Genre:
Non-Fiction / Literary
Non-Fiction / Literary
The Neglected C.S. Lewis
by Mark Neal & Jerry Root
| -From Goodreads- Readers who can quote word for word from C.S. Lewis’s theological classic, Mere Christianity, or his science fiction novel, Perelandra, have often never read his work as a professional literary historian. They may not even recognize some of the neglected works discussed, here. Mark Neal and Jerry Root have done students of Lewis a great service, tracing the signature ideas in Lewis’s works of literary criticism and showing their relevance to Lewis’s more familiar books. Their thorough research and lucid prose will be welcome to all who would like to understand Lewis more fully, but who feel daunted by books of such evident scholarly erudition. |  This Book received a 4 Bark rating.
|
For example, when you read The Discarded Image on the ancients’ view of the heavens, you understand better why Ransom has such unpleasant sensations when first descending toward Malacandra in Out of the Silent Planet. And when you come across Lewis’s discussion in OHEL of a minor sixteenth-century poet who described the hellish River Styx as a “puddle glum,” you can’t help but chuckle at the name when you meet the famous Marshwiggle in The Silver Chair. These are just two examples of how reading the “Neglected Lewis” can help every reader understand Lewis more fully.
ISBN-13: 9781640602946
Learn more about C.S. Lewis's love of books...
This is one book that will take some for me to digest. There was just so much information and I'll confess that it has taken me longer to read The Neglected C.S. Lewis than it should have. I found myself reading a bit, putting it aside, thinking about what I had read, and then picking it back up for a little bit more.
I picked up Mark Neal's and Jerry Root's book because I have long been curious about the genius of C.S. Lewis. My second confession is that out of his works I've only read The Chronicles Of Narnia, though I've read all but one of them multiple times, so they're the only ones I feel truly familiar with. However, while reading a biography of his friend and fellow Inkling, J.R.R. Tolkein, I learned a bit more about his vast knowledge and wide range of interests, which, of course, interested me. So, I wanted to know more and The Neglected C.S. Lewis admirably fit the bill.
As I said before, I'm still digesting the contents of the book, even though it is more of an easier to understand guide to some of Lewis's lesser known, and mostly scholarly, works. But, there were a few things that really stood out to me. The one that I feel is most important, at least for me personally, was Lewis's strong belief that we do a disservice to ourselves and the original authors when we try to view historical works through a modern viewpoint. It just doesn't work and we can never truly understand, or even enjoy, those older books if we do so. Other points include: not assuming that newer is better, not looking condescendingly at historical authors just because morals have changed or new information has been discovered, that we should not place authors or books or even historical eras into neat little labled boxes, that language is fluid so it's important to know where we've come from, and that we should take books as they are written without assuming that we know better than the author what was originally meant. There is so much, much more in the book that I can't go into here or this review will be a book in itself! Suffice to say, Mark Neal and Jerry Root have done an excellent job introducing readers to more of C.S. Lewis's work.
Tell Tale Book Reviews gives The Neglected C.S. Lewis by Mark Neal and Jerry Root a 4 Bark rating.
This is one book that will take some for me to digest. There was just so much information and I'll confess that it has taken me longer to read The Neglected C.S. Lewis than it should have. I found myself reading a bit, putting it aside, thinking about what I had read, and then picking it back up for a little bit more.
I picked up Mark Neal's and Jerry Root's book because I have long been curious about the genius of C.S. Lewis. My second confession is that out of his works I've only read The Chronicles Of Narnia, though I've read all but one of them multiple times, so they're the only ones I feel truly familiar with. However, while reading a biography of his friend and fellow Inkling, J.R.R. Tolkein, I learned a bit more about his vast knowledge and wide range of interests, which, of course, interested me. So, I wanted to know more and The Neglected C.S. Lewis admirably fit the bill.
As I said before, I'm still digesting the contents of the book, even though it is more of an easier to understand guide to some of Lewis's lesser known, and mostly scholarly, works. But, there were a few things that really stood out to me. The one that I feel is most important, at least for me personally, was Lewis's strong belief that we do a disservice to ourselves and the original authors when we try to view historical works through a modern viewpoint. It just doesn't work and we can never truly understand, or even enjoy, those older books if we do so. Other points include: not assuming that newer is better, not looking condescendingly at historical authors just because morals have changed or new information has been discovered, that we should not place authors or books or even historical eras into neat little labled boxes, that language is fluid so it's important to know where we've come from, and that we should take books as they are written without assuming that we know better than the author what was originally meant. There is so much, much more in the book that I can't go into here or this review will be a book in itself! Suffice to say, Mark Neal and Jerry Root have done an excellent job introducing readers to more of C.S. Lewis's work.
Tell Tale Book Reviews gives The Neglected C.S. Lewis by Mark Neal and Jerry Root a 4 Bark rating.
RSS Feed
