In commemoration of Lewis’ eleventy-first birthday, Jerome de Groot, a professor at Manchester College, UK, writes to inspire people to recognize Lewis not only for being an great theological and philosophical thinker, but also for his literary creativity and depth. As he writes he reminds his readers of Lewis’ exceptional knowledge in both medieval literature and 16th century poetry, especially Spenser and Milton. Many people today he writes, dismiss Lewis as merely the writer of the series about the Pevensie children; and the most recent movies also seem to reduce his novels into entertaining depictions of their adventures. We have forgotten, Groot emphasizes, Lewis’ extraordinary talent, to weave both theological and philosophical aspects directly into his stories, in a way that made them simple for children to grasp. We have also forgotten that his literary genius is very much displayed in the way his novels resemble the great epic poems of old. Instead of regarding Lewis merely as the writer of entertaining literature, Groot concludes, we need to recognize him for the inspiring literary critic that he was. Happy eleventy-first Lewis!
To read Groot’s full story click here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2009/nov/27/cs-lewis
It may have changed since Cambridge ’94 CS Lewis Summer Institute, when the officer at Heathrow was bemused at my coming all the way from the US for Lewis. “A prophet is without honor in his own country.” He may be remembered again, for the books and movies, but what about all the rest, as you say? Well, Golding didn’t want to be remembered for “Lord of the Flies”, but that will almost surely be the only thing he’s remembered for.