At long last The Collected Letters of C. S. Lewis, Volume III is now in print and I am devouring every page. I'm a bit of a slow reader so I am only on page 375 of this 1810 page book! I have been reading the letters of C. S. Lewis in dribs and drabs for ages. I think I started with Letters to an American Lady back in the 70's, followed by the spiritually nutritious letters to Sheldon Vanauken reprinted in A Severe Mercy. Then I received Letters to Children as a college graduation gift from a close friend. Years later I plowed through The Letters of C. S. Lewis as edited by Warren Lewis and later revised by Walter Hooper. Maybe a dozen years ago I retraced the steps of Lewis's lifelong friendship with Arthur Greeves as I read that collection of letters, originally entitled: They Stand Together. Then came the Latin Letters to Don Giovanni Calabria displaying, not only Lewis's great skill at writing fresh letters in a dead language, but Lewis's heart for true ecumenicity.
By that time I had really become a serious student of Lewis and eagerly anticipated the release of the first volume of the Collected Letters. In God's providence I was blessed to purchase that first volume while in Oxford in the summer of 2000. I enjoyed a delightful afternoon tea with Walter Hooper in his home, coincidentally on my birthday, and Walter graciously signed that first volume for me.
During that same visit to Oxford I had the chance to read some of Lewis's original letters in the Bodleian Library. I had anticipated doing more research until I discovered how difficult some of Lewis's letters were to decipher, and unfortunately I had too many other things on my agenda during that visit to Oxford to spend too much time in the Bodleian. But those brief perusals of Lewis's original handwritten letters gave me a deep appreciation for the almost lifelong work of Walter Hooper, collecting, deciphering and typing up the massive correspondence which Lewis kept throughout his life.
Here are several gems from Volume III . . .
On Elizabeth Anscombe: "The lady is quite right to refute what she thinks bad theistic arguments, but does this not almost oblige her as a Christian to find good ones in their place: having obliterated me as an Apologist ought she not to succeed me?" p. 35.
On Death: "Thank you for your letter which is one of the most useful I have ever received. It brings home to me that aspect of Death which is now most neglected--Death as a Rite or Initiation Ceremony. And certainly something does come through into this world, among the survivors, at the time and for a little while after." p. 47.
On Writing: "Ink is a deadly drug. One wants to write. I cannot shake off the addiction." p. 57.
On Fame: "I am going to be (if I live long enough) one of those men who was a famous writer in his forties and dies unknown--like Christian going down into the green valley of humiliation. Which is the most beautiful thing in Bunyan and can be the most beautiful thing in life if a man takes it quite rightly--a matter I think and pray about a good deal. One thing is certain: much better to begin (at least) learning humility on this side of the grave than to have it all as a fresh problem on the other." p. 150.
On Love: "The great thing in friendship as in all other forms of love is, as you know, to turn from the demand to be loved (or helped or answered) to the wish to love (or help or answer)." p. 237.
On Henry James: "A phantasmal man, who had never known God, or earth, or war, never done a day's compelled work, never had to earn a living, had no home & no duties." p. 239.
On Politics: "As you know public affairs seem to me much less important than private--in fact important only in so far as they affect private affairs.)" p. 251.
On Newspapers: "But don't send me any newspaper cuttings. I never believe a word said in the papers." p. 252.
On one's childhood home: "'Nothing is great or small except by position' and the house one grows up in has always a certain immemorial grandeur in one's mind." p. 262.
On Ireland: "In Ireland I stayed at a lonely bungalow last summer which the peasants avoided not because a ghost had been seen near it (they didn't mind ghosts) but because the Good People, the Faerie, frequented that bit of coast. So apparently ghosts are the least alarming kind of spirit." p. 264.
On Grief: "I am indeed sorry to hear about your Mother. In a way you were most fortunate to have had her so long (mine died when I was a little boy), yet in another way it probably makes it worse, for you have lived into the period when the relationship is really reversed and you were mothering her: and of course, the more we have had to do for people the more we miss them--loving goes deeper than being loved. But it must be nice for her. Getting out of an old body into the new life--like stripping off tiresome old clothes and getting into a bath--must be a most wonderful experience." p. 308.
On the Narnia books: "It's fun laying out all my books as a cathedral. Personally I'd make Miracles and the other 'treatises' the cathedral school: my children's stories are the real side-chapels, each with its own altar." p. 314.
How to read the Bible: "Supposing (as I think is the case) that sound critical reading reveals different kinds of narrative in the Bible, surely it wd. be illogical to conclude that these different kinds shd. all be read in the same way? This is not a 'rationalistic approach' to miracles. Where I doubt the historicity of an O. T. narrative I never do so on the ground that the miraculous as such is incredible. Nor does it deny 'a unique sort of inspiration'; allegory, parable, romance, and lyric might be inspired as well as chronicle." p. 319.
On Mercy & Justice: "I'd sooner pray for God's mercy than for His justice on my friends, my enemies, and myself." p. 323.
On Reason & Desire: "A man's reason sees perfectly clearly that the resulting discomfort and inconvenience will far outweigh the pleasure of the ten minutes in bed. Yet he stays in bed: not at all because his reason is deceived but because desire is stronger than reason. . . . what we need is not--or not only--re-education but repentance, God's forgiveness, and His Grace to help us to do better next time."
On Television: "Like you, we haven't got a set, and don't propose to get one; it is I think a very bad habit to develop. People who have sets seem to do nothing but go into a huddle over them every evening of their lives, instead of being out walking, or in their gardens." p. 350.
So many priceless gems, and I am still only on page 375! I hope these tidbits whet your appetite to partake of the rest of the feast enclosed in this massive monument to an epistolary giant.
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