C S Lewis Centenary Group

Number 8, January 1998

News each month from the C S Lewis Centenary Group

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

(US) 123 Bonner Avenue, Louisville, KY 40207 , USA.

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

E-mail: <cslewis@dnet.co.uk> and (US) <cslewis@pbramlett.win.net>

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.

WELCOMEto all new readers of C S Lewis News - and to all old ones as well. The newsletter will appear, God willing, each month until January 1999.

UNITED STATES EDITION

Last month Rev Perry Bramlett of Louisville, Kentucky, sent a US Edition of C S Lewis News to twenty addresses in the USA and Canada, for which we have no e-mail address. Rev Bramlett, whom we thank greatly for his help, is a leading Lewisian figure in the USA and runs a ministry C. S. LEWIS FOR THE LOCAL CHURCH-INTERSTATE MINISTRIES. Rev Bramlett has contributed a number of book reviews, which will be a regular feature in C S Lewis News.

NARNIAN ULSTER

Enclosed you should find a copy of the splendid article Narnian Ulster, by Mary Rogers.

OWEN BARFIELD

December saw the passing of Owen Barfield, last surviving ‘Inkling’. Obituaries appeared in the London press; in ‘The Independent’ (19 December 1997) , written by Walter Hooper, in ‘The Daily Telegraph’ and ‘The Guardian’ (both 22 December 1997).

Walter Hooper has kindly written an Appreciation of Owen Barfield specially for C S Lewis News.

OWEN BARFIELD: REQIESCAT IN PACE

by Walter Hooper

After reading Light on C.S.Lewis (1965) Professor J.R.R.Tolkien told me he thought Owen Barfield’s Introduction threw more light on the subject than any other contribution. I’ve never heard any disagreement. And now that marvellous caster of light on Lewis has left us, dying peacefully in Forest Row, East Sussex, on Sunday 14 December 1997 aged 99.

Arthur Owen Barfield was born in London (two weeks before Lewis) on 9 November 1898. He attended Highgate School, after which he took part in the First World War. He served as a Wireless Officer in the Signal Service of the Royal Engineers (now the Royal Corps of Signals), and was always grateful that he was able to learn Morse Code. He won a scholarship to Wadham College, and during his first term there in 1919 he met C.S. Lewis. Gradually Lewis’s admiration moved from Barfield’s poetry to the man in the round. ‘Barfield towers above us all,’ he wrote in his diary on 9 July 1922.

Both men loved ‘rational opposition’ and in 1923 they went at it hammer and tongs. The occasion was Barfield’s becoming an adherent of Anthroposophy, the religious system evolved by Rudolf Steiner. They argued about it for years, and it is to both men’s credit that they ended better friends than before. Lewis described Barfield in Surprised by Joy as the friend ‘who disagrees with you about everything. He is not so much the alter ego as the anti-self. Of course he shares your interests; otherwise he would not become your friend at all. But he has approached them all at a different angle.’ ‘I go to Barfield for sheer wisdom and a sort of richness of spirit,’ Lewis wrote to a friend in 1925.

Owen Barfield, a devout Christian, is not yet as famous as Lewis, but he was a respected author before Lewis’s name was known. One of his truly seminal books, admired by Lewis and Tolkien, is Poetic Diction (1928). Barfield hoped for an academic life, but honour drove him to London in 1929 to assist his father in the family law practice. He had married Maud Douie in 1923, and with three children to support, there was little time for writing. However, before his retirement as a solicitor in 1959 he produced Saving the Appearances (1957), which is about the disparity between normal human consciousness and the mind of the scientist in comprehending the familiar phenomena of the universe. None of his many books are easy to read. This is because of the profundity of what he writes about. But it is only by reading his brilliant writing that one can understand what Lewis meant by the ‘sheer wisdom’ he gained from him.

At the time of Lewis’s death, Barfield was discovered by the United States and for years he was a visiting lecturer to American universities. He had been appointed Literary Executor of Lewis’s Estate, and he spent thousands of hours in this capacity making his friend’s books better known. Anyone else would have resented this, but Barfield really did ‘tower’ above us - in brilliance, of course, but more than anything in humility and sweetness. When the High Gates opened for him on that Sunday afternoon in December 1997 we may be sure it was because things of far greater importance than books had tipped the scales greatly in his favour.

EVENTS

Lynchburg C. S. Lewis Weekend Conference February 6-8 Sponsored by Rivermont Presbyterian Church, Lynchburg, Virginia . The featured speaker will be Dr. Lyle Dorsett of Wheaton College, former curator of the Marion E. Wade Collection. Dr Dorsett’s topics include "The Conversion of C. S. Lewis," "The Joy of Discovering C. S. Lewis," "C. S. Lewis for Children", "CSL takes on the Skeptics". For a brochure or more information call Ed Hopkins on 804-846-3441, email <inklings@LYNCHBURG.NET>.

MONTREAT COLLEGE Tuesday March 31 - Friday April 3. A visit of Douglas Gresham and Dr Christopher Mitchell to Montreat College, North Carolina. Douglas Gresham will speak at the college convocation on Tuesday March 31 and at All Souls Episcopal Cathedral on Wednesday April 1. Then Douglas Gresham and Dr Christopher Mitchell will (a) serve on a "reaction panel" following one-act drama presentations based on Lewis (Thursday April 2) and (b) speak on the evening of Friday April 3. For more details contact Dr Jac Whatley on email <jwhatley@montreat.edu>.

WHEATON COLLEGE Dr Christopher Mitchell gives details of 4 events at Wheaton.

* April 16-18, Returning Theology to the Masses: A Reappraisal of C. S. Lewis - 7th Annual Wheaton College Theology Conference

Co-sponsored by Theological Studies at Wheaton College, the Marion E. Wade Center at Wheaton College and InterVarsity Press. Speakers include Chuck Colson, J.I. Packer, Mark Noll, Gilbert Meilander, and Armand Nicholi, Jr. Contact Cindy Ingrum (Theology Department) on 630/752-5297 (general inquiries).

CALL FOR PAPERS-DEADLINE JANUARY 30TH. Send proposals by January 30th to Dr. Christopher W, Mitchell, Marion E. Wade Center, Wheaton College, Wheaton, Illinois 60187. Phone 630/752-5908.

* July 13-15, 1998 Pre-Mythcon Workshop on C. S. Lewis will be at Wheaton College, conducted by Bruce Edwards. Limited to 50 people. Contact Dr. Bruce L. Edwards, Associate Dean, Arts and Sciences, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH, 43403, Tel: 419/372-8543. Fax: 419/372-8548, E-mail: <edwards@cas.bgsu.edu>.

* July 15-20, 1998 ‘C.S. Lewis: A Centenary Celebration’. Mythcon 29 -- the Annual Mythopoeic Conference. This year at Wheaton College. Speakers include Paul Ford and Verlyn Flieger. Full program to include scholarly papers, discussion panels, workshops, and dramatic and musical presentations on Lewis and others. Contact Mythcon 29, c/o Lynn Maudlin, P>O. Box 394, Altadena, CA, 91003, E-mail: <maudlinlynn@earthlink.net> for registration and inquiries.

* September 23-26, 1998 Annual Wheaton College Writing and Literature Conference. Focus on C. S. Lewis and his literary works. Sponsored by the English Department. Speakers include Bruce Edwards, Doris Myers, and George Mussachio. Special conference event features Tom Key in a one-man drama on the life of Lewis. Contact Dr. Wayne Martindale (English Department) 630/752-5787

"LOOSE IN THE FIRE" - OXBRIDGE ‘98

July 19th-August 1st Both Amy Kimm, Conference Registrar, and Mrs Lesley Row of Darlington, England, have sent details of Oxbridge ‘98, C. S. Lewis Centennial Celebration, the fourth triennial C. S. Lewis Summer Institute organised by the C. S. Lewis Foundation, at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge..

The two-week Institute will include weekday morning lectures, question-and-answer sessions, Focus Groups, Studio Workshops and Master Classes, Commissioned Theatre and Dance Performances, Symphony and Fireworks at Radley Lakeside Proms, Period Concert at the Sheldonian, Dedication of "The Kilns", Royal Mail launch of the C. S. Lewis Commemorative Stamp, Evensong at King’s College, Cambridge, Banquet at Chilford Hall, Private tour of Blenheim Palace (followed by dinner in the garden).

Further information, costs, registration etc from; Amy Kimm, Conference Registrar, C. S. LEWIS Foundation, P.O. Box 8008, Redlands, CA 92375, USA. Tel: (909) 793-0949 (toll-free) 1-888-CSLEWIS Fax: (909) 335-3501 e-mail <cslewisfoundation@juno.com>

‘Shadowlands’ A production by Elora Community Theatre at ‘Theatre on the Grand’ Fergus, Ontario, on February (1998) 13, 14, 15, 20, 21, 22. More information can be had from Chuck Peeren, email <cgpeeren@interlog.com>. Tickets from; Theatre on the Grand, 244 St. Andrew Street West, Fergus, Ontario, Canada. Tel: 1-519-787-1981. Opening hours:9 am- 5 pm Eastern Standard Time.

Belfast Society Rt Hon David Bleakley will be the Lecturer at the Belfast Society’s C. S. Lewis Centenary Lecture at the Linen Hall Library, Belfast, on October 15, 1998, at 6 pm. David Bleakley will speak on The Re-discovery of C. S. Lewis.

RESEARCH

Frank Henry On Sunday 28 December, James O’Fee and Michael Hutchison recorded an interview with Major Frank Henry on his memories of C. S. Lewis - Frank spoke to his friend Canon Dermott Jameson. Frank Henry is aged 96 and lives in a nursing home in Rostrevor, Co Down.

Frank Henry first met C. S. Lewis after the Second World War at ‘The Kilns’, while visiting his sister, Vera Henry, god-daughter of Mrs Janie Moore. Vera Henry worked as a home-help at ‘The Kilns’ and the Lewises were very fond of her. In succeeding years CSL and Warnie Lewis would often visit Frank Henry on their annual holidays in Ireland. Frank would drive the Lewis brothers around the countryside. Favourite spots were the Mourne Mountains and the North Antrim coast.

Major Henry has a signed copy of ‘And God Came In’ given him by Lyle Dorsett, 2nd Curator of the Wade Center, Wheaton, Illinois, dated 12th December 1989.. The Wade Center may have a transcript of Dorsett’s interview with Henry. Mary Rogers visited Frank Henry in 1994.

Ronald Bresland, C. S. Lewis Centenary Research Fellow, has returned from a successful fortnight’s research trip at the Bodleian Library, Oxford. In Oxford, Ronnie stayed at Magdalen College as the guest of the President, Mr Anthony Smith, whom the Group warmly thanks. Ronnie met Walter Hooper, Mary Rogers, and Michael Ward in Oxford.

COMMEMORATION

There is now great hope that a permanent marker will be placed on the birthplace of C. S. Lewis during his Centenary in 1998.

C. S. Lewis was born in Dundela Villas, Strandtown, Belfast. The Ulster History Circle places Blue Plaques on historic buildings in Northern Ireland. The Circle will consider at its next meeting a proposal to place a Blue Plaque at Dundela Flats, which stand today on the site of Dundela Villas. ‘Little Lea’ already has a Blue Plaque.

THE WRITTEN WORD

‘C. S. Lewis and the Evangelicals’ The Winter 1997 issue of the Newsletter of the Librarians’ Christian Fellowship carries a report on the Lecture given by Colin Duriez with this title at the LCF’s meeting at York in November.

China Joshua Pong, a Lewis enthusiast in Hong Kong, has sent a copy of his learned article on C. S. Lewis, which will be published in a Christian journal in Taiwan.

MERELEWIS Subscribers

MereLewis is the C.S. Lewis-interest message board on the Internet. Anyone with an e-mail address can subscribe, free of charge.

Its Moderator, Debra Walheim, writes that MereLewis goes to 1023 subscribers in 32 countries - although there are a few subscribers whose country Debra cannot identify. See the distribution below:

Continent/Country	Subscribers	Continent/Country	Subscribers
NORTH AMERICA		LATIN AMERICA	6
-United States	892	ASIA	13
-Rest of North America	26	AFRICA (i.e. South Africa)	2
		AUSTRALIA	17
EUROPE
-United Kingdom	22
-Rest of Europe	37

The Ghost of C. S. Lewis J. B. Phillips, the translator of the Bible, wrote that the spirit of C. S. Lewis appeared to Phillips twice to encourage Phillips to continue his work.

Mary Rogers writes that the ghost of C. S. Lewis appeared once at ‘The Kilns’ as well, in full daylight, to a man working there with Mary’s husband, Rev Val Rogers.

C. S. Lewis’s Cousin Mrs. Heather Nelson of Crossgar, Co Down, writes;

‘I am only beginning to realise just where I, being the youngest cousin of C.S.Lewis, stand, I have never thought much about this situation before, other than being proud of my father who, by chance, was a 1st cousin of C.S.Lewis. the fact was helpful to me on occasions to break the ice, - "Do you like the works or C.S. Lewis, ... Oh Yes! well I am his second cousin" always got an interesting reply - who has not heard of him? English writing being one of my better subjects, it was thought at one time I might have some of the famous genes! But I never had the fortune of meeting him, nor at that age would I have known what to say.’

Heather runs a company Erin-MYCO, which sells Irish craft goods to the United States via the Internet. Heather’s site is: http://www.yakutat-lodge.com/irishcrafts/index.htm

Photographs Mrs Primrose Henderson is the daughter of Gundreda Ewart, cousin and great friend of C. S. Lewis. Mrs Henderson reports an amazing discovery. Mrs Henderson’s son-in-law has come across a pile of glass negatives from ‘Glenmachan’, the Ewart family home. On top of the pile was the negative for this photograph of the young C. S. Lewis, which we used on the cover of our brochure The C S Lewis Trail in Belfast and North Down!

A Year with C. S. Lewis Patrick Pederson of Chicago has sent a Christmas card with an insert giving a year’s reading of C. S. Lewis. Patrick explains; ‘Kathryn Lindskoog has arranged one dozen of C. S. Lewis’s books that offer straight explanation and defense of the Christian faith to be read in a year’s time. Taken from C. S. Lewis: Mere Christian, fourth edition, published by Cornerstone Press, Chicago.’

Jan: Mere Christianity	July: The Problem of Pain
Feb: The Four Loves	Aug: Reflections on the Psalms
March: Miracles	Sept: The World's Last Night
April: The Abolition of Man	Oct: Christian Reflections
May: The Weight of Glory	Nov: God in the Dock
June: Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer	Dec: Fern-seed and Elephants

IN BRIEF

Correction Mrs Kelsie Erskine writes that both she and her sister, Mrs Heather Nelson, are relatives on CSL’s mother’s side - not on his father’s side, as mistakenly stated in the December issue of C S Lewis News.

Honour Cllr Dr Ian Adamson, a member of the Centenary Group and Lord Mayor of Belfast 1996-97, has been awarded an OBE in the New Year’s Honours’ List. Ian has our congratulations. 1998 should be a memorable year for Ian for he is due to marry Miss Kerry Carson of Cherryvalley, Belfast, in the Spring.

Visit Dr Bruce Edwards of Bowling Green State University, Ohio, will bring a party to Belfast in July 1998 as part of his C. S. Lewis tour. Dr Edwards’ details are printed above.

Appointment Ms Jude Bell has taken up a post as UK Development Director for the C. S. Lewis Foundation of Redlands, California. We wish Jude every success. Jude Bell, ‘The Kilns’, Lewis Close, Oxford OX3 8JD. Tel: (01865) 767689

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