This is a book written by someone who discovered Lewis through his writings, for others who have come to know Lewis in the same way. \u2026<\/p>\n
Why so? As Lewis emphasized throughout the 1930s, the important thing about authors is the texts<\/em> that they write. What really matters is what those texts themselves say. Authors should not themselves be a \u201cspectacle\u201d; they are rather the \u201cset of spectacles\u201d through which we as readers see ourselves, the world, and the greater scheme of things of which we are a part. Lewis thus had surprisingly little interest in the personal history of the great English poet John Milton (1608-1674), or the political and social context within which he wrote. What really mattered were Milton\u2019s writings\u2013his ideas.<\/em> The way Lewis believed we should approach Milton must be allowed to shape the way we in turn approach Lewis. Throughout this work, wherever possible, I have tried to engage with his writings, exploring what they say, and assessing their significance.<\/p><\/blockquote>\nUnfortunately, since I rarely read biographies, I was hoping that Dr. Alister McGrath would follow that approach much more than he actually did in C.S. Lewis\u2013A Life.<\/em> There were long swathes of the book where Lewis\u2019s life was the only story told and, honestly, I cared little for unvarnished biography without some concurrent literary engagement.<\/p>\nI realize this particular complaint is largely my own fault. To be fair, McGrath also says in his introduction that this is a critical biography and it is<\/em> called \u201cA Life\u201d so I should have been expecting a lot of biographical material. Unfortunately, McGrath was often more interested in setting chronology straight or identifying vague sources from letters or notes than in engaging with Lewis\u2019 writing.<\/p>\nI was interested in C.S. Lewis, like many Americans as it turns out, because my love of J.R.R. Tolkien\u2019s writing led to an interest in his famous friend and fellow Inkling. (The Inklings were an informal literary discussion group in which both took an active part when professors at Oxford University.) I have long been fascinated by Lewis\u2019s versatility as an author. Anyone who could write The Screwtape Letters, The Chronicles of Narnia, \u2018Til We Have Faces, Mere Christianity,<\/em> and A Grief Observed<\/em> had not only popular appeal but amazing range.<\/p>\nWhat I found revealed in C.S. Lewis\u2013A Life<\/em> was a complex person who was both an accomplished liar and a sincere Truth seeker, someone who was downcast upon discovering God was a real person and yet wrote inspiringly about the joy of faith, a man who carried on scandalous romances but whose commitments were sincere. In other words, Lewis was thoroughly human.<\/p>\nI recognized myself in him more than I care to admit, largely in the contradictions between my faults and my aspirations, somewhat in my blind spots, but most of all in my love of the way that story tells us Truth in a way that facts cannot.<\/p>\n
Lewis fits into a broader pattern at this tie\u2013the conversion of literary scholars and writers\u00a0through and because of their literary interests.<\/em>\u00a0Lewis\u2019s love of literature is not a backdrop to his conversion; it is integral to his discovery of the rational and imaginative appeal of Christianity. \u2026 Lewis\u2019s reading of the classics of English literature forced him to encounter and evaluate the ideas and attitudes that they embodied and expressed. And to his chagrin, Lewis began to realize that those who were grounded on a Christian outlook seemed to offer the most resilient and persuasive \u201ctreaty with reality.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\nI wasn\u2019t converted by literature but once that conversion took place I gradually began to see the layering of Truth within story in ways I couldn\u2019t before. McGrath is at great pains to point out how Lewis\u2019s fiction reflects Truth, albeit in a different way than Tolkien, of course.<\/p>\n
The contrast with Tolkien\u2019s Lord of the Rings<\/em> is important here. The complex and dark narrative of The Lord of the Rings<\/em> is about finding a master ring that rules the other rings\u2013and then destroying it, because it turns out to be so dangerous and destructive. Lewis\u2019s Chronicles of Narnia are about finding a master story that makes sense of all other stories\u2013and then embracing that story with delight because of its power to give meaning and value to life. Yet Lewis\u2019s narrative nevertheless subtly raises darker questions. Which story is the true story? Which stories are merely its shadows and echoes? And which are mere fabrications\u2013tales spun to entrap and deceive?<\/p><\/blockquote>\nAs someone who came to the Chronicles of Narnia as an adult and also before my conversion, I find McGrath\u2019s commentary upon Lewis\u2019s fiction particularly helpful. I haven\u2019t yet tried the Ransom Trilogy which is science fiction, but this will undoubtedly help when I do.<\/p>\n
Anyone interested in Lewis\u2019s writing will find fascinating information in sections of this book. Those also coming to it with an interest in Lewis\u2019s actual life will probably really love it. That I didn\u2019t was, as I mentioned, due to my own interests and is no fault of the authors.<\/p>\n
NOTE: I wrote this for the Patheos Book Club. Publishers pay for the Patheos Book Club<\/a> to feature their books \u2026 and I received a review copy free. However, my opinions are my own and I love or hate a book on its own merits.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This is a book written by someone who discovered Lewis through his writings, for others who have come to know Lewis in the same way. \u2026 Why so? As Lewis emphasized throughout the 1930s, the important thing about authors is the texts that they write. What really matters is what those texts themselves say. Authors […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":359,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[293,216,343],"class_list":["post-1580","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-review","tag-biography","tag-c-s-lewis","tag-patheos-book-club"],"yoast_head":"\n
C.S. Lewis--A Life by Alister McGrath<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This is a book written by someone who discovered Lewis through his writings, for others who have come to know Lewis in the same way. \u2026 Why so? As Lewis\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/2013\/03\/c-s-lewis-a-life-by-alister-mcgrath\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"C.S. Lewis--A Life by Alister McGrath\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This is a book written by someone who discovered Lewis through his writings, for others who have come to know Lewis in the same way. \u2026 Why so? As Lewis\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/2013\/03\/c-s-lewis-a-life-by-alister-mcgrath\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Happy Catholic Bookshelf\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-03-09T17:36:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-03-11T19:45:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Julie Davis\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Julie Davis\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/2013\/03\/c-s-lewis-a-life-by-alister-mcgrath\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/2013\/03\/c-s-lewis-a-life-by-alister-mcgrath\/\",\"name\":\"C.S. Lewis--A Life by Alister McGrath\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-03-09T17:36:16+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-03-11T19:45:36+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/#\/schema\/person\/66884f5929b085c38fcaa90ade35710d\"},\"description\":\"This is a book written by someone who discovered Lewis through his writings, for others who have come to know Lewis in the same way. \u2026 Why so? As Lewis\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/2013\/03\/c-s-lewis-a-life-by-alister-mcgrath\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/2013\/03\/c-s-lewis-a-life-by-alister-mcgrath\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/2013\/03\/c-s-lewis-a-life-by-alister-mcgrath\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"C.S. Lewis–A Life by Alister McGrath\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/\",\"name\":\"Happy Catholic Bookshelf\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/#\/schema\/person\/66884f5929b085c38fcaa90ade35710d\",\"name\":\"Julie Davis\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9827ca9a07b8e2c264179ab4c5870ccb?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9827ca9a07b8e2c264179ab4c5870ccb?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Julie Davis\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/author\/juliedavis\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"C.S. Lewis--A Life by Alister McGrath","description":"This is a book written by someone who discovered Lewis through his writings, for others who have come to know Lewis in the same way. \u2026 Why so? As Lewis","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/2013\/03\/c-s-lewis-a-life-by-alister-mcgrath\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"C.S. Lewis--A Life by Alister McGrath","og_description":"This is a book written by someone who discovered Lewis through his writings, for others who have come to know Lewis in the same way. \u2026 Why so? As Lewis","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/2013\/03\/c-s-lewis-a-life-by-alister-mcgrath\/","og_site_name":"Happy Catholic Bookshelf","article_published_time":"2013-03-09T17:36:16+00:00","article_modified_time":"2013-03-11T19:45:36+00:00","author":"Julie Davis","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Julie Davis","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/2013\/03\/c-s-lewis-a-life-by-alister-mcgrath\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/2013\/03\/c-s-lewis-a-life-by-alister-mcgrath\/","name":"C.S. Lewis--A Life by Alister McGrath","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-03-09T17:36:16+00:00","dateModified":"2013-03-11T19:45:36+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/#\/schema\/person\/66884f5929b085c38fcaa90ade35710d"},"description":"This is a book written by someone who discovered Lewis through his writings, for others who have come to know Lewis in the same way. \u2026 Why so? As Lewis","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/2013\/03\/c-s-lewis-a-life-by-alister-mcgrath\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/2013\/03\/c-s-lewis-a-life-by-alister-mcgrath\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/2013\/03\/c-s-lewis-a-life-by-alister-mcgrath\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"C.S. Lewis–A Life by Alister McGrath"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/","name":"Happy Catholic Bookshelf","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/#\/schema\/person\/66884f5929b085c38fcaa90ade35710d","name":"Julie Davis","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9827ca9a07b8e2c264179ab4c5870ccb?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9827ca9a07b8e2c264179ab4c5870ccb?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Julie Davis"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/author\/juliedavis\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1580","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/359"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1580"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1580\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1580"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1580"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1580"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}