I love this little clip by Neil Gaiman about “the book that made me an author.” While Gaiman is one of the most important fantasy authors of our age and a great reader in his own right, there is a perception that he resists C.S. Lewis. This might be because they have a different worldview, or have different audiences (except perhaps in The Graveyard Book or Coraline), or because of his infamous short story, “The Problem Of Susan.”
And yet, I think we can see the true appreciation in this lovely moment:
“It was the first time I ever realized that somebody was really writing this stuff. He would do things like parenthetical asides, put these things in brackets. And I could go, ‘there’s somebody here. There’s an author. He’s doing this!’”
There is also an important note about beards. I hope you enjoy this piece!
And here, Neil Gaiman goes a little deeper:
I believe in open access scholarship. Because of this, since 2011 I have made A Pilgrim in Narnia free with nearly 1,000 posts on faith, fiction, and fantasy. Please consider sharing my work so others can enjoy it.
“A Pilgrim in Narnia” is a blog project in reading and talking about the work of C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and the worlds they touched. As a "Faith, Fantasy, and Fiction" blog, we cover topics like children’s literature, apologetics and philosophy, myths and mythology, fantasy, theology, cultural critique, art and writing.
This blog includes my thoughts as I read through Lewis and Tolkien and reflect on my own life and culture. In this sense, I am a Pilgrim in Narnia--or Middle Earth, or Fairyland. I am often peeking inside of wardrobes, looking for magic bricks in urban alleys, or rooting through yard sale boxes for old rings. If something here captures your imagination, leave a comment, “like” a post, share with your friends, or sign up to receive Narnian Pilgrim posts in your email box.
Brenton Dickieson is a father, husband, friend, university lecturer, and freelance writer from Prince Edward Island, Canada. You can follow him on Twitter, @BrentonDana.
Yes, thanks for posting that. Monika Hilder makes the point somewhere that some of our critique of Lewis as sexist is our own sexism about what a hero or villain is.
Interesting thing that the asides spoke to Neil. The asides were part of Lewis’s writing style, and was quite a common feature of children’s literature of the day. I personally prefer the happy, delightful tone of Tolkien’s The Hobbit over his more serious style in his other books.
I love this little clip by Neil Gaiman about “the book that made me an author.” While Gaiman is one of the most important fantasy authors of our age and a great reader in his own right, there is a perception that he resists C.S. Lewis. This might be because they have a different worldview, or have different audiences (except perhaps in The Graveyard Book or Coraline), or because of his infamous short story, “The Problem Of Susan.”
Concerning “the problem of Susan” see The problem of Susan — growing up?
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Yes, thanks for posting that. Monika Hilder makes the point somewhere that some of our critique of Lewis as sexist is our own sexism about what a hero or villain is.
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Interesting thing that the asides spoke to Neil. The asides were part of Lewis’s writing style, and was quite a common feature of children’s literature of the day. I personally prefer the happy, delightful tone of Tolkien’s The Hobbit over his more serious style in his other books.
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I like both, but read them quite differently.
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