In this Friday Feature I want to share a creative way to read Joy Davidman’s conversion story, “The Longest Way Round,” which you can find in various places online and in Out of My Bone: The Letters of Joy Davidman, edited by Don W. King. Joy Davidman is an attractive and intriguing figure to study, and I have enjoyed books such as Lyle Dorsett‘s popular biography, And God Came In, Abigail Santamaria‘s critical biography, Joy, and Patti Callahan’s novel, Becoming Mrs. Lewis: The Improbable Love Story of Joy Davidman and C. S. Lewis. While some of Davidman’s writings are hard to find and many of her papers are available only at archives like the Marion E. Wade Center in Wheaton, with online bookstores, digital sharing, and scholars like King (editor), Dorsett (oral historian), and Santamaria (biography), much of her life and work is available to us.
I have long admired the work of C.S. Lewis Doodle, and was pleased to see that the artist has taken up Joy Davidman’s conversion story. “The Longest Way Round” was first published in These Found the Way: Thirteen Converts to Protestant Christianity, edited by David Wesley Soper (1951). It is an unusual narrative. It is lively and incisive like Davidman’s Smoke on the Mountain (1954), but far less focussed and containing within it hints of sarcasm and whimsy. Davidman’s conversion story is influenced by C.S. Lewis, but reading this narrative will make you suspect that Lewis’ own conversion story, Surprised by Joy, is influenced by Joy’s story. And here it is in a visual form by this Lewis Doodler; I am unable to discern who has read the audio. I hope you enjoy!
Thanks for this – I love those Doodles, but did not know of this one! Smoke on the Mountain is fun reading aloud, en famille – but I cannot quickly find if anyone has read it as an audiobook… This David Wesley Soper volume is not scanned in the Internet Archive, but others are, including Men Who Shape Belief: Major Voices In American Theology, Volume II (1955) – with a foreword that says “the substance of these lectures was given on the Oxford University Faculty of Theology – at Mansfield College during Trinity term, 1954”, and one is on Pittenger!
LikeLike
This was a surprise for me. Smoke on the Mountain aloud is great. I’ve been hoping someone would read the audiobook for some time. I suspect that the estate would approve of it, if well done. I’d love the New York accent, actually!
LikeLike
Fascinating! I really enjoyed this. I shared it on my FaceBook profile and Twitter.
LikeLike
Oh great, thanks for sharing!
LikeLike
Pingback: C.S. Lewis, Gender, and The Four Loves: An Open Class | A Pilgrim in Narnia
Pingback: An Open Class on Narnia and Friendship with Brenton Dickieson, Jason Lepojärvi, and Diana Pavlac Glyer | A Pilgrim in Narnia
Pingback: An Open Class on Narnia and Friendship with Brenton Dickieson, Jason Lepojärvi, and Diana Pavlac Glyer (Full Video from Signum University) | A Pilgrim in Narnia
Pingback: The Faithful Imagination, a Review by Allison McBain Hudson | A Pilgrim in Narnia
Pingback: “Is C.S. Lewis too Sexy for America?” TexMoot 2021 (Saturday, Feb 13th) | A Pilgrim in Narnia
Pingback: Tolkien Studies Projects Sweeps the Mythopoeic Scholarship Award Shortlist in Inklings Studies (Trying Not To Say “I Told You So”) | A Pilgrim in Narnia
Pingback: Good C.S. Lewis Studies Books That Did Not Win the Mythopoeic Award: Part 2: C.S. Lewis Biographies | A Pilgrim in Narnia
Pingback: “Nightmare Alley,” the Official Teaser Trailer of the William Gresham Adaptation by Guillermo del Toro | A Pilgrim in Narnia
Pingback: Good C.S. Lewis Studies Books That Did Not Win the Mythopoeic Award: Part 4: C.S. Lewis Reception Studies | A Pilgrim in Narnia
Pingback: The C.S. Lewis Studies Series: Part 5: Recent and Foundational Studies on Lewis and Gender | A Pilgrim in Narnia
Pingback: S5E2 – TFL 1 – “Introduction” (Part II) – Pints With Jack
Pingback: Announcing the Nightmare Alley Series on A Pilgrim in Narnia | A Pilgrim in Narnia
Pingback: “It Ain’t Hope If It’s a Lie, Stan”: Thoughts on Guillermo del Toro’s Nightmare Alley by John Stanifer (Nightmare Alley Series) | A Pilgrim in Narnia
Pingback: “The Nightmare Alley of That Hideous Strength: A Look at C.S. Lewis and William Gresham” by By G. Connor Salter (Nightmare Alley Series) | A Pilgrim in Narnia
Pingback: “From Communist to Christian”: William Lindsay Gresham’s Conversion Story (Nightmare Alley Series) | A Pilgrim in Narnia
Pingback: Nightmare Alley by William Lindsay Gresham, book review by G. Connor Salter (Nightmare Alley Series) | A Pilgrim in Narnia
Pingback: Inkling Folk Fellowship Conversation about Nightmare Alley (Free Online Event Friday, Jan 7, 2022 at 4pm Eastern) (Nightmare Alley Series) | A Pilgrim in Narnia
Pingback: “Stuff We Liked in 2021” by the Rabbit Room (Friday Feature) | A Pilgrim in Narnia
Pingback: Dorothy and Jack: The Transforming Friendship of Dorothy L. Sayers and C. S. Lewis by Gina Dalfonzo, a Review | A Pilgrim in Narnia