"'...thought the old magia of Merlin, which worked in with the spiritual qualities of Nature, loving them and knowing them and reverencing them from within, could be combined with the new goeteia - the brutal surgery from without.'"
-CS Lewis, That Hideous Strength IN Lewis, The Cosmic Trilogy (London, 1990), pp. 349-753 AT CHAPTER 13, 4, p. 648.
Anderson, following Robert Heinlein's Magic, Inc., presents magic as technology in Operation Chaos but switches to the terminology of "goetics" in the sequel, Operation Luna.
Anderson treats Christian characters sympathetically. Lewis imaginatively re-presents Christianity three times:
The Narnia Chronicles
The Ransom ("Cosmic") Trilogy
The Great Divorce
Read Anderson and Lewis.
Kaor, Paul!
ReplyDeleteMaybe one reasoned why I never quite cottoned to Lewis was because he seemed too hostile to science.
Alas, I was already a young adult when I first read THE LION,THE WITCH, AND THE WARDROBE. Wrongly or rightly I got the impression the Narnia books were too "young" for my taste. My loss!
But I did read The Space Trilogy and THE GREAT DIVORCE more than once, and probably will do that again. And, of course THE SCREWTAPE LETTERS.
Ad astra! Sean
Kaor, Paul!
ReplyDeleteI've also read MERE CHRISTIANIY, MIRACLES. THE FOUR LOVES, and THE WORLD'S LAST NIGHT AND OTHER ESSAYS.
Lewis was an Anglican, but I get the impression most Anglicans don't read him, it seems to be mostly Catholics and evangelical Protestants who read Lewis.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
ReplyDeleteAnd James Blish, an agnostic.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
ReplyDeleteThat I had not known--Blish being a fan of Lewis.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
ReplyDeleteRamon in A CASE OF CONSCIENCE quotes from the Ransom Trilogy.
BLACK EASTER is "in memoriam CS Lewis" and some chapters begin with quotes from SCREWTAPE.
In THE DAY AFTER JUDGEMENT, Domenico says, "That which called itself Screwtape let slip to Lewis..."
Blish's STAR TREK novel lists some alien organisms including ones called "reepicheeps." (Narnia.)
Paul.
Blish wished Lewis had written more fiction. He appreciated:
ReplyDeleteinsights into how people deceive themselves in THAT HIDEOUS STRENGTH;
the observation that an old woman was no longer a grumbler but had BECOME her grumble in THE GREAT DIVORCE.
Kaor, Paul!
ReplyDeleteExcept for the STAR TREK novel I've read all of these works by Blish--but so long ago I've forgotten all of these quotes/allusions from Lewis. Dang!
I thought Lewis did write a lot of fiction, but I can see Blish's point, if he thought Lewis wrote better in his fictions.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
ReplyDeleteLewis' fiction:
Narnia (7 vol);
Ransom (3);
TILL WE HAVE FACES (novel/retelling of Psyche & Eros myth);
THE DARK TOWER AND OTHER STORIES (collection)
Total: 12 vol.
Some other works have fictional elements. SCREWTAPE and MALCOLM are fictional correspondences. THE GREAT DIVORCE is a fictional dream.
If I had my way, between the present Ransom Vols I and II, there would be an additional volume collecting:
"The Dark Tower"
"The Shoddy Lands"
THE GREAT DIVORCE
These are a Lewis Trilogy within the Ransom Trilogy.
Paul.