn Lindskoog carries on her crusade against Walter Hooper with all the balance and objectivity of a prosecuting attorney. Readers of Mrs. Lindskoog's earlier book _Light in the Shadowlands_ may find it useful to know that this latest book is not really a sequel but a modest revision. (Neither the Amazon website nor the Mercer University Press website mentions that fact.) The reason for the relatively low rating I gave _Sleuthing_ is that I don't think the way Mrs. Lindskoog presents her case is commensurate with the seriousness of her allegations. Unlike a real prosecuting attorney, Mrs. Lindskoog is able, and more than willing, to present information whose prejudicial effect outweighs its probative value. I don't see the point of the rumormongering that takes place on pages 90, 177, and 178, or the catty remark about Hooper's conversion that is included on page 179, for instance. For some time Lindskoog has been making insinuations about Hooper's sexual orientation, and those appear, if anything, to be getting more numerous. (As a small example, compare footnote 6 on page 58 of _Sleuthing_ to footnote 6 on page 55 of _Light_.) It would have been nice if Mrs. Lindskoog had said more about her methodology. She bridles at the charge that her theories are unfalsifiable, but the way that both similarities and dissimilarities between disputed and undisputed Lewis texts are used to bolster charges of forgery makes one wonder what sort of evidence she would accept as exculpatory. A.Q. Morton's identification of _The Dark Tower_ as a composite work is reported by Mrs. Lindskoog, but criticism of Morton's cusum technique by Michael Hilton, David Holmes, Pieter de Haan, and Erik Schils is not. There are probably few living scholars who know more about C.S. Lewis than Mrs. Lindskoog does. The first book about Lewis I ever bought was the 1981 edition of Lindskoog's _C.S. Lewis: Mere Christian_; I enjoyed it greatly. Looking back at that book, I see that while Mrs. Lindskoog now writes "The most far-fetched fantasy of 1977 may have been the idea that Lewis was the author of _The Dark Tower_", in 1981 she wrote that "Lewis unfortunately got only halfway through [_The Dark Tower_] . . . No one knows why Lewis gave up on this innovative story".
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11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
essential reading, November 17, 2001
By A Customer
Lindskoog leaves a comet-trail of controversy wherever she goes in Lewis studies, but nobody who is interested in the writings of C. S. Lewis can afford to be ignorant of the case she makes in this book and in its earlier version, _Light in the Shadowlands_. What, after all, _are_ the writings of C. S. Lewis? There appears to be legitimate doubt about the authorship of some of the posthumously-released material. _Sleuthing C. S. Lewis_ is an update and expansion of Lindskoog's earlier volume, and the text contains numerous additions. I thought it well worth the read, both to revisit the old material and to pick out the new. Also, this version has a much-needed index, unlike the earlier edition. The text is marred by an unusually large number of typographical errors, no doubt the result of being handled by a small university press. However, this book is an important one. It is civil yet witty in tone and packed with fascinating stuff. Buy, read, make up your own mind. (Or reserve judgement until more complete evidence is available, as the case may be.) These are important questions, and Lindskoog is the only writer on the market that treats them.
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9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
The pot to the kettle, October 14, 2004
This review is from: Sleuthing C. S. Lewis: More Light in the Shadowlands (Paperback)
This book is almost a disaster. Don't get me wrong---I think Walter Hooper is a nut, & someone has to point out the damage he's been doing to Lewis's literary estate for 40 years. To the extent Lindskoog does point it out, I appreciate her book. Unfortunately she's a bit of a nut herself. First, typographically the book is a mess. I've never seen so many typos in a published text; it looks like it was never proofread even once. This really obscures the meaning at times (for instance, when quoted passages are inconsistently indented so you can't tell where the quotation ends), and at best is distracting and frustrating. Second, Lindskoog overstates her case in every chapter. A few examples: The phrase "English public school" in The Dark Tower is not used by C.S. Lewis in his own person, but by a character who is a foreigner ... English people DO know about Benedict Arnold, and would be likely to reference him rather than Quisling while conversing with Americans ... The idea that Madeleine L'engle invented the "hive-and-brainwashed-drones" sci-fi cliche is insane .... The criticisms of The Dark Tower's prose are pendantic and inept; Lindskoog seems to have no inner ear and no understanding of alliteration, parallel phrases, or rhythym. Third, Lindskoog is very obviously (and clumsily) trying to write between the lines that Walter Hooper is gay. This smear is all the more despicable because she won't just say it outright (and explain why it's relevant). An anti-Hooper book should deal with his dishonesty, unscrupulous editing, and possible forgeries, but Lindskoog isn't satisfied with these and pushes her insinuations throughout (Hooper had a young male roommate; Hooper was briefly at a seminary that A.N. Wilson described as flamingly queer; Hooper and Owen Barfield produced a document with "blue restroom" jokes; Hooper, or someone who made a C.S. Lewis movie, was fond of boy-choirs; Hooper, according to "rumor," left this or that college "under a cloud," and more ... MUCH more). Do I need to point out that her hero, CSL, would never even begin to stoop so low? I'm not saying that you shouldn't look into it. If you don't know about the Hooper fiasco, it's worthwhile to read one of Lindskoog's books on the subject. But as a reviewer I just can't rate her work very high.
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