C S Lewis Centenary Group

Number 14: July 1998

Monthly from the C S Lewis Centenary Group

11 Raglan Road, Bangor, Co Down BT20 3TL, Northern Ireland.

Web site: http://www.d-n-a.net/users/cslewis/

E-mail: cslewis@dnet.co.uk (editorial) and coiace@iol.ie (subscriptions)

The great Christian writer, C S Lewis, was born in Belfast on 29th November 1898. The C S Lewis Centenary Group formed in 1994, so that Lewis’s native land might suitably celebrate his Centenary in 1998.

19 July IN JULY.

* July 6^th -1930, Warren and C. S. Lewis saw the Kilns, their future home for the rest of their lives, for the first time. It was for sale at £3,500, and they knew this was a wonderful opportunity.

* July 11^th - 1964, Warren Lewis dreamed that his brother C. S. Lewis came to him and asked for his prayer book.

* July 12^th - 1910, C. S. Lewis felt that he was moving into a life of bliss when he was released from his nightmarish boarding school in Malvern. The escape was a dream come true.

* July 21^st - 1940, C. S. Lewis got his idea for writing 'The Screwtape Letters' during a Sunday church service.

* July 29^th - 1913, C. S. Lewis published his first poem. 'Quam Bene Saturno', in the Cherbourg School magazine when he was 14 years old.

* July 31^st - 1944, J. R. R. Tolkien wrote to his son Christopher that he thought the hero of C. S. Lewis's first two science fiction novels was a portrait of himself.

-from 'Around the Year with C. S. Lewis and his Friends', by Kathryn Lindskoog (out of print), reprinted in 'C. S. Lewis Journal', ed Susan Wavre, Eagle, Guildford, 1998, by permission of Kathryn Lindskoog.

MEMORIAL PLAQUE AT LEWIS'S BIRTHPLACE

On a sunny Tuesday 16th June the Lord Mayor of Belfast, Cllr David Alderdice, unveiled a memorial plaque at Dundela Villas ( now Dundela Flats) in Belfast, birthplace of C. S. Lewis. The Lord Mayor is a graduate of Magdalen College, Oxford, and a Lewis enthusiast. Co-incidentally, 16^th June was the 103^rd anniversary of the birth in Dundela Villas of C. S. Lewis's brother, Warren.

Cllr Alderdice remarked: 'I have a personal fondness for CS Lewis having, as a youngster, read avidly his famous Chronicles of Narnia. I now have the opportunity of introducing my own little boy Matthew to the world of Narnia. And for two years I lived with the sound of the bell tolling at Magdalen College, Oxford, where Lewis spent a large part of his life.

Lewis became one of the greatest Christian writers of our century, and to represent the Victoria ward where he was born and grew up is a privilege. He never lost his love for his native land, returning frequently, and I intend to play my part in making sure that Belfast people realise they have this proud heritage. I congratulate the CS Lewis Centenary Group for placing the plaque and for their new CS Lewis Trail brochure.'

Sponsors of the Plaque, which describes Lewis as 'Author and Christian apologist', were local solicitors, Mervyn Bates and David Gaston. A photograph appeared in the local press, which may be seen, with other images, on our web site under 'Images'.

TRAIL BROCHURE Enquirers in the United Kingdom and in North America may obtain copies of the newly-published brochure 'The C S Lewis Centenary Trail in Belfast and North Down' free of charge. Write, enclosing a stamped, addressed, 6"x9" (A5) envelope to:

* United Kingdom: TRAIL BROCHURE, Ace Ventures, 214 Holywood Road, Belfast BT4 2DH. The envelope should have a 26p stamp, best the new C. S. Lewis stamp.

* North America: Write to Donna J. Christensen, Omega Productions, P.O. Box 822643, Dallas, TX 75382. The envelope should have 55 cent stamps (US). For Canada, the envelope should have 72 cent stamps (US), or enclose an "International Reply Coupon" for 72 cents US, which you can buy at Canadian Post Offices.

STAMP The 26p C. S. Lewis stamp was issued on 21^st July, along with the other stamps in the MAGICAL WORLDS series.

VISIT Professor Wayne Martindale, Professor of English Literature at Wheaton College, Illinois, brought a party of 18 students from Wheaton College to Belfast on 27 June. Mr Tony Wilson entertained the group. Professor Martindale writes;

'Thanks so much for your care for us--the entire Wheaton group. We had a grand time with Tony Wilson, who prepared most thoroughly and helped us see Lewis as an Ulsterman who was very much shaped by his native environment. I only wish we had had more time.'

TEACHING MINISTRY Rev Perry Bramlett has been associated with C S Lewis News for some time. He writes; 'If anyone is interested in bringing Lewis to your church, college or group, please drop me a line.

My teaching ministry on Lewis started in 1989, and has been taken to churches in 9 denominations in 15 states... As far as I know (and have been told) I'm the only person in the U.S. who teaches Lewis to churches and groups as a full-time vocation (I wish there were more)... I conduct seminars, book studies, retreats, and THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA for children, and offer over 70 different teaching topics, including introductory, advanced, and sermons/addresses... I also bring much Lewis memorabilia to all seminars/retreats, including books, pictures, posters, films, and other displays, plus handouts.'- Rev. Perry C. Bramlett, C. S. LEWIS FOR THE LOCAL CHURCH - INTERSTATE MINISTRIES, 123 Bonner Avenue, Louisville, KY 40207. Tel: 502-897-7457 E-mail: cslewis@pbramlett.win.net

* FORTHCOMING EVENTS

BELFAST CONFERENCE 'CS Lewis: Saint and Scholar' 5^th -8^th August

Dr John Gillespie writes: 'A Centenary Conference to celebrate the birth of CS Lewis is to be held in his native Belfast, in Northern Ireland, at Queen's University. The Conference, organised by the University of Ulster, the Queen's University of Belfast and the Irish Christian Study Centre, will include sessions aimed at non-specialists and the general public. Keynote speakers include Rev. Walter Hooper, Colin Duriez, Dr Bruce Edwards and Rt. Hon David Bleakley.

Papers will consider CS Lewis as Apologist, Theologian, Children's Writer and Novelist. His impact, his life and the neglected area of the influence of Ireland on his writings will also be considered.

In addition to the conference papers, two of the main attractions will be the CS Lewis Trail (Thursday 6th), when conference participants will be guided round the important places in his early life in Belfast, and a trip round key Lewis sites in North Down (Tuesday 4th.

A CS Lewis Tour (Saturday 8th) which will take participants to those places in Counties Antrim, Londonderry and Donegal he knew and loved both in his early and later life, and which had such an important effect upon his imagination. Early arrivals will also be able to take in the slide/photo session on CS Lewis and.

The cost of the conference (excluding food and accommodation) will be £60 sterling.

Accommodation will be available in Queen's University Student Residences (£18 sterling per night, bed and breakfast) or alternatively in hotels in the vicinity of Queen's.

Late papers. Please supply an abstract of up to 300 words for a paper to last 30 minutes.'

Contact: Dr John Gillespie, Conference Organiser, CS Lewis: Saint and Scholar, School of Languages and Literature, Faculty of Humanities, University of Ulster at Coleraine, Northern Ireland, BT52 1 SA (Phone 01265/324578 or 324636 or 823630; e-mail: JH.Gillespie@ulst.ac.uk).

WE HOPE SOON TO HAVE THE FULL APPLICATION ON OUR WEB SITE-ED.

EVENTS ASSOCIATED WITH BELFAST CONFERENCE

The C S Lewis Centenary Group announces;

* Tuesday 4 August: Tour of Northern Co Down, leaving at 2 pm, back by 6 pm. Costs depend on numbers interested. Open to the general public, but Conference registrants will have priority.

* Tuesday 4 August: Slide show 'C S Lewis and Belfast'. Evening.

* Thursday 6 August: A Guided Tour of the C. S. Lewis Trail in Belfast for Conference registrants, 3 pm

LYNCHBURG CONFERENCE 8-11 October

Vic Uotinen writes:'We are especially looking forward to our C.S. Lewis Fall Conference with Lyle Dorsett and Jerry Root of Wheaton College. Theme for the fall conference is : "A Call to Deeper Discipleship --- The Challenge to Live as People Who Are Thoroughly Converted to Christ". We are also enthusiastically preparing for our performances (8 November) of a musical version of NARNIA.' Contact-Vic Uotinen, Director of Ministries, Rivermont Presbyterian Church 2424 Rivermont Avenue, Lynchburg, VA 24503, USA. Phone: 804-846-3441 Fax: 804-846-1002 E-mail: vuotinen@aol.com or vuotinen@framatech.com

LEWIS SEMINAR 9^th-11^th October

Rev Steve Hayhow writes; 'The programme for the 1998 Annual Christian Training Seminar is-

* Friday 9th October, 19.30, Dr David Estrada, Prof. of Aesthetics, University of Barcelona, Spain, "The CS Lewis Centennial: An Appraisal"

* Sat. 10th Oct 10:00 - 17:00, Dr David Estrada, Dr Nick Needham, Central Baptist Church, Rev Stephen J Hayhow, Covenant Reformed Presbyterian Church. Various lectures on the arts, the Reformation of Worship and 12th century church. Admission £5/family/individual

* Sunday 11^th Oct 11:00 Rev Stephen J Hayhow, Covenant Reformed Presbyterian Church, Reformation of Worship: (2).

Venue for all events: Covenant Reformed Presbyterian Church, St. Mary's Church Hall, Lindley Road, LONDON E10 6BS. Contact: Steve Hayhow 0181-925 3063 or email sjhayhow@aol.com Website: http//:www.angelfire.com/co/cov/index.html

ROYAL SHAKESPEARE COMPANY PRODUCTION OF 'THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE' 21 Nov 1998 onwards

Directed by Adrian Noble, dramatised by Adrian Mitchell, designed by Anthony Ward. In repertory 24 Nov 1998-27 Feb 1999, then transfers to London. Tel: RSC, Stratford-on-Avon (01789) 295623

*REPORTS

SEATTLE CONFERENCE 19-21 June. Dr John West writes; There were 24 speakers over two days, and around 360 people attended.

Highlights included a dramatic reading of Peter Kreeft's "Between Heaven and Hell," an imaginary dialogue between Lewis, Aldous Huxley, and John F. Kennedy [who all died on 22^nd Nov 1963-Ed]; a book party celebrating the release of *The C.S. Lewis Readers' Encyclopedia,* which made its debut at the conference; a session featuring Dr. M. A. Manzalaoui, who was a student of Lewis's at Oxford from 1945-48; the presentation by Don King of archival research illuminating the relationship between Lewis and English poetess Ruth Pitter (including a traditional Anglican Evensong service; and the staging of the play "Busman's Honeymoon," which was written by Lewis's friend Dorothy Sayers.

Conference sessions examined all facets of Lewis's life and work, and they explored Lewis's legacy for the twenty-first century. The conference ended with a session on how Christians can work to create the C.S. Lewises of our own generation.

TRAIL Some 12 people attended the Guided Tour of the C. S. Lewis Trail on 18 July.

* RESEARCH

MEETINGS

'THE CHRISTIAN LIBRARIAN', Journal of the Librarians' Christian Fellowship. Issue No. 22, 1998, has an article by Colin Duriez, originally given by Duriez as the Librarians' Christian Felllowship Annual Public Lecture on 8 Nov 97 in York.

Duriez writes, 'I wish I had been a fly on the wall when Billy Graham met C. S. Lewis during his Cambridge mission of 1965, or when Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones met him."

Duriez adds that Christopher Catherwood, Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones's grandson, gave him information about little-known meetings with C S Lewis. Duriez quotes Catherwood:

"My great uncle Sir Vincent Lloyd-Jones knew Lewis and before his conversion. (He was Anglo-Catholic, greatly influenced by Chesterton). C S Lewis and my grandfather [Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones-Ed] first met in the 1930s, through him. Lewis had been very depressed about reviews of THE PLGRIM'S REGRESS. Uncle Vin knew that my grandfather loved the book, so introduced the two of them to cheer Lewis up. This worked dramatically, since Lewis was moved to tears on hearing of my grandfather's love and appreciation of the book. They next met 20 years later, on the boat to Northern Ireland (my mother Elizabeth was there as well - now Lady Elizabeth Catherwood). They seemed tohave chatted for hours! My mother though has no special memories of how Lewis reacted, other than the fact that they greatly enjoyed talking to each other.

Lewis notably also spoke at a 'This is Life' Crusade at Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones's Westminster Chapel in London. According to an eye-witness, Stephen F Olford, Lewis gave a convincing testimony of his own commitment to Jesus Christ. Lewis's talk was followed by a gospel invitation from Olford, which received a substantial response."

1. N. WILSON

Lewis's biographer continues to excite controversy. Kathryn Lindskoog writes;

'As a "Wilson-watcher" since 1990 I have leant much about Wilson from my reading of a variety of clippings and articles from England, various public interviews, and first-hand experience.

Of course people enjoy his writing! He has made a fortune out of his writing because he is extremely audacious, smart, talented, entertaining, prolific, and convincing. He has such prodigious energy that he is a highly successful novelist, a totally unprincipled celebrity journalist (a tabloid type newspaper and TV personality), and a pseudo-scholar who passes for the real thing. He is the prototypical "Peck's Bad Boy" of journalism, and exactly what is meant by the British idiom "too clever by half." In U.S. terms, he is laughing all the way to the bank.

Like everyone else, I had assumed that Wilson's Lewis biography would be honest. (He says he wrote it at the request of Walter Hooper and HarperCollins.) But as soon as I read the preview of his preface in the NEW YORK TIMES I saw that something was terribly wrong. He says on pages xiv-xv of his preface that since the central thesis of my C. S. LEWIS HOAX was disproved, he didn't think it would be published in Great Britain "though it was bought by a British publisher at the Frankfurt Book Fair in 1988." (That is complete fabrication.) He stated that experts had proved the DARK TOWER manuscript in the Bodleian is genuine. (Complete fabrication.) He claimed that I wrongly mistook Hooper's title THEY STAND TOGETHER for pederastic argot and that HOAX is a diatribe, one of the most vitriolic personal attacks on a fellow scholar he ever read. Readers acquainted with Wilson's journalistic impishness are apt to recognize playful self-mockery in that charge, but those who don't know about his personality are apt to take him seriously. I sent him a letter in plenty of time for him to correct these errors, but he ignored me.

Before I finished his clever poison-pen biography I saw that from the start it was written by an anti-Christian as an underhanded attack on Christianity. In an interview after it came out Wilson claimed that researching Lewis had destroyed his [alleged] Christianity. I say balderdash! He has a chameleon quality, and what you see is often not what you get. According to his critics, sensational switches have been his stock in trade all along. (It is perfectly legal to make these charges, and they are not original with me.)

I discovered a second passage about myself on pp. 236-237. He said I had attended Wheaton College (I didn't) and was a penfriend of Lewis's (I wasn't) who wanted to marry him (I didn't). He said that I wrote to Lewis from a London hotel (I didn't) and that I was mystically married to Lewis in a library once (I wasn't). He even suggested that I considered 46 a magic number, and that after my own marriage I still hoped to marry Lewis. Being fictionalized by a famous novelist is a heady experience; but I wish he had made me into something exciting, like a communist spy, instead of a garden-variety nut case like the woman he described before me who signed herself "Jehovah."

I could have won a libel case hands down, if I had had the money to outlast the publisher's corporate lawyers; but after all, the experience had its comical side, which I enjoyed. On the other hand, there was nothing funny about Wilson's malicious portrayal of C. S. Lewis. So I immediately wrote a review for MYTHLORE listing well over 40 specific errors and outright falsehoods about Lewis. I can send an e-mail copy to people who want it. Since then Jonathan Brewer of England has compiled a list of several hundred Wilson errors.

Here is a more recent Wilson quote from the TIMES of London: "At Wheaton College in Illinois, where they are rather stupid fundamentalists, they have made C. S. Lewis into a god. They think he gives intellectual support for their prejudices." See what I mean?'

C. S. LEWIS'S WILL

Recently the Centenary Group has secured a copy of C. S. Lewis's will, a public document, found among legal documents in Belfast. Some points to emerge;

* Lewis owned property in Belfast at the time of his death

* Lewis devotes as much attention to the disposal of the portraits of his two grandfathers as to the disposal of his copyrights - the last must have generated an income stream of many millions of dollars over the years. [The portrait of Lewis's maternal grandfather may be seen today at St Mark's Church, Dundela, Belfast, in the Heyn Hall, as Lewis stipulated in his will.]

* Lewis may have donated over two-thirds of his income from his writing to charity. Yet there is no provision for charitable giving in his will.

Lewis signed the will on 2nd November 1961. His witnesses were M. Miller, 15 Kiln Lane, and E. Stowell, 22 Chestnut Avenue, both in Headington, Oxford. The named executors were Arthur Owen Barfield and Alfred Cecil Harwood.

SEARCH

The current issue of SEARCH magazine, a theological journal of the Church of Ireland, has an article by Professor Frank Kastor of Witchita State University, who quotes Rev Cosslet Quinn, a former Rector of St Mark's, Dundela:

'I still remember from one occasion when I met C. S. Lewis, seeing the flash in his eyes as he spoke of the two-thousand-year-old Epic of Cuchulain, and what it ought to mean for an Ulsterman.'

Professor Kastor observes as well the amazing parallel between the geography and landscapes of Narnia and those of the Ulster that Lewis knew as a boy, which (Kastor claims) can be seen easily on Lewis's own map or on the one drawn by Pauline Baynes. Kastor quotes from p 174 of 'The Magician's Nephew', adding his comments in brackets.

"All Narnia, many-colored with lawns and rocks and heather and different sorts of trees, lay spread out below them; the river winding through it like a ribbon of quicksilver (THE LAGAN). They could already see over the tops of the low hills which lay northward on their right (HILLS OF ANTRIM); beyond those hills, a great moorland sloped gently up and up to the horizon. On their left (southward) the mountains were much higher (MOUNTAINS OF MOURNE) but every now and then there was a gap when you could see, between steep pine woods, a glimpse of the southern lands that lay beyond them (NOW THE REPUBLIC OF IRELAND) looking blue and far away"(174). Their destination is the garden and magic appletree which lie west of Narnia at the end of the blue lake (LOUGH NEAGH) in the mountains of the Western Wild (NORTHWESTERN IRELAND)"

Professor Kastor will give a paper, 'C. S. Lewis's Ireland', August 14-16 at Douglaston, Queen's, NY, at the C. S. Lewis Weekend run by the New York C. S. Lewis Society. Write for information to Clara Sarrocco, 84-23 77^th Ave., Glendale, NY.

OTHER LEWIS SITES IN ULSTER, NOT COVERED IN THE TRAIL BROCHURE

The Trail Brochure could not, for reasons of space, list all the Lewis sites in Ulster. Here are some of more sites not mentioned or discussed in the Trail Brochure.

BELFAST

TY ISA (Welsh for ''the house on its own'), Parkgate Avenue - home of RICHARD LEWIS, a Welshman, CSL's grandfather. The house itself remains much as Lewis would have known, although closely surrounded by more modern housing. The meaning of TY ISA now seems ironic!.

GLENMACHAN (demolished) - CSL's 'second home'. 39 houses reputedly were built on the site. [Do not confuse with 'Glenmachan Tower', a nearby nursing-home.]

LISNADENE, 191 Belmont Road (demolished) - home of JANIE MCNEILL. CSL visited Janie frequentlyand dedicated 'That Hideous Strength' to her. Replaced by 4 undistinguished modern dwellingshouses.

BELMONT PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, Sydenham Avenue - Janie McNeill taught at Sunday School here for many years.

NORTH DOWN

Holywood: CENTRAL HOTEL - still stands as the 'Lynch's Building', used for offices. In the 1920s CSL records in his diary how he and Warren walked the 3 and a half miles here in the 1920s to get a drink - it was the closest place to 'Little Lea' where a gentleman could respectably order a drink. The Group has a photo of the hotel in the 1920s, when the brothers knew it.

Crawfordsburn: CUL-NA-SHEE, Ballymullan Road - home of Colonel Ronald Greeves (cousin of Arthur) and his wife, Lisbeth. 'Cul-na-shee' is 2 doors away from 'Silver Hill', to which Arthur Greeves moved in the 1940s to be near his cousins.

Bangor: WESTLANDS, 15 Maxwell Road - home of Tom Greeves, brother of Arthur. When CSL was visiting Crawfordsburn, Arthur would take CSL here regularly for tea, and C. S. Lewis and Joy had tea on the lawn here once.

Bangor: CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, Central Avenue: Arthur Greeves attended Quaker services in rooms here, when the property belonged to Bangor Christian Workers.

SOUTH DOWN/THE MOURNES

KILKEEL - Mrs Alice Moore lived at 53 Bayview Terrace (Alice later moved to Oxford to stay with the Lewis brothers at 'The Kilns'). Lewis may have stayed at Bayview Terrace on holiday with Mrs Janie Moore and Maureen Moore. Lewis certainly wrote a letter to Arthur Greeves from Bayview Terrace.

NEWCASTLE - Lewis may have spent a family holiday as a boy.

ROSTREVOR - In PAST WATCHFUL DRAGONS, Walter Hooper records that Warren Lewis told him of his (Warren's) belief that what CSL has at the front of his mind the area centred on Rostrevor when creating his magical country of NARNIA.

Frank Henry reports that the Mourne area was one of CSL's favourite places to visit. Walter Hooper opened his film THROUGH JOY AND BEYOND in the Mourne Mountains. A trip to the Mournes is the highlight of many visits.

NORTH COAST

CASTLEROCK, Co Londonderry - Lewis spent a family holiday here, where he first experienced his love of 'Northernness'

BALLYCASTLE, Co Antrim - Frank Henry drove a party here of CSL, Warren and Joy, where they plasyed a memorable game of Scrabble (see above).

GIANT'S CAUSEWAY, Co Antrim - It is likely that Albert Lewis brought his family to see the Giant's Causeway, while holidaying on the North Coast. Can anyone find evidence in Lewis's writings that he knew the Causeway!

COUNTY DONEGAL

'AITEEN', Portsalon, Letterkenny - the Greeves family's holiday cottage, where Atrhur would take Lewis. Today Miss Margaret Greeves lives there in her 80s. Margaret is a cousin of Arthur's and the daughter of Tom Greeves (see above).

ROYAL FORT HOTEL, Rathmullan - Lewis brought Joy here both in 1958 (the 'belated honeymoon' ) and in 1959.

* BOOKS

'THE C. S. LEWIS READERS' ENCLCLOPEDIA'. Published By Zondervan in the US in June. Edited by Jeffrey D. Schultz and John G. West Jr, Foreword by Christopher Mitchell. Assistant Editor:Mike Perry, Advisory Board Members: Bruce L. Edwards, Kathryn Lindskoog, Christopher Mitchell, George Sayer, 464 pp, hardback, $22.99(US), $31.99(Canada).

Dr Christopher Mitchell, Director of the Marion E. Wade Center, writes in the Foreword; 'There is, understandably, a certain amount of overlap between this reference work and previous ones, such as Paul F. Ford's 'Companion to Narnia', Colin Duriez's 'The C. S. Lewis Handbook', and the more recent 'C. S. Lewis: A Companion and Guide' by Walter Hooper. The CSLRE, however, offers a more comprehensive approach than others with its more than 800 entries alphabetically arranged, many which are not found in previous works….Another distinctive (sic) and strength of this reference work is the diversity brought to the project by its forty-three contributors who, when possible, wrote in their areas of expertise.'

A full review will follow in a future issue of 'C S Lewis News'.

CHAD WALSH REVIEWS C. S. LEWIS, Mythopoeic Press (a division of The Mythopoeic Society), ISBN 1-887726-05-5, June 1998, 52 pages, trade paper.

Nancy-Lou Patterson writes: ' Professor Chad Walsh (1914-1991) established himself as the American authority on C. S. Lewis with the publication his 'C. S. Lewis: Apostle to the Skeptics' in 1949. This book, 'Chad Walsh Reviews C. S. Lewis', collects Walsh's reviews of Lewis's booksfor the first time.' To order, contact Joan Marie Verba, P O Box 1363, Minnetonka, MN 55345-0363 USA. $4.95 plus $1.00 p&p in North America; add $2.00 postage if ordering from outside North America (US funds). Checks payable to The Mythopoeic Society.

THE PILGRIM'S GUIDE: C. S. LEWIS AND THE ART OF WITNESS, ed David

Mills, Eerdmans, 1998, 296 pages, $20.00 h/b ISBN 0-8028-3777-8

A CLEAN HEART CREATE IN ME. Creative Communicatons for the Parish. Phone 800-325-9414. A 32-page booklet with a Bible verse, Lewis passage, and one or two sentence prayer for every day in Lent.

C. S. LEWIS: WRITER, DREAMER, AND MENTOR, by Lionel Adey, Eerdmans, 6"x9" paperback, 312 pp, $22.00, £14.99.

THE RESTITUTION OF MAN: C. S. LEWIS AND THE CASE AGAINST SCIENTISM by Michael Aeschliman, reissued with a new foreword and postscript, Eerdmans, 6"x9" paperback, 128 pages, £12.00, £8.99.

THE TASTE FOR THE OTHER: THE SOCIAL AND ETHICAL THOUGHT OF C. S. LEWIS BY GILBERT MEILAENDER, reissued with a new preface, Eerdmans, 6"x9" paperback, 256 pp, $19.95, £10.99.

* WHAT C S LEWIS HAS MEANT TO ME

Professor JARED LOBDELL, Professor of Business Administration, Central Pennsylvania Business School, is next to write in our series;

'When I was thirteen (in 1950-51), my parents urged me to read THE SCREWTAPE LETTERS. I did not (then), but from the same group of books on our "library table" (in the living-room of our Victorian house in Ho-Ho-Kus, New Jersey) I picked up and read (in order, in spring and summer 1951) OUT OF THE SILENT PLANET, PERELANDRA, and THAT HIDEOUS STRENGTH.

That fall, when I went off to school (Wooster School in Danbury CT), I was faced with the task of writing two 1000-word book reports on my summer reading, and picked OSP and P. A+ on both (writing from memory). I went on to read SCREWTAPE, the three volumes making up MERE CHRISTIANITY, THE GREAT DIVORCE, MIRACLES, THE PROBLEM OF PAIN, THE ABOLITION OF MAN, and to re-read the three Ransom novels, plus as much Charles Williams as I could get my hands on, all by Fall 1952.

Thereafter (though I was "too old" for them) my parents gave me the Narnia books, the first two and then more or less as they came out, and every one of his scholarly books we could get from the Oxford University Press U.S. sales office, just down the road in Fairlawn NJ. By the time I was at Yale as a freshman in 1955-56 (when I received TILL WE HAVE FACES, as well as my first Cambridge Lewis book, the separate printing of DE DESCRIPTIONE TEMPORUM), I was prepared to read anything and everything that Lewis recommended. In fact, my senior year at Wooster, I asked for and received THE LORD OF THE RINGS because "Numinor" was mentioned in the Preface to THS. That was also the year I read THE PILGRIM'S REGRESS. And then my mother discovered my birthday, 29 November, was my literary hero's birthday, and on his 60th (my 21st) sent him a note.

He sent back a note, inviting me to write, which I did. There ensued an irregular correspondence, ending with his last letter to me, October 22 1963. By the time the correspondence began, I had read every TIME & TIDE and TLS piece of his I could find in the Yale Library (which was every one I knew about), and all the other essays in periodicals or REHABILITATIONS. I had entered the Yale Graduate School in Mediaeval Studies in Fall 1961, and I had thought of going to Cambridge to study with Lewis, but his health was not going to permit it. Had I done, I might have wound up (I think) in Walter Hooper's position. More power to Walter.

After CSL's death (and because of it) I wrote Tolkien and Barfield, and they were kind enough to allow those letters to begin friendships with them, Tolkien's by mail (though I eventually corresponded with and met Christopher Tolkien, and I count him and counted his father as friends), Barfield's by mail and meeting. Of Lewis's other friends I corresponded with Kenneth Hamilton Jenkin, (Lord) David Cecil, Nevill Coghill, was very briefly in touch with Emlyn Havard, H. V. Dyson, and WHL (on whom I gave a paper in 1972 at the NY CSL Society) -- and so on, but that's not important here.

What is important is that for the better part of my life my reading (besides including everything CSL wrote that I could lay my hands on) was largely directed toward what CSL liked, and then what his friends (such as Tolkien) liked. My reading has not been as wide as his, but it has been along his lines. It is now pay-back time, and as the first step in that pay-back, I should acknowledge (1) that CSL and his friends taught me much of friendship and the meaning of friendship, and of other love, (2) that my love and knowledge not only of Medieval and Renaissance literature, but of all literature, owes either its birth or development to him or them, (3) that because of him (and them) I have remained a Christian, and (4) though I cannot trace the precise linkage, that I know it is not a coincidence I was married (for the first time) at age 58, and have in my 60s the joy that I denied myself in my 20s.'

* IN BRIEF

CORRECTION The 1998 Trail Brochure states that C.S. and Warren Lewis dedicated a Window to their parents in St Mark's Church, Dundela, in 1932. The correct date is 1935 (information from Mr Tony Wilson's leaflet on 'C. S. Lewis in St Mark's Church' and Walter Hooper's COMPANION AND GUIDE).

BOOK REVIEWS by Rev Perry Bramlett of THE INKLINGS, C. S. LEWIS'S LITTLE INSTRUCTION BOOK, THE WISDOM OF C. S. LEWIS and A LOVE OBSERVED: JOY DAVIDMAN's LIFE & MARRIAGE TO C. S. LEWIS are held over till next month.

BACK ISSUES OF 'C S LEWIS NEWS'. Back issues costs £1 ($2) each, or £10 ($20) for issues 1-12 inclusive. Please send your order to; C S LEWIS NEWS (Back Issues), Ace Ventures, 217 Holywood Road, Belfast BT4 2DH, Northern Ireland. Telephone (working hours) (01232) 672351 or (international) +44 1232 672351. Please enclose a cheque made payable to 'ACE VENTURES' [NOT to 'The C S Lewis Centenary Group].

* OUR CONTEMPORARIES

FRONTIERS (Northern Ireland Theological Journal, Editor, Prof Stephen Williams) Spring 1998 issue has an editorial on C. S. Lewis. £2.50 per issue, annual subscription (4 issues) UK/Isle of Man £12, Rep of Ireland £IR15, overseas airmail £18, payment to FRONTIERS, 14 Laurelhill Road, Lisburn, Co Antrim BT28 2UH, Northern Ireland, or email your subscription with payment to follow to johnmillar1@compuserve.com.

CHRISTIAN LIBRARIAN Journal of the Librarians' Christian Fellowship. Issue No. 22, 1998, has the text of Colin Duriez' lecture 'C. S. Lewis and the Evangelicals'. Subscription for 1998 £13, concession £6.50. Those from overseas are asked to send an additional donation to cover the increased postage. The 1998 issue is available to non-members, price £2.50 incl postage. Graham Hedges, Secretary & Publications Editor, 34 Thurlestone Avenue, Ilford, Essex IG3 9DU. Telephone inquiries 0181 599 1310 (h), 0181 870 3100 (wk).

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