Saturday, June 1, 2013
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Good Grief
Right now I'm half way through James Boswell's Life of Samuel Johnson. This was one of Lewis' top ten favourite books. I'm finding that Johnson and Lewis were a lot alike in many ways.
I decided I wanted to get through the rest of Lewis' favourite books, but I'm afraid it's been to the neglect of the Letters. Well, I'm determined to get back to them. I enjoy them so much.
So when should you check back? Hm.
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Current Situation
The summer is over and I've gotten half way through Lewis' letters. I have about 132 pages to summarise for you and still hope to do so. My part-time Latin teaching position is rather full-time, so we'll see how things go. I am still reading.
Of interest is Lewis' appreciation for Albecht Durer. His two favourites, as of 16 Feb., 1919 (p. 434) are that of St. Jerome and the Prodigal son. He says there are others he would like if Durer hadn't put some nudes in the background "of the most brutal and deliberate ugliness"! He had the above two prints framed. I'll post them here for you.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
8 June, 1917 - 24 Sept., 1917
We now find Lewis in the army and billeted at
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
I know
Saturday, June 23, 2007
28 Feb. 1917 - 3 June, 1917
The letters continue to be to Jack's "Papy" and Arthur, alias "Galahad." He's struggling with a poetic work on Medea's early life; he scraps it. Hooper's note (p. 286) says he picks it back up but only fragments remain. 6 Mar. he says that Catullus is one of his poetic "gods," along with Morris and Keats. Interesting.
He is reading The Life of Charlotte Bronte by Elizabeth C. Gaskell, and really likes it; he keeps talking about it. Sadly, he sees God as torturing Charlotte in it; "cruelty after cruelty without escape," "he's just in his element." He takes a moral lesson from it, however, to appreciate ones circumstances.
"I have finished "Paradise Lost" again." p. 290. 20 May, he writes that he is glad to hear from Arthur that he too likes Milton. In the same letter, he expresses delight in the artwork of Albrecht Durer.
He keeps having petty problems with his father (8 Mar.). It seems Albert was just too sensitive to the inevitable misunderstandings that take place when business is conducted via post. It has to be really hurtful to Jack.
14 Mar., Jack talks about how he likes to "keep to his bed" when he is ill and all the different comforts he enjoys when he has to do it. He just likes to be cozy and read good books, that's all!
Per Hooper, Jack was 5 feet 10 3/4 inches tall and 182 pounds when he entered the Officer Training Corp at Oxford. Hm. Sounds like me!
"How I love kettles!" (p. 298)
While residing at Oxford at this time, he had a roommate named Edgell that he hated. The fellow was a Christian and a mechanic-type. They had nothing in common. The fellow also seemed to lack social grace in dealing with Lewis; too bad. It could have been a great opportunity for helping Jack toward Christ. He was very interested in religion at this time and enjoyed talking about it with non-Christian, inquiring types. See Hooper note, 72, p. 303, where one of Jack's fellows describes him; mentions his interest in religion and how challenging he was in his scepticism. But beside Edgell, Lewis is finding himself happier than he has ever been (p. 304, 13 May).
27 May - mentions The World's Desire by both H. Rider Haggard and Andrew Lang as something he's enjoying. Got to read that. In the same letter, p. 310, he has a paragraph describing how his days are spent. The OTC is asking very little of him at this time. Lewis comes across lots of his Malvern acquaintances at Oxford but he really likes writing about those who are Irish and especially patriotic. It stands out in these letters that whenever Lewis writes favourably about England, he always says something like, "but not to be compared with our old hills, etc." He himself is very patriotic; he prefers the Irish above all others.