Tolkien, in a letter to George Sayer as recorded in his biography JACK: A LIFE OF C. S. LEWIS, says that this is "a great book, the only one of his [Lewis's] that gives me unalloyed pleasure." Coming from Tolkien, this is very high praise indeed. Originally published as ENGLISH LITERATURE IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY EXCLUDING DRAMA and for some inexplicable reason recently renamed, this book, Lewis's longest work, will not be found in the libraries of the causal C. S. Lewis fan for the simple fact that it is a textbook and is aimed not at the general reader but instead the academic world (even in those days there was that damned phenomena of 'publish or perish!'). For those who are studying this material, however, will find the book a very remarkable one at that. As a previous reviewer noted, Lewis began referring to this text as "O Hell!" as the writing process became very tedious to him. This book was ten years in the writing, and by the time it was ended Lewis wanted to concentrate more on theology and Narnia than this "critical nonsense." The end sections of the book do not shore this weariness, however, so have no fear.

Although books of this sort always, by necessity, impose artificial time lines on literature which, in the long run, do not have a lot to do with the true literary history. To study literature in the sixteenth century, one should not confine oneself to going behind or in front of the time line to get a fuller understanding of the significance of the text. However, this is not really a fault of Lewis and it is a very difficult error to correct for literary historians. However, Lewis pulls off this artificial time limit very well by clearly illustrating the many strenghts and the many weaknesses of this century's literature.

Because it is for the student of literature, much of the more radical elements of this text will be lost without a general knowledge of the preconceptions the academic world has in regard to the literature in question. The opening chapter ("New Learning and New Ignorance") stands as one of Lewis's most famous academic writing because of the sheer implications and challenges set forth in the chapter. He debunks many of the fashionable scholarly trends, focusing on how much of what the scholars say is off base. Lewis argues that the during the sixteenth century much of the literature proved extremely dull, saying the authors wrote like "elderly men". Toward the close of the century, however, something radical began to take place. There was a renewal and an elevation in quality from drab to gold, as Lewis puts it. Most literary scholars and historians think the Renaissance is responsible for this, but Lewis says this theory has no truth, because the humanists who were responsible for the Renaissance were terrible scholars and brought death to the literature they presented, presenting the classics' virtues as ills and instead focused on the way the classics said what they said. The humanists focused on the language and left the literature itself alone. Everything else about the literature they hated. Lewis continually attacks the humanists, stating that "the new learning [that of the humanists] created the new ignorance." His belief that the Renaissance never occurred in England, and if it did it was of no literary importance, is as radical a literary belief as accepting the Book of Mormon to the Bible would be to a Christian.

The rest of the book reads as a survey of the literature of the period. All major and quite a large number of minor authors are represented in this. As a textbook, this stands as fascinating reading, for Lewis constantly illuminates the strengths and weaknesses of whoever he is dealing with, and his numerous quotations from the texts dealt with show the true skill of selection to prove a point. All of the quotations give a further understanding in context of Lewis's prose. If all textbooks were written with such skill and wit, there would not be the incredible resentment (myself included) of the price tag on most college text books.

Lewis's 1938 on Donne, published in SEVENTEENTH CENTURY STUDIES PUBLISHED IN SIR HERBERT GRIERSON has made him the heretic and central enemy of all Donne scholars and fans. Here he does not attack him but helps readers deal with Donne's metre. However, Lewis only gives five pages to Donne, and he was fond of saying that "Donne's place is that of a minor poet."

The reception of this book was fair, although the most resentment came from the academic circle. People accused Lewis of, as Sayer says in his biography, grossly oversimplifying by presenting only two classifications: drab and gold. Yvor Winters goes to the extreme when she says that "Mr. Lewis has simply not discovered what poetry is."

Of all the volumes in the series this still sells the most. Sayer notes in the aforementioned biography that "many Oxford tutors still warn their students that it is 'unsound but brilliantly written.' Nevertheless, or perhaps partly because of this warning, it outsells all the other volumes in this series." While it does not enjoy the monumental place in criticism of THE ALLEGORY OF LOVE, which many would argue is Lewis's most significant piece of criticism, partly because of the radical ideas mentioned above, this work stands as one of the most brilliant and enjoyable survey books every written.

Commissioned as a volume in "The Oxford History of English Literature", "English Literature in the Sixteenth Century Excluding Drama", as it was originally titled, proved such tedium to write that Lewis took to referring to it by the acronym "OHEL". The sixteenth century ends as one of the great ages - arguably the greatest - of English literary genius, but it began dismally. Except in Scotland, where a vigorous Medieval tradition lived on, "authors seem to have forgotten the lessons which had been mastered in the Middle Ages and learned little in their stead. Their prose is clumsy, monotonous, garrulous; their verse either astonishingly tame and cold or, if it attempts to rise, the coarsest fustian. . . . Nothing is light, or tender, or fresh. All the authors write like elderly men."

This period of "bludgeon-work" gave way to something almost worse, "the Drab Age" - "earnest, heavy-handed, commonplace", a time when England did not shine and the peripheral light of Scotland guttered out.

The story would scarcely be worth telling, save for the happy ending, a true eucatastrophe: "Then, in the last quarter of the century, the unpredictable happens. With startling suddenness, we ascend. Fantasy, conceit, paradox, color, incantation return. Youth returns. The fine frenzies of ideal love and ideal war are readmitted. Sidney, Spenser, Shakespeare, Hooker . . . display what is almost a new culture: that culture which was to last through most of the seventeenth century and enrich the very meanings of the words England and Aristocracy. Nothing in the earlier history of our period would have enabled the sharpest observer to foresee this transformation."

Had the scope of his labors not been set by his commission, Lewis would doubtless have preferred to skip the clumsy and drab, to delve into the riches of the Age of Gold. Still, despite his preferences, he was an apt choice to mine the less precious veins. Unlike many of his academic colleagues, who then as now regarded literature as merely a "job", Lewis read avidly in the most obscure corners. Little though he admired the early and drab writers, he was familiar with their work and could tease out virtues as well as point to flaws.

Three points about this history stand out as unexpected or significant. First is the fine opening chapter, "New Learning and New Ignorance", which contests the commonplace view that the medieval period was a vale of ignorance from which mankind was happily rescued by the Renaissance. That opinion is no longer prevalent in scholarly circles (where Lewis is now sometimes derided for expounding the conventional wisdom - much like accusing Shakespeare of writing in cliches!), but most general readers take it for granted. Lewis' presentation is one-sided, but it is a side that needs to be heard.

Second, Lewis devotes considerable space to Scotland, a territory absent from most of our literature classes. Though the Scots dialect is not easy to parse, Douglas and Dunbar and Lyndsay and their ilk are worthy of acquaintance.

Third - a slighter point than the preceding but interesting in its own right - there is Lewis' treatment of John Donne. As a young man, Lewis wrote a notorious essay on Donne, dispraising the quality of his love poetry and hinting that his vogue was due more to fashion than merit. For these heresies he became the stock villain of every introduction to Donne's work.

The "OHEL" volume takes a different tack. Lewis' appreciation of the "Songs and Sonnets" is warm and perceptive, with a useful disquisition on how to catch the rhythm of Donne's eccentric versification. It was not only, apparently, in matters of faith that Lewis was capable of casting off his youthful skepticism.

Within its genre - the comprehensive academic history - Lewis' effort is as good as a single mind and hand can produce. Similar tomes are nowadays parceled out chapter by chapter, gaining no doubt in narrow expertise but losing personality and perspective. Both are present in plenitude here.

In the REAL PRESENCE, Leanne Payne explains the spirituality of C.S.Lewis as revealed in his fiction and nonfiction writings. Payne is in part an interpreter of C.S. Lewis; in part a Christian apologist to the philosophical community; in part a spiritual director (telling us how to 'grow our own spiritual life'). She is also a minister in her own right - she has an international ministry of spiritual (emotional) healing. She has a somewhat arcane writing style which takes just a little bit to decipher. But her understanding of Lewis is great. His spirituality was foundational to the development of her own, and she articulates it very well. She explains it in light of classic, historic Christian doctrine, especially that of the early church. This book is very helpful in understanding her own subsequent books, all of which I highly reccommend, esp HEALING PRESENCE, RESTORING THE CHRISTIAN SOUL and LISTENING PRAYER. She has a tremendous understanding of (as she terms it) 'Incarnational Reality', the essential Christian assertion that, through the Holy Spirit, God comes to live right inside the believer. It is in listening to and collaborating with the Holy Spirit, who indwells us, that we are healed and caused to grow. Lewis wrote much about this concept (in large part symbolically, in his fiction); and it is from him that much of Payne's own understanding comes. It is to this concept that she refers in the title of this book - THE REAL PRESENCE. The book is a tremendous help in understanding the complexity of Lewis' writing, especially his fiction. Without understanding his underlying spirituality, it is hard to appreciate any but the most superficial aspects of meaning in the imagery and characterizations in his fiction; it also informs much of his nonfiction. Payne does an excellent job of explaining that spirituality and does so with frequent quotes from and references to Lewis' writings. (Perhaps you thought that the Narnia Chronicles and his outer space trilogy - PERELANDRA,OUT OF THE SILENT PLANET,THAT HIDEOUS STRENGTH - were simple children's books. They are, in fact, profound works, if one only knows what is meant through the imagery.) Payne taught at Trinity Seminary in Deerfield IL USA, and had access to a large body of Lewis' unpublished writings and correspondence. She has taught, there and elsewhere, on an undergraduate and graduate level, the writings of Lewis, Tolkein, Charles Williams and others. I give this book five stars (" ... and two thumbs up - way up!")

This book is a excellent study of the worldview of CS Lewis - one of the most influencial christian writers of the twentieth century. It is aimed at those who have either read or are contemplating reading Lewis's work. Unlike some books which deal with worldviews this is very readable, and far from being dry and abstract. The author demonstrates throughout her book a profound understanding of Lewis's writings and communicates this in a lucid and readable style - showing how Lewis's whole system of thought is centred in what she terms "Incarnational Reality" - the reality of God, present in and through His creation.

Later chapters in the book look at how Lewis understood the role of an artist, the nature of imaginative experience, and Good and evil (the author contrasts Lewis's views on this with those of the psychologist CG Jung and fellow writer Charles Williams).

Well worth reading for anyone even slighty interested in Lewis.

I was raised Catholic and went to Catholic gramar school and high school and am currently a history major. While not practising I do understand alot of christian mythology and am always interested in anything that may reveal interpretations of faith. This novel was a wonderfully incightfull glimpse into the world of a demon (christian). The messages from Screwtape to his nephew challenge the thoughts and actions we take on a daily basis. Lewis tactfully chalenges those who would call themselves atheists not to mention challenging the justifications many of us use on a daily basis to avoid following an ethical life. While reading it makes you stop and say to yourself, wow I am doing the exact thing this demon wants me to do and while it doesn't make you fear that your soul will be taken it makes you wonder, what would it hurt to go that extra mile to take the ethical, morally right alternative. This book offers me a great reminder whenever I am having trouble making a decision on a problem in my life. But be warned if you have been preached to all your life many of this will sound familiar and in too large of doses can be off putting, but overall a wonderfull read.

This small book contains within its pages a powerful example of the authors' penetrating insight into human nature. Although aimed primarily at christians, it provides observations of the human condition useful to any student of moral psychology. These lessons are set in a series of fictional correspondances between Screwtape, a high ranking demon, and his young protege Wormwood, a young demon that has been sent out on his first assignment to ensnare a human. The seemingly gentle and fatherly advice to the young demon from his patron exposes the true designs of the masters of Hell, as well as the frailties of the human psyche that they seek to exploit in their attempts to gain a convert for their side. The demonic viewpoints are presented in an ironically sensitive and almost plaintive voice, expressing the motives and problems of the demons from their viewpoint. This wonderful literary mechanism adds power to this probing treatise on the common frailties and pitfalls of humans as they struggle in a morally ambiguous universe. Short, concise, and easily apprehended, this is a classic example of Mr. Lewis' great value as a christian apologist and an observer of human nature. Highly reccommended.

African Americans is a superb and balanced portrayal of the history and current situation of African Americans in Michigan. The book is well written, objective and extremely well researched. The solutions proposed are realistic and well thougt. The analysis is logical, presented well and understandable. This is the best book I have read concerning African Americans.

"The Screwtape Letters", "The Great Divorce", "Miracles",
"The Case for Christianity","Christian Behavior" The paperback
version is 512p. All volumes were complete works in themselves.
From the backcover:
"Versatility and imagination are the hallmarks of this collection. His (Lewis's) pen ranges from sparkling satire in THE SCREWTAPE LETTERS to hard-hitting logic in THE CASE FOR CHRISTIANITY. The nitty-gritty issues of the faith walk come alive in CHRISTIAN BEHAVIOR and MIRACLES. For sheer literary artistry THE GREAT DIVORCE is a masterpiece; it is also religious allegory-at its best."

Somewhere in the world there may be someone who knows more about the life and work of C.S. Lewis than does Professor James Como, but almost certainly there is no one anywhere who appreciates him more or has analyzed him as thoroughly. What Plato did for Socrates in the 160 pages of the Apology, Crito, and Phaedo, Professor Como does for Professor Lewis in the 200 pages of this remarkable new book - shows us a great mind seeking, finding, and presenting the pure and transfiguring light amid the darkness of this present world. The word "genius" is used much too generously these days, but Professor Como convincingly demonstrates that C.S. Lewis has a multiple claim upon that rarefied reality - as scholar, storyteller, medievalist, apologist, fabulist, rhetorician, and possessor of one of the greatest memories in human history, a memory able to recall and recite every word its possessor ever read. While the book is not for the dialectically timid - there are passages that demand to be read with an extra-large thinking cap - the human Lewis is here in abundance, "the good man speaking well," and also, like an even greater teacher, having compassion on the multitude. Not only did the compassionate Lewis answer every letter written to him - and they were legion - he generally wrote his works in a style the multitude understood and delighted in. Here is a book that many of the multitude of Lewis-lovers will read to their profit, their pleasure, and their greater affection for the mere Christian who not only showed them Narnia, Glome, and Perelendra, but a new heaven and a new earth.

In this book by Catherine Swift, you will find a very interesting and touching book about a beloved author. The book tells of his early childhood with out a mother and with a father who doesn't pay much attention to his children. The only thing the children have to turn to are themselves and there writings of animal kingdom. This story follows through his teenage and adult life through his marriage until his death. It was very well written and is a great book although it is not very long. I think this book was a 9 and 1\2

A good biography of C.S. Lewis told in a fictional form.

Thought holiness was stiff, legalistic and restricting? This book will change the way you see yourself and the way you see God. Holiness is explained the way it has always meant to be. Enjoy it. You won't regret owning this book.

C.S. Lewis has to be one of my favorite authors. His style of writing is amazing--he successfully describes and mantains a whole other world with its own unique landscapes and races. But, despite being wonderfully written in nearly all aspects, he creates a type of science fiction unique in itself. Never have I read a sci-fi novel like this, and verily, this one surpasses all. The book is complex in both terms of vocabulary (as Lewis sucessfully manages to create life-like characters in the profession of Philology and a Physics professor) and a difficult set of allegory. Certainly, the book is not for the weak reader looking for a book to half concentrate on. Nonetheless, the book is really inspiring, outlining an age old conflict of good and evil in a new way, and all the while establishing a solid foundation of religion...I won't go too far...I recommend that everyone reads this book!

It helps a bit to remember that this C.S.Lewis Sci-fi adventure was first published in 1943. Even though our knowledge of Mars (Malacandra) is slightly more defined now than in Lewis' day, his wonderfully creative imagination can still delight and captivate a modern day reader.

The novel begins with the carefree walking tour of the British countryside by a vacationing Cambridge college philologist named Ransom. By chance, Ransom runs into two crazed and evil (bent) colleagues who abduct him and drag him off via spaceship to the planet Malacandra. Fearing for his life, he escapes his captors and journeys through the waters, forests, canals, and strange countryside of the new world. Overwhelmed by the horrifying feeling of being alone in a place he knows absolutely nothing about, he encounters extraordinary obstacles, situations, and inhabitants throughout his amazing journey.

The book is a wonderful story of one man's amazing adventures in a new land; and, while learning about the strange and diverse customs of it's inhabitants, he delves into his own mind and examines thoughts of love, hatred, greed, superior beings, God, and the meaning of life itself.

It's a very captivating and refreshing book.

Don't let the allegory or "this is a story with a message" reviewers scare you away. Dr. Ransom, a linguist, (I often wonder if J.R.R. Tolkien was the inspiration for the persona) is kidnapped by a man who he once knew in academic circles, and sent to Mars. But this is not like other Mars-sci-fi books. It was published in the middle of World War II in England.

Ransom escapes being a planned human sacrifice on Mars and falls in with creatures that have cultures like the Cherokees (a Native American tribe for those of you on the net not from the Americas). He meets the planet's spiritual guardian, Oyarsa, and among other things learns that earth is referred to as the "silent planet," hence the title of the book.

Lewis has several things to say about mankind's wish to colonize the galaxy and beyond - - which are all negative, and amazingly contemporary for readers today.

Many fault the technology Lewis envisioned as dated, but I find hints of Lewis' sci-fi ideas in other stories - - such as the most recent First Contact. Dr. Ransom finds the purpose of his life on earth crystallized on Mars. You may find your purpose here crystallized as well - - but at the least, you will read a highly entertaining, and unusual story.