Studies in Medieval Renaissance Literature [Paperback]

Lewis (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 052129701X | ISBN-13: 978-0521297011 | Publication Date: January 31, 1980

This entertaining and learned volume contains book reviews, lectures, and hard to find articles from the late C. S. Lewis, whose constant aim was to show the twentieth century reader how to read and how to understand old books and manuscripts.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Another side of Lewis's witty, lucid intellect is revealed in this 1966 collection, now returned to print. Its 14 papers deal with Spenser, Dante, Malory, Tasso and Milton, and with such other topics as the medieval talent for reworking old books into something fresh and original." The New York Times --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Book Description

'Another side of Lewis's witty, lucid intellect is revealed in this 1966 collection, now returned to print. Its 14 papers deal with Spenser, Dante, Malory, Tasso and Milton, and with such other topics as the medieval talent for reworking old books into something fresh and original.'The New York Times'A remarkable intellect turns to the work of Spenser, Dante, Malory, Tasso and Milton. The 14 essays provide insight into medieval life as well as medieval literature.'Philadelphia Inquirer --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 206 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press (January 31, 1980)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 052129701X
• ISBN-13: 978-0521297011
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,898,798 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Clive Staples Lewis (1898-1963), known as Jack to his friends, was one of the intellectual giants of the twentieth century and arguably the most influential Christian writer of his day. He was a Fellow and Tutor in English literature at Oxford University until 1954, when he was unanimously elected to the Chair of Medieval and Renaissance English at Cambridge University, a position he held until his retirement. His major contributions in literary criticism, children's literature, fantasy literature, and popular theology brought him international renown and acclaim. Lewis and his good friend J. R. R. Tolkien, the author of the The Lord of the Rings, were part of the Inklings, an informal writers' club that met at a local pub to discuss story ideas. Lewis's fascination with fairy tales, myths, and ancient legends, coupled with inspiration drawn from his childhood, led him to write The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, one of the best-loved books of all time. Six further books followed to become the immensely popular The Chronicles of Narnia. The final title in the series, The Last Battle, won the Carnegie Medal, one of the highest marks of excellence in children's literature. His other distinguished and popular accomplishments include Out of the Silent Planet, The Four Loves, The Screwtape Letters, and Mere Christianity.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

55 of 55 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars C. S. Lewis at Work, September 4, 2001

By 

Bowen Simmons (Sunnyvale, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Literature (Canto) (Paperback)

Lewis's fame as a writer of Christian apologetics, fantasy, and science fiction is such that it's easy to forget his day job: professor of medieval literature first at Oxford then Cambridge.

Although his professional output was fairly modest in quantity, in quality it enjoys a high reputation. His longer works include "The Allegory of Love", "English Literature in the Sixteenth Century", "Studies in Words", and "The Discarded Image". In addition to these, he also wrote a number of short works, which are published in this volume. To aid readers, I've listed the table of contents below:

Preface (by Walter Hooper)

"De Audiendis Poetis

"The Genesis of a Medieval Book"

"Imagination and Thought in the Middle Ages"

"Dante's Similes"

"Imagery in the Last Eleven Cantos of Dante's Comedy"

"Dante's Statius"

"The Morte Darthur"

"Tasso"

"Edmund Spenser, 1552-99"

"On Reading the Faerie Queene"

"Neoplatonism in the Poetry of Spenser"

"Spenser's Cruel Cupid"

"Genius and Genius"

"A Note on Comus"

Additional Editorial Notes

Index

None of these works are available in any other in-print collection (unusual for Lewis - his other shorter works have been collected multiple times in a variety of overlapping collections). As such, for those interested in the subject matter, this collection is highly recommended.

A second important collection of Lewis's writings as a literary critic is "Selected Literary Essays", which unfortunately is out of print and very hard to find. Another such collection to consider, (largely concerned with the science fiction and fantasy genres), is "On Stories, and Other Essays". That work is readily available.

Finally, those with a general interest in Lewis's shorter works may also want to get "Essay Collection and Other Short Pieces", which, as of the time of this writing, is available from Amazon UK but not Amazon US. That collection consists of about 130 short works by Lewis. While the collection centers around his writings on Christianity, it also includes a number of works of literary criticism, including all the works in "Of Other Worlds: Essays and Stories".

33 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Uneven in several ways, but always thought-provoking, October 19, 2002

By 

Ken Smith "Would-be Theologian" (Woodinville, WA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Literature (Canto) (Paperback)

Like nearly all of those books which consist of essays gathered and published only after the author's death, this particular collection is a bit uneven. By this I mean not merely that some pieces are better than others, but that they are of very different sorts. Some are written for those (like myself) who know very little about Medieval culture and who need to be instructed. "Imagination and Thought in the Middle Ages" is of this type. (Lewis also covers this material in more depth in The Discarded Image, though it's a bit easier reading and a little less intimidating here.) The same is also true of his biographical essay on "Edmund Spenser": you can read (and enjoy) the essay without having read one word of Spenser.

Other essays are much more detailed and are really aimed at the specialist. Lewis' several essays on Dante are of this sort: they are characterized by a marked lack of translation from the Italian (or Anglo-Saxon or Latin or . . . ). I suspect that to other specialists, these would be interesting and engaging. I'm no such specialist, and can't judge them from that perspective. I certainly found them to be informative, especially if you consider that nearly all of what Lewis had to say was, as they say, "information to me". If you're interested in Lewis for apologetic or theological reasons, these essays will open your eyes to what Lewis himself saw as the center of his career -- but even there, I would probably recommend starting with The Discarded Image or A Preface to Paradise Lost. Both of those are more disputational in nature (if much less so than his overtly theological works), and hence more likely to hold a dabbler's interest.

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Literature, February 18, 1998

By 

David Graham (Shell, Ecuador) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Studies in Medieval Renaissance Literature (Paperback)

This posthumous collection of Lewis papers provides eclectic discussions of people and books that come under the category of medieval and renaissance literature. Each chapter was originally given as a speech, with most created for the medieval specialist, not the general reader, so the target audience is somewhat narrow. Enjoyable reading if this is your field of interest.