There is magic in the last line of The Lord of the Rings. To recap: the stolidly courageous Sam Gamgee, having watched his best friend, Frodo Baggins, sail towards the Grey Havens and into a kind of death, is left to walk back to the Shire where he finds his wife and children waiting with the promise of a quiet life far from the slaughter of the War of the Ring. J. R. R. Tolkien finishes with the sentence: “‘Well, I’m back,’ he said”. It is a touchingly understated conclusion which returns the prose to the homely simplicity of the inaugural chapters after the archaic epic mode of The Return of the King.

However, as Diana Pavlac Glyer tells us in her scholarly and perceptive study The Company They Keep, this is not how Tolkien originally intended to finish his trilogy. He had in mind a further epilogue, set sixteen years after the events of the rest of the book, which would have provided another, superfluous glimpse into Gamgee’s domesticity. In this ultimately excised version, a grey-haired Sam reads stories of his adventures to his children, spinning them tales of wizards and orcs and walking trees. There is even the faint suggestion that Sam has been narrating the story of The Lord of the Rings itself, before, at last, we depart the Shire for good, leaving Sam and Rose in a state of connubial bliss, tale-telling by the fireside.

What stopped Tolkien from publishing this ending was his membership of the Inklings – that renowned circle of Oxford writers and academics who met for seventeen years from 1932 and which counted C. S. Lewis, Charles Williams and E. R. Edison, the author of The Worm Ouroboros, among their number. It was they who pointed out the glutinous sentimentality of the scene, marshalling their forces to argue that it added nothing of substance to a narrative which had already swollen far beyond the “second Hobbit” requested by his publishers. Glyer suggests that this incident typifies the way in which the Inklings affected one another’s work, despite the fact that in later years its members were frequently to insist that their meetings acted more as a social club than a writers’ circle, brushing aside any suggestion of real influence.

Down the pub with Tolkien and C. S. Lewis

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Visitors to Belfast can now follow in the footsteps of the man who wrote The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe.

A new series of tours celebrate the city’s link to Clive Staples Lewis.

The Belfast-born novelist became world famous for his Chronicles of Narnia where the forces of good and evil – embodied by Aslan the lion and the White Witch – battle it out for control of an enchanted land.

A statue was unveiled in Belfast in 1998, the centenary of Lewis’ birth.

The story of what happens when four children clamber through an old wardrobe, push their way past heavy coats and stumble into a snowy imaginary land has captured the imagination of generations of young people.

CS Lewis was born in Ballyhackamore, east Belfast in 1898 and spent his formative years in the city.

He left for boarding school in England in his early teens after his mother died, and spent much of his adult life as an academic in Oxford, depicted by Sir Anthony Hopkins in the 1993 biopic Shadowlands.

[Read the rest at BBC News]

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Writer-producer-director David Goyer (Batman Begins) told SCI FI Wire that he and Harry Potter producer David Heyman are co-producing a big-screen version of the James A. Owen fantasy novel Here, There Be Dragons, based on the real and fantasy lives of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis and Charles Williams. The book is the first volume in Owen’s The Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica franchise, and Goyer revealed that Owen is currently writing his own adaptation of the tale, hinting that he might direct the ensuing film if the timing works out.

“That will probably be a long, lengthy process,” Goyer said in an interview while promoting his upcoming film, The Invisible, which he directed. “I’ll be producing it for sure, and we’ll see [what else]. You just never know. These things take so long to get going, and you never know what your schedule’s going to be like at the time they come to fruition.”

Here, There Be Dragons brings together three strangers—John, Jack and Charles—in London during World War I, where they become entrusted with the Imaginarium Geographica, an atlas of all the lands that have ever existed in myth, legend, fable and fairy tale. They end up traveling to the Archipelago of Dreams, fighting the dark forces that threaten two worlds. It is later revealed that the three are future fantasy authors Tolkien (The Lord of the Rings), Lewis (The Chronicles of Narnia) and Williams, who met in real life at Oxford and enjoyed a competitive friendship.

“I’m a fan of what I guess I would term ‘meta-fiction,’ and James just came up with this really wonderful device that [brings together] all these characters, real-life people [like] Tolkien and C.S. Lewis and Charles Williams,” Goyer said. “At one point in time they all did really know each other, so he backdated that relationship between them and posited that they shared some real-life adventures in another land that became the source material for all their subsequent fantasy writings. The land that this takes place in is the land that gave birth to Narnia and Middle-earth, etc., etc. So it’s just a wonderful concept.” —Ian Spelling

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From Steve Elmore of the C.S. Lewis Foundation:

The C.S. Lewis Foundation is pleased to announce the Southeast Regional C.S. Lewis Conference. Come join us in Nashville on May 5 as we engage the world of C.S. Lewis in the good company of Lewis scholars Joseph Pearce, Stan Mattson and Andrew Lazo. Together we will explore Lewis’ life and works, discovering the essential role of faith in our own quest for joy.

Also featuring professional dance and music performances, a new Disney film documentary on Lewis’ life, and a special Narnia program for children. Don’t miss this day of learning, worship, and fellowship for the whole family! Register now! Visit our website www.cslewis.org or call toll-free 1-888-CSLEWIS.

“Faith Set Free: C.S. Lewis and the Quest for Joy” also includes performances by the Ad Deum Dance Company of Houston with guest vocalist Stacy Jagger and screening of new Disney documentary C.S. Lewis: Dreamer of Narnia. May 5, 2007.

More Conferences/Seminars:

C.S. Lewis Summer Conference, San Diego, California – “Finding the Way: C.S. Lewis as Pilgrim Guide in an Age of Pluralism” – Together with leading Lewis scholars Paul Ford, Malcolm Guite, and Diana Glyer plus Lambs Players, Steve Mays and Christians of every communion, we will study C. S. Lewis’ writings to discern what it means to be faithful to Christ in a world of increasing religious and philosophical diversity. Enjoy a full program of teaching, worship and performance in this beautiful city by the Pacific! June 28-July 1, 2007.

C.S. Lewis Summer Seminars-in-Residence at The Kilns, Oxford, England. Week-long, small-group seminars addressing relevant themes in C.S. Lewis’ former home in Oxford. July 7-13, 15-21, & 28 – August 3, 2007.

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Today is C.S. Lewis’ 108th Birthday! Thanks to Claire for reminding us of this fact! Here’s a little bit of info about the author for you. You can read more about him by clicking on C.S. Lewis on the menu.

Clive Staples Lewis was born in Belfast, Ireland (now in Northern Ireland) on November 29, 1898. His father was Albert James Lewis (1863-1929), a solicitor whose father had come to Ireland from Wales. His mother was Flora Augusta Hamilton Lewis (1862-1908), the daughter of a Church of Ireland priest. He had one older brother, Warren Hamilton Lewis (Warnie). At the age of four, shortly after his dog Jacksie was hit by a car, Lewis announced that his name was now Jacksie. At first he would answer to no other name, but later accepted Jacks which became Jack, the name by which he was known to friends and family for the rest of his life. At six his family moved into Little Lea, the house the elder Mr. Lewis built for Mrs. Lewis, in Strandtown, Northern Ireland.

Having won a scholarship to University College, Oxford in 1916, Lewis enlisted the following year in the British Army as World War I raged on, and was commissioned an officer in the third Battalion, Somerset Light Infantry. Lewis arrived at the front line in the Somme Valley in France on his eighteenth birthday.

C. S. Lewis. (2006, November 28). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 20:12, November 29, 2006, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=C._S._Lewis&oldid=90647679

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Since The Lord of the Rings’ success, there have been many fantasy films released to try to cash in on the success. I think it’s a breath of fresh air, as far as movies are concerned. After all, movies are mostly fantasy anyway, depending on how you look at them. Recently, Peter Jackson has optioned a series called Temeraire.

Adding to that list, according to The Hollywood Reporter, Warner Brothers has picked up the rights to a soon to be released children’s novel by James A. Owen called “Here, There Be Dragons.”

Says The Hollywood Reporter: The book brings together three strangers — John, Jack and Charles — in London during World War I, where they become entrusted with the Imaginarium Geographica, an atlas of all the lands that have ever existed in myth and legend, fable and fairy tale. They end up traveling to the Archipelago of Dreams, fighting the dark forces that threaten two worlds. It is later revealed that the three are future fantasy authors J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis and Charles Williams, who met in real life at Oxford and enjoyed a competitive friendship.

“It’s the ultimate story behind the story,” screenwriter David Goyer said of the project’s fictional treatment of the famed authors. “Very few people really know what they were like. They had really colorful lives, enough so you could tell straight biographies on them. By doing it this way, you get to have your cake and eat it too.”

“What sets it apart is that there’s a real quid pro quo between our world and their world and how events in the other world shape events our world,” he said. “Also, we get to cherry-pick the best public domain legends that exist, from the Homeric myths to tales like ‘The 7th Voyage of Sinbad.’ In this world, each island is a different fantasy world — it’s the mother lode of all that fantasy. And we get to have fun to see how Tolkien and Lewis got their inspiration. It just seemed like a no-brainer.”

Said Harry Potter producer: David Heyman: “The odd thing is, I’m not a fantasy fan. What drew me was that these characters are appealing and relatable and that the adventure takes place in a wholly conceived world. This is the place where all our stories come from, and the death of imagination equates to bad things happening to our world, which is such a beautiful idea.”

Heyman said he wants to fast-track “Dragons” even as he sees himself working on wrapping up the “Potter” movies for the next three or four years.

As far as the movie is concerned: WB is holding on to it as a project for Harry Potter producer David Heyman and Batman Begins screenwriter David Goyer to produce.

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The C.S. Lewis Foundation, which has sponsored “C.S. Lewis Summer Institute” conferences in Oxford and Cambridge, England, since 1988, is “crossing the pond” for the first time this summer with a conference at Williams College (MA), themed Love Among the Ruins: On the Renewal of Character and Culture.

The 10-day event (July 7-16, 2006) will feature internationally-recognized authors, artists, and academics such as Joseph Pearce, Malcolm Guite, Dick Staub, Armand Nicholi, James-Emery White, and many more. The conference schedule also includes a trip to see the Boston Symphony perform at the nearby Tanglewood outdoor theater, and numerous other arts performances, lectures, seminars and workshops.

For more information or to register, visit the conference website, call toll-free at 1-888-CSLEWIS, or email registrar@cslewis.org.

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JUDY BRADFORD
Tribune Correspondent

Since its release in December by Disney, “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” has exposed millions of children to the works of C.S. Lewis and his themes of spiritual darkness and the struggle toward light.

But for 20 years, Tom Key has explored those themes through his one-man show, “C.S. Lewis On Stage,” which he brought to the South Bend Christian Reformed Church on Sunday night.

A desk, a chair and a podium are all that Key needed to put the audience of about 200 in the presence of Lewis, a prolific and wildly witty author who also penned his autobiography, “Surprised by Joy,” published in 1955.

The show, with plenty of laughs, demonstrates Lewis’ contention that longing is joy and happiness. Our constant search for God, even in everyday, humdrum life, is the ultimate joy.

During the show, “Surprised by Joy” serves as a tool for narration and advancement, while Key takes side trips into Lewis’ other works including “The Great Divorce,” “Mere Christianity,” “The Problem of Pain” and “The Screwtape Letters” as well as his poetry.

This was largely an older audience. Many likely were first exposed to Lewis through “The Screwtape Letters,” where Lewis puts himself in the place of the devil and imagines what it would be like to connive against God, “the enemy.”

As if to satisfy them, Key delivers a lengthy and timeless monologue culled from the letters of Screwtape, a professional devil, to his nephew Wormwood — who is trying his best to perplex a human and steer him away from God.

One can’t help but pay attention to the allusions to war, which were relevant then, and are now.

“Pacifism or patriotism. … It doesn’t matter what the cause is, it would take his mind off prayers,” says Keys, delivering the devil’s advice with a heavy English accent and enthusiasm for debauchery.

Key makes grand use of the stage in the 75-minute show, and especially during a segment on The Great Divorce, where a man boards a bus to heaven and hell to witness the consequences of choices others have made in life.

His voices depicting either world become hilariously Monty Python-esque with their nonstop pace and extreme low and high intonations. But he pauses for humor and gets a self-knowing laugh from the audience with the line: “It’s all a clique up there, all a bloody clique up there.”

The use of Lewis’ autobiography takes the audience through Lewis’ most difficult years. He was tortured not only physically and intellectually but spiritually — which continues to make Lewis accessible to his readers, including devoted Christians. For them, the hardest part of the search may be over, but there is still work ahead.

Key’s monologue hints at the joy of struggle, the serendipitous moments that Lewis chalked up to fate, or to traps set by God to ensnare him initially into faith.

The monologue moves through explanations of Lewis’ physical handicap, a deformed thumb that disallowed sports such as baseball and led him to hold a pen instead.

It talks of his father, a man who never listened to his sons, in comparison to a private tutor who always listened to his students even while constantly correcting them.

The cruelties Lewis suffered under “The Bloods,” or athletes, in public school pushed him into compassion and forgiveness, and a logical acceptance of the mystery of pain.

“C.S. Lewis On Stage” was presented free of charge by South Bend Christian Reformed Church through a grant from the Lilly Foundation. Key has performed the show all over the world, from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., to Oxford University, where Lewis once taught. Lewis died in 1963.

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In Disney’s new blockbuster The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, four young siblings use a wardrobe door to travel from wartime England to the mythical landscapes of Narnia, the fairy-tale world made famous by British novelist C.S. Lewis.

And for movie and literary pilgrims in search of real-life Narnias, the celluloid version of Lewis’ classic already is sparking related tours in England, Northern Ireland and New Zealand, where several key locations were filmed.

In the author’s birthplace of Belfast, Northern Ireland, Harper Taxi Tours plans to supplement its politically themed itineraries with a C.S. Lewis tour. Stops will include Lewis’ childhood church, St. Mark’s, and the Victorian home, Little Lea, in whose “Little End Room” the young author concocted his first stories while gazing at the Mourne Mountains — “which under a particular light,” he wrote, “made me feel that at any moment a giant might raise his head over the next ridge.”

Elsewhere in Northern Ireland, visitors to Crawfordsburn Country Park can see the lamppost that inspired the one in Narnia, and the 17th-century Dunluce Castle on the Antrim Coast, believed to be the basis for Cair Paravel, the royal fortress in Narnia.

Though a northerner at heart, Lewis, who died in 1963, spent most of his adulthood in southern England, including Oxford, where he studied, taught and downed so many pints at the Eagle and Child pub that a special “C.S. Lewis chair” is dedicated to his memory.

In New Zealand — where, thanks to the Lord of the Rings trilogy, locals are already accustomed to hordes of costume-clad tourists seeking magical scenery — Canterbury Sightseeing is launching Narnia tours to the film’s climactic battle scene at Flock Hill Station, near Christchurch.

“It is incredible how nostalgia affects people,” Canterbury Sightseeing director Melissa Heath told The New Zealand Herald. “People are prepared to pay an incredible amount of money to revisit their memories.”

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A good many college students have read and become hooked on Christianity through Narnia’s creator, C.S. Lewis, according to InterVarsity Christian Fellowship.

“Quotes and arguments from Lewis are used extensively and convincingly in both evangelistic dorm discussions and in a host of books for believers,” InterVarsity Press Publisher Bob Fryling said in a Dec. 7 report posted on InterVarsity’s Web site. “His books have been widely read on campus for decades by both Christians and those curious about Christian faith.”

“If you survey senior staff, they will say that Lewis was extremely important for our work. A good many students were nourished on Lewis,” agreed Terry Morrison, director emeritus of Faculty Ministry.

Lewis studied and taught at Oxford University for decades, and it was there that he wrote and published treatises, essays, books, and articles on his faith. While best known now for Narnia, he was known then for his books dealing with religion, such as the classic apologetics book, Mere Christianity.

“In a university environment, Lewis has the stellar academic credentials that command intellectual respect, while his journey from atheism to Christian faith describes a personal and spiritual authenticity that is attractive and not easily dismissed,” said Fryling.

Lewis’ books also enjoyed resonance with Christian faculty, who said that Lewis is a role model.

[Read More]

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