C. S. Lewis: Some Core Works

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe; Prince Caspian; The Voyage of the ‘Dawn Treader’; The Silver Chair; The Horse and His Boy; The Magician’s Nephew; and The Last Battle, by C. S. Lewis. Illustrated by Pauline Baynes, covers by Daniel San Souci.

I have written elsewhere about my first encounter of the Chronicles of Narnia with ‘Lion’ in middle school, and how I first rejected it. As my enthusiasm with Lewis grew in high school, I soon got a full set of boxed paperbacks with the dreadful 70’s Roger Hane covers and limited illustration; I gave those to Terry Patterson years later. I had since replaced them with these copies, in the middle 80’s I think; they have the complete illustrations – Lewis declared them “more than illustrations, they are a collateral theme.” I don’t suppose I need to describe the plots – you can find that anywhere. I think that part of it that I enjoy about the books is what annoyed Tolkien most: it’s eclectic, Spenserian mix of different mythologies, talking animals, and allegory, a lovely brew that releases all of Lewis’s childhood enthusiasms in the wake of a long, troubling period of his life. My favorite character is Puddleglum: “Suppose we have only dreamed, or made up, all those things-trees and grass and sun and moon and stars and Aslan himself. Suppose we have. Then all I can say is that, in that case, the made-up things seem a good deal more important than the real ones. Suppose this black pit of a kingdom of yours is the only world. Well, it strikes me as a pretty poor one. And that's a funny thing, when you come to think of it. We're just babies making up a game, if you're right. But four babies playing a game can make a play-world which licks your real world hollow. That's why I'm going to stand by the play world. I'm on Aslan's side even if there isn't any Aslan to lead it. I'm going to live as like a Narnian as I can even if there isn't any Narnia.” I never realized quite how ‘niche’ this edition was until I went looking for images. Some of the bigger pictures of the covers I was able to find do not conform to the color of the copies I have, which matches those in the ‘series’ pictures.

Ranking: Essential.

File Code: Fantasy. Children’s Books. Softcovers.

Mere Christianity (Harper), Miracles (Harper), The Screwtape Letters (Harper), The Problem of Pain (Harper), The Four Loves (Harcourt Brace), Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer (Harcourt Brace), and A Grief Observed (Harper), by C. S. Lewis.

I have so many Lewis books, I must take them in batches, I think. These are some of his books of apologetics, explaining and defending Christian belief. Lewis is largely responsible for my hanging onto God through offering a logical argument and explanation of Christian faith; I was not very susceptible to, and even a little repulsed by, the mushy emotional or fear-based appeals that had ‘entrapped’ Mom. Mom’s love of God was pure, I think, but the forms of religion she’d fallen prey to caused her more pain than comfort. Anyway, ‘Mere Christianity’ was the most influential of these books for me, although they all made good arguments as they addressed love, pain, belief, and sorrow.

Ranking: Essential.

File Code: Christian Apologetics. Softcovers.