Brian Sibley wrote to us to invite you all to take a look at this unique event opportunity to spend an evening with him this September.  Take a look!  EJ Casting.Com is pleased to present an evening with world-renowned writer BRIAN SIBLEY on Thursday 24 September 2009 at 7:00pm in The Library at TEATROS PRIVATE MEMBERS CLUB, 93 – 107 Shaftesbury Avenue, London, WC1.

BRIAN SIBLEY adapted J R R Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings for BBC Radio in which Ian Holm stared as Frodo and Sir Michael Hordern played the wizard, Gandalf. This production was one of the inspirations for Peter Jackson to make the trilogy into movies.

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Welcome to Tumnus’s Book Shelf where we review any and all books related to Narnia and CS Lewis! For this weeks review, we will be looking at CS Lewis’s
The Great Divorce

Book Title: The Great Divorce
Author: CS Lewis
Publisher: HarperOne; New Ed edition (February 6, 2001)

ISBN-13: 978-0060652951

Summary of the book:

Some Possible Spoilers.( Please Highlight to read)

One rainy day a man stood in line waiting to board a bus. After waiting for a fairly long time and watching as the other passengers got on and watching everything with the other passengers in their attempts to get on board, the man was let on. The man notices that there seemed to be a Light about the driver. This Light even seemed to fill the bus.

As the bus was driving down the road it suddenly flew off into the air. The man spoke with a fellow passenger about the town and where the bus may be heading. The bus, or as it was called The Ominibus, came to a lush green valley unlike any on Earth. Everything in this Valley seemed far more real, and far more alive and vibrant than on Earth, so much so that the passengers of the bus seem as Ghosts in comparison.

The passengers are greeted by the Solid People, or those who dwell in this world. One of them, George McDonald, meets the man and guides him through this world that is filled with gentle lions, unicorns and may other wondrous things. This world exists in-between the worlds of Heaven, Hell and life itself. The man witnesses the discussions between many of the Ghosts and the Solid People and learns what it is that separated these two worlds and leads some to favoring one and not the other.

SPOILERS!As the man’s time in this world comes to a close, George McDonald reveals to him that all of this had been a dream, one which he must relate to others. He awakens , finding himself back home, just as an air raid begins above him.END SPOILERS!

Review:

Jesus once told a parable about two men. A very wealthy man, and a poor beggar named Lazarus. The rich man had everything and Lazarus had nothing. One day both men died. The Rich man went to Hell, while Lazarus was carried by angels to Paradise. The rich man looked over and saw Lazarus at peace in paradise with Abraham. He begged Abraham to send Lazarus to dip his hand in water and touch it to the rich man’s to cool him for he was in great agony. The Rich man said he could not send him as there was a great gulf fixed between Heaven and Hell that none could cross.

It is through this gulf between Heaven and Hell that Lewis allows the reader to peer through in his book The Great Divorce. In this fictional story, Lewis examines the nature of Heaven and Hell. The title’s implication is that the two are so far divided from one another that there is no chance that they can ever be reconciled. Lewis shows just what some of these divisions are.

The story is written from the first person perspective. It is implied by various details that the man in question is CS Lewis, who is dreaming a dream. Because of his limited knowledge as a first person narrator Lewis is able to convey the same sense of wonder and amazement at this strange land he finds himself in, similar to the feeling his characters of the Pevensies feel when they are in Narnia.

Much like with Narnia, Lewis the narrator is taking us to a world that we have never been to. Unlike Narnia, which is like the fantasy world we dream of, this land is one that as Shakespeare said, “ None have journeyed back from.” Lewis in effect is showing what does lie in that “undiscovered country” of death and how we can end up in either the worlds of Heaven or Hell.

In some ways The Great Divorce is not that dissimilar from Dante’s Divine Comedy. In both works the authors take us to the eternal realm, allow us to see the inhabitants and what leads some humans to ending up in one place or another. Much like with Dante, a guide is needed to navigate through this strange country. For Dante it was the poet Virgil in The Inferno, and Dante’s dead lover, Beatrice in Purgatorio and Paradiso.The guide for Lewis is George McDonald, noted author of numerous fantasy works that later inspired those of Lewis and JRR Tolkien.

As Virgil served as a guide and source for inspiration for Dante, McDonald had also served as a sort of guide for Lewis in his own personal life. It was the works of McDonald that Lewis said “baptized his imagination.” Lewis’s “Lord, Liar, Lunatic” rational that was used to confirm the deity of Christ in Mere Christianity, was first employed by McDonald in his Everlasting Man. Lewis felt he owed a great debt to McDonald’s works, both in terms of his own fantasy and his Christian faith, so to use one who guided him indirectly is fitting. Notably Lewis makes reference to the appearance of Beatrice to Dante in Purgatorio when McDonald first appears to him.

There are also many other characters that fall into one of two groups. Except for Lewis and McDonald, none of them are given names as much as descriptive terms and characteristics to describe who they were in life, such as “Man with the Bowler Hat”,”The Hard-bitten Ghost”, “The Tragedian”, and “The Dwarf.” The names of these characters is actually not needed. The only thing that matters with any of them is how they have ended up in Hell as opposed to Heaven.

These people are divided into two groups.The first are the Solid Ones, the people dwell in this Land. The second is The Ghosts or the new arrivals. Through the conversations between these two types of people, Lewis shows what divides Heaven and Hell. The key divider between Heaven and Hell is the choice of Christ. Those who accept Him become Solid.

Perhaps the most haunting conversation is between a Ghost and a Solid Man who killed the Ghost’s friend while the Solid Man was alive. The Solid Man came to Christ and is in Heaven with the Ghost’s friend. It is unsettling for many Christians as it reminds us that essentially every one can get into Heaven if they only choose Christ. This means that the likes of Hitler, Stalin, Phillip Pullman, Nietzsche and Osama Bin-Laden have the chance of being in Heaven with Jesus and standing side by side with the likes of Deitrich Bonhoeffer, Mother Theresa, CS Lewis, JRR Tolkien and Billy Graham.

The world Lewis visits is described as being “real” and “hard” and is far more real than the world he left. Animals such as lions, fish, and even unicorns dwell and thrive in perfect harmony. This is in contrasted with the dismal ,rainy and virtually empty city they left. In some ways the world Lewis visits is not that dissimilar from Aslan’s kingdom in comparison to the Shadowlands in Narnia, which in turn is derived from Plato’s ideas of Higher Forms.

The Platonic ideas, the references to Dante and even George McDonald himself may be lost on many modern readers, as they may not understand them as most works of classic literature are fading into obscurity. This is the same fate of many of the allusions made in this, and Lewis’s other books, to works of classical literature. They can leave some modern readers confused. Lewis was a scholar of literature and writing in a time when people were more versed in such things. While a modern person may not understand completely what he means Lewis in away helps preserve the ideas in these works of literature and adds to their legacy.

Protestant and Catholic scholars debate about whether or not the dream is set in Purgatory as it appears to be an area in between Heaven and Hell. The location of the dream is not as important as the meaning. Quoting Milton, Lewis says that the choice of Hell over Heaven lies in saying, “better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven,” and in doing so, choosing to favor our Pride and our own will over God’s. The choice of Heaven lies in giving oneself over to God and choosing Christ.

In doing so all the good things of life are outshined by the glory of Heaven. Lewis reminds us that this choice is always before us and that choosing Hell is to choose something that is even more pale, and horrible, and smaller in comparison to even this world. He reassures us that Hell can never veto Heaven as it is nothing next to Heaven. For those bound for Hell, this life ends up being as good as it gets.

The is choice of Heaven is one we all have to make, and must make it while we dwell on Earth. In The Great Divorce, Lewis shows not only why we have to make it, but how. Lewis reminds us in his dream that the only way for any of us to get to Heaven is to choose Christ and let go of ourselves.

Five out of Five sheilds

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Hey, Narnia Fans! Welcome to “Behind the Wardrobe” an Interview Series with Douglas Gresham. Join me as we find out about CS Lewis, Narnia and more in this interview series.

Special thanks to Paul Martin (The Webmaster for NarniaFans) and to Mr. Douglas Gresham himself for this amazing opportunity. And an even bigger thanks to Mr. Gresham for putting up with a few of my impossible questions. Thanks for being such a great sport about it!

For this week: On The Shadowlands…

JS: What was your opinion of the play The Shadowlands?

DG: I think it a wonderful play, but then I am biased. I have been a consultant to Shadowlands in all its varying inceptions ever since Brian Sibley and Norman Stone first wrote the concept script about 20 odd years ago. Incidentally the play is being revived and will shortly open again in London’s West End. I don’t know though whether there are any plans to move the production to America though.

JS: How did you feel about how they portrayed Jack?

DG: I have seen so many productions in which the portrayals always depended on the actor playing the role that it is hard to remember a specific portrayal. The play itself portrays not C.S.Lewis, nor Jack, but a fictional character based on him. Remember that Shadowlands is not supposed to be an Historical documentary, but is a very beautiful love story based on real events in the lives of some real people.

JS:Thank you for the clarification that The Shadowlands is not a historical documentary. In a class I took in college it was, more or less, portrayed as a historical documentary to us.

DG: It was never intended to be so, and I would have though that it is pretty obvious. After all there are only four characters based on real people in the whole movie, all the rest are entirely fictional.

JS: Have most people mistaken the play for a historical documentary?

DG: I don’t think so, I haven’t come across too many folk who have.

JS: Notably one of the major differences was the absence of your brother David. How did you feel about this change?

DG: This change was made for very straightforward theatrical and dramatic reasons and so when I fully understood the reasons I had no problem with it.

JS: Would you be able to elaborate a bit on what the theatrical and dramatic reasons for the exclusion of your brother from the play were?

DG: It is very simple really, first, if you have two children each reacting differently to the same situations, you automatically have two subplots. In the first TV version of Shadowlands this was done, and on studying it later, it was discovered that having the two subplots actually detracted from the main theme of the piece rather than complementing it, so it was decided to drop one child for the Stage play version. Also contributing to that decision was the fact that for stage work each child character has to be played by two child actors as there are legal restrictions on how many performances a child actor may make without a break. This was seen to work very well and thus for Dick Attenborough’s version the one child policy was adhered to.

JS: How about some of the other changes they made to the story? For example Lewis driving, your character asking for Jack to sign a copy of Magician’s Nephew, of Jack as a Roman Catholic.

DG: As far as I know Jack was never portrayed as a Roman Catholic, but as for the rest I didn’t care hoot.

JS: How did you feel about Anthony Hopkins’s and Debra Winger’s portrayals of Jack and Joy in the film version?

DG: Tony was faithfully presenting the role he found in the screenplay, and not trying to be C.S.Lewis or Jack, and I think that is a pity because I think Tony could have portrayed the real Jack very well indeed. Debra on the other hand was superb as my mother. However if one is going to talk about the film, one has to say that Dick Attenborough is one of the finest directors ever to walk the planet (and one of the finest English Gentlemen as well) , and his fine touch and gentle hand made what I consider to be a classic movie with which I am very proud to have been associated.

JS: How well did Joseph Mazzello do at portraying you in the film?

DG: Very well indeed, but as I told him on set one day, for him it was easy, after all he had a script to follow, I had to ad-lib the whole thing.

JS: The funny thing for me with the film of “The Shadowlands” is that I forever associated both director Richard Attenborough and Joseph Mazzello with their roles as John Hammond and Tim Murphy in Steven Speilberg’s Jurassic Park.

DG: Knowing them both personally made a big difference I suppose.

JS: Though it could be worse. I even had a friend who had a hard time watching the film as she associated Anthony Hopkins with Hannibal Lecter!

DG: I think that a lot of people had that reaction to him in Remains of the Day rather than in Shadowlands, but I know what you mean.

JS: Have you ever considered playing Jack in a production of The Shadowlands?

DG: I really don’t think I could do it justice (the role I mean), I am too emotionally involved in the whole thing.

That’s it for this weeks installment. Come back next week when we discuss Douglas’s book Jack’s Life , CS Lewis’s unfinished novels “The Dark Tower” and “After Ten Years”, the film of The Screwtape Letters and some other matters.

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Hey, Narnia Fans! Welcome to “Behind the Wardrobe” an Interview Series with Douglas Gresham. Join me as we find out about CS Lewis, Narnia and more in this interview series.

Special thanks to Paul Martin (The Webmaster for NarniaFans) and to Mr. Douglas Gresham himself for this amazing opportunity. And an even bigger thanks to Mr. Gresham for putting up with a few of my impossible questions. Thanks for being such a great sport about it!

For this week: On Jack…

JS:Thank you so much for your time it is a real honor to speak with you, espcailly as your step-father’s work had been so important and infleuncial to my own life.

DG: You’re welcome.

JS: First I just have to ask ( though you probably get this question a lot) what was it like growing up with CS Lewis?

DG.I do get asked that question frequently but it is in fact almost impossible to answer. You see my childhood was what it was and it was the only one I ever had so I have nothing with which to compare it. Growing up with Jack was simply the way things were. It was a time of sorrow, joy, turmoil, heartbreak, pain, delight, comfort and all the things that affect all little boys on the journeys towards manhood.

JS: How was Jack the person and step father different from CS Lewis the writer?

DG: Again that is a very difficult question to answer, because I never really knew “C.S.Lewis the writer” but knew Jack very well indeed, and my having known him has coloured my knowledge of “C.S.Lewis” ever after. It does protect me from the myriad of misunderstandings that have been presented and promoted about Jack ever since his death though.

JS: What was Jack like as a stepfather to you and your brother?

DG: Once again I have only ever had the one stepfather and thus have nothing with which to draw any comparisons. However I doubt that had I been able to search the world and choose I could have found a better one.

JS: What was he like as a husband to your mother?

DG: You would have had to have asked my mother and I have no doubt she would have told you to mind your own business.

JS: What was his relationship with Warnie like?

DG: They were brother and friends and remained so all their lives.

JS: Perhaps you could share with our readers your favorite memory of him.

DG: Jack or Warnie?

JS:Of Jack.

DG:The answer is to be found in my book Lenten Lands (HarperCollins).

JS: I do apologize for the more “impossible questions”.

DG: No problem, but try to imagine how you would answer them. What was it like growing up with your father as your father? Now you have two options, one is to write a book about it (which I have done) and the other is to give up. You can’t really describe what it was like without comparing it to something in your own experience.

JS: Would I take it that the best way for one to find out about Jack’s life be to read the biographies and autobiographies ( the good ones, of course.)?

DG: Absolutely. If I were to talk for as long as it would take for me to read you a good biography of him, why then I could tell you as much about his life as you could read in one, but I would be out of voice long before we got halfway through the story.

JS: Would there be any in your opinion that you’d strongly recommend reading ( save your own )?

DG: It depends a bit on what you are looking for. If you are after a good scholarly work about C.S.Lewis, either the Hooper/Green Biography or the George Sayer one, if on the other hand you want the life story of Jack, then I would actually recommend my own effort.

JS: Was his house anything like Professor Kirke’s in The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe

DG: No, not at all. Our house was small and unobtrusive.

JS: Of his seven Narnian Chronicles which one was your favorite growing up?

DG: Why was that one your favorite? Do you have a new favorite?

JS: My favorite of The Narnian Chronicles it is, has been, and always will be The Last Battle, and for one reason: it has the best “Happily Ever After”.

DG: A lot of folks feel that way. I always felt that the last Narnian book was tainted by my disappointment that it was the last. As a child and now, my favourite Narnian Chronicle was always whichever one I was reading at the time that somebody asked me, and right now, that means The Silver Chair.

JS: Can you comment on Jack’s friendship with JRR Tolkien?

DG: Can’t add very much to the things that have already been said and written, quite a lot of which is inaccurate. Jack and Tolkien were fast friends for a very long time indeed, right up until Jack’s death. They disagreed on many things and argued incessantly as good friends often did back in those wiser times.

JS: Did you ever get to meet Tolkien or any of the other Inklings? What was your impression of them?

DG: I met Tolkien several times, Austin Farrer, Humphrey Havard, Lord David Cecil, Hugo Dyson, and several others they were all charming men, of great character, and of varying depths of intellect and heights of intelligence, they all had much in common with each other of course, and one characteristic that they all seemed to share as well, was that as far as I could tell, they were all good men.

JS: Most people I talk to always ask ” when did he die” or are surprised to hear it as if they expected him to be still alive Why do you think most people aren’t aware of his death?

DG: Most people aren’t aware of most people’s deaths, but Jack’s death was particularly occluded by the death of Jack Kennedy on the same day, you will find that often when great one of God departs this Earth, the enemy will make sure that a great notable of the secular realm goes also to cover the death of the servant of God.

Be back next week for part two when we discuss the play The Shadow Lands.

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Filmtracks reviews the score to Shadowlands: Among Richard Attenborough’s narrative triumphs was 1994’s Shadowlands, a glimpse into the later years of admired British scholar and author C. S. Lewis. In his career of biographical storytelling, Attenborough would experience the full range of success, from the heights of Gandhi to the failures of Chaplin, and while Shadowlands is not anywhere near as well known as many of his other pictures, Attenborough’s telling of the friendship and love between Lewis and American poet Joy Gresham is widely regarded as a nearly flawless film.

The overall impression that Shadowlands will leave you with is one of restrained beauty and elegance. No part of the score overwhelms you like some of Fenton’s larger, later efforts. He develops one primary theme of romance in the two “The Golden Valley” tracks, though since the relationship between the poet and author does not include sparks, the theme quietly meanders with the ease of a typical John Barry venture. Performances of this theme are typically restrained to strings and woodwinds, with the only robust statements placed near the end.

[Read the rest at Filmtracks]

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Readers and movie fans worldwide know the land of Narnia and the magical beings who dwell there. But many fans do not know the extraordinary creative force – C.S. Lewis – who created this beloved fantasy. “C.S. Lewis: Beyond Narnia,” originally aired on December 9, in primetime exclusively on the Hallmark Channel, and will release on DVD through Gaiam on March 28, 2006, with distribution into the CBA market through EMI Distribution.

The Hallmark Channel premiere of the docudrama movie coincided with the blockbuster theatrical release of Walt Disney Pictures’ “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.” The release of “Beyond Narnia” on DVD will likewise coincide with the DVD release of Disney’s “Narnia” movie.

“We are proud to be distributing this extraordinary film,” states Sue Haney, VP of Retail Marketing at Gaiam. “Not only is it a compelling story of faith, but it provides a true understanding of the birth of Narnia and one of the greatest creative minds of our time.”

Motive Entertainment, the marketing company behind the unprecedented faith-based promotional efforts of The Chronicles of Narnia, The Passion of the Christ and The Polar Express, will be heading up the efforts of all faith-based marketing of the “C.S. Lewis: Beyond Narnia” DVD release. “After working for a year on the theatrical release of Narnia, we came to understand the incredible love which the faith community has for Narnia, and for Lewis,” says Paul Lauer, president of Motive. “We see ‘Beyond Narnia’ as the perfect companion DVD to the Narnia movie. This is the story behind the story, and behind the man who created the story.”

Motive’s efforts will include radio, publicity and advertising, as well as outreach to influencers at churches, ministries and schools. The efforts of Motive Entertainment will present and make available descriptive explanations of the Biblical symbolism in Narnia, and will work with the faith-based community to share and broadcast these messages.

The one-hour docudrama, which was filmed in many of the actual locations in England where Lewis studied, lived, and worked, is a dramatic reenactment of his life. It explores the inspiration behind his children’s literary masterpiece, “The Chronicles of Narnia,” and other works.

“In this wonderful, witty, dramatic movie, Lewis speaks to us of his life, friendship, love, spiritual journey, and his profound tales of Narnia,” says Janet Stokes of the Hollywood Film Advisory Board, which recently bestowed its “Award of Excellence” on the movie.

Writer/Director Norman Stone, who won an International Emmy and two BAFTA Awards for “Shadowlands,” wrote and directed the docudrama. Anton Rodgers, seen in Hollywood movies “The Merchant of Venice” and “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels,” stars as C.S. Lewis. Diane Venora, who has appeared in the films “Heat,” “Romeo and Juliet,” “Surviving Picasso,” and on the Emmy-winning series “Chicago Hope,” co-stars as Joy Gresham.

“C.S. Lewis’ journey from skepticism to faith is a predominant theme in many of his works,” said Edward J. Murray, president and CEO of Faith & Values Media, the organization that produced the film. The docudrama, which was selected by the C.S. Lewis Foundation for its world-premier showing at their Oxbridge Festival at the University of Cambridge in England, “explores the events in Lewis’ life which not only led him to accept the existence of God, but to accept God as a central part of his life and his writings,” said Murray.

Watch the Trailer and Clips

LEWIS BACKGROUNDER:
A Journey From Skepticism To Faith

Like the characters in many of his works, Lewis’ faith was almost broken after extreme experiences of joy and sorrow, happiness and pain. But even through his most difficult test, Lewis found his way back to God.

In many ways, Lewis’ life was an inspiration for everything that he has written, including the “The Chronicles of Narnia.” His struggle to reconcile his faith with the existence of pain and suffering are recurrent in his life and in his works.

Early on, Lewis relied on his love for reading and learning in order to escape the grief he felt when his mother died. Having refused Christianity at an early age, Lewis continually rejected the existence of God upon witnessing first-hand the misery and deaths brought on by World War 1. After the war, Lewis returned to the solace of his studies at Oxford University, where he enjoyed debating with his colleagues about the validity of Christianity. Lewis maintained that God did not exist, yet he was also angry with God for not existing. After much reading, searching, and the influence of J.R.R. Tolkien and Hugo Dyson, Lewis came to a belief in God and Christianity in 1931.

In 1950, Lewis began correspondence with Joy Gresham, an American poet and a fan of his work. Eventually, Gresham met Lewis in England and the two developed a friendship. In 1956, The British immigration service refused to renew Gresham’s visa. Rather than risk deportation for Gresham and her two sons, David and Douglas, Lewis proposed marriage. Although it began as a marriage in name only, Gresham’s intelligence and passion captured Lewis’ attention, and their relationship deepened. Soon after their civil marriage, Gresham was diagnosed with cancer. As the disease had spread throughout her body, the doctors held out little hope for her survival. It was then that Lewis realized just how much he loved her. In March, 1957, the two were married by an Anglican priest. Shortly after, Gresham died on July 13, 1960.

Gresham’s death shook Lewis’ faith. According to his stepson, Douglas Gresham, Lewis “…never lost his faith in the existence of God. He started to be tempted to doubt the nature of God. But to expect a man to come through the realization of his grief and to be happy? I’m not happy about it now and it’s what? Fifty years later. The grief of my mother’s death still hurts.”

“C.S. Lewis has long been considered one of the twentieth century’s most influential figures in both contemporary Christian thought and contemporary world literature,” said director Norman Stone. “Perhaps the time has come to rediscover the man who gave us such an amazing sweep of popular literature, and who has contributed so much to so many in terms of thinking and believing in a modern age. It is my hope to present Lewis’ inspiring story for believers and non-believers alike and to give viewers insight behind the Chronicles through ‘C.S. Lewis: Beyond Narnia.’”

[Read our preview of the Film]
[Enter to win one of ten copies, other contests also running now!]

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IN ACCOUNTS OF 20TH-CENTURY LITERARY movements and happenings, the 1950s is often ignored. Yet this decade, viewed as a quiet time in English literature, birthed three of the greatest-ever series: Mervyn Peake’s Gormenghast trilogy was completed, as was JRR Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. And CS Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia, seven volumes, topped them all.

All three writers are still read today (Tolkien topped a BBC poll of most popular author of the century, possibly a result of the success of Peter Jackson’s films) but it is undoubtedly Lewis who has attracted the most controversy, both over his personal life and his writing. This unassuming Oxford don – he liked nothing better than a pint in the evening at the pub with some sympathetic colleagues and fellow writers – has been called a fake and a phoney, a promoter of sexism and racism. The attacks have been renewed with the arrival of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe in cinemas and the publication of a new biography, CS Lewis: The Boy who Chronicled Narnia, by Michael White (Abacus, £10.99).

Since the 1988 publication of academic Kathryn Lindskoog’s study, The CS Lewis Hoax, which asserted that “much of what has been published by or about Lewis since his death has been fabricated”, referring partly to Lewis’s posthumous 1977 publication, The Dark Tower, Lewis’s literary legacy has been under threat. AN Wilson’s 1990 biography of Lewis pilloried Lindskoog’s claims, but the damage had already been done. Then, in 2001, celebrated children’s author Philip Pullman launched an unprecedented attack on the use of Christianity in Lewis’s Narnia, the series of books that see four siblings, Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy, step through a wardrobe from our world into a parallel one, where they are guided by the lion Aslan: “It’s not the presence of Christian doctrine I object to so much, so much as the absence of Christian virtue,” he told an audience at a literary festival. “The highest virtue, we have on authority of the New Testament itself, is love, and yet you find not a trace of it in the [Narnia] books, a peevish blend of racism, misogynistic and reactionary prejudice.”

[Read the rest at the Scotsman]

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LearnOutLoud.com, an online resource for audio and video educational products, presents the C.S. Lewis Audio and Video Resource Page. This web page is a one-stop portal for every audio book and video by or about the author. Included are multiple audio book editions of the titles in the Chronicles of Narnia series including The Magician’s Nephew, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe and The Last Battle. In addition, other popular C. S. Lewis titles such as The Four Loves, Mere Christianity and The Screwtape Letters are featured.

“With the upcoming release of the film The Chronicles of Narnia from Walt Disney Pictures we wanted to give people a central spot where they could find all existing C. S. Lewis audio and video,” said LearnOutLoud.com CEO and Founder Jon Bischke. “He is an incredible author with an amazing breadth of work. The Narnia books are generating a lot of buzz but we also hope to be able to allow people to re-discover lesser-known titles such as The Problem of Pain and Surprised by Joy.”

In addition to audio versions of Lewis’ work, the page also features related videos. A number of Chronicles of Narnia titles are listed as is a biographical work entitled The Life of C. S. Lewis, the PBS Video The Question of God and the film Shadowlands starring Anthony Hopkins and Debra Winger.

“Little did I know when we started putting this resource together that we would find over 60 different titles by or about Mr. Lewis,” said Bischke. “The audio versions of his books are particularly appealing because they can be listened to while in the car. They also are a great way to introduce children to the Narnia series in advance of the release of the movie.”

The C. S. Lewis Audio and Video Resource Page also contains a short biography and a list of recommended selections.

[Learn Out Loud - C.S. Lewis]

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Good evening. The subject of our talk today is love, pain and suffering.

So too are the opening lines of William Nicholson’s ruminative “Shadowlands,” the bittersweet, late-life love story of Irish author C.S. Lewis and American poet Joy Gresham.

Lewis, who sold more than 100 million “Narnia” children’s books, was also perhaps the 20th century’s most famous Christian convert. “The moment” wasn’t exactly the stuff of legend or lightning – he simply had an epiphany while riding a double-decker bus in 1929. Lewis went on to become a great Christian apologist, which soon will be evident to anyone who takes in the forthcoming “Narnia” blockbuster.

“Shadowlands,” now playing at the Bas Bleu Theatre, opens with suave actor Jonathan Farwell mimicking Lewis’ popular series of cerebral talks. “Suffering is God’s megaphone to rouse a deaf world,” he tells us assuredly. It is a gift to help us understand that our real life begins in the next one. As an insulated, academic bachelor, the man speaks from intellect rather than experience.

But by the start of the second act, Lewis is considerably less sure of himself. Now well into his twilight years, he has experienced real love for the first time. And he’s about to lose that love to bone cancer.

[Read the rest of the review at the DenverPost.com]

“Shadowlands”

DRAMA
Bas Bleu Theatre, 401 Pine St., Fort Collins
Written by William Nicholson
Directed by Jonathan Farwell and Wendy Ishii
Starring Jonathan Farwell, Deb Note Farwell
THROUGH JAN. 7
7:30 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays, 2:30 p.m. most Sundays
2 hours, 40 minutes
$10-$19
970-498-8949; basbleu.org

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NarniaFans member CymruGirl had the opportunity to attend Past Watchful Dragons and wrote up this report on the event:

This past week, beginning November 3, the doors were opened to Narnia and Middle-Earth. Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, hosted a conference which featured Inklings scholars from around the world talking about a various range of subjects in relation to their works for two and a half magic filled days. The wardrobe door was opened on Wednesday by C.S. Lewis stepson and author, Mr. Douglas Gresham.

If one has not had the privilege of meeting him, there is no amount of reading or research that will adequately prepare you for his charm. Dressed in riding boots and khakis from top to bottom suggesting that he was fresh from safari, this white haired, lion bearded man graciously greeted visitors in a reception room an hour before a banquet to be held in his honor. With a smile that seemed comfortable on his face and always shining in his clear, kind eyes, he accepted requests for photographs, autographs, and information about the upcoming film, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, his lifelong dream. I had heard recordings of Mr. Gresham’s voice prior to my brief meeting with him, but to hear it in person is a stunning privilege. The smooth timbre that fills it, makes it vibrate with wisdom, is hypnotic and I found myself lulled by the knowledge that he had been considered for the voice of Aslan. On a personal level and after listening at length to the majesty of his voice, I’m convinced the possibility would have been a marriage made in Narnia. Nervously handing him a copy of the beautifully written Lenten Lands and answering his question regarding the proper spelling of my name, I mention that I am a Senior Moderator at Narniaweb and some of us on the site had hoped that he might have been cast. A twinkle fills his eyes, and incidentally they strike me as the sort of eyes that often twinkle, and he begins to tell me that Neeson is a superb actor and doing a fine job – though perhaps not the sort of voice he had initially imagined. Then, with a benevolant grin says, “I’ll be appearing in a cameo.” The hook is set and my head bounces with that sort of fan bop that accompanies the word now emblazoned across my mind, “scoop!”

Later, sitting in a gleaming white room filled with white linens and crystal glass, the clinking of fine silverware, and gloriously tropical palms, the entire congregation of listeners sits beneath the music of his favorite stories about Jack and his mother at the Kilns, descriptions of his first encounter with Lewis, tales from the sets of Shadowlands starring Anthony Hopkins, and carefully chosen anecdotes regarding the forthcoming film. Skandar Keynes, who plays Edmund, is apparently 7 and one half inches taller since the film’s end, and Anna Popplewell (Susan) has blossomed beyond a young girl into a young woman. Andrew Adamson was a tour de force, directing the children and nearly 350 extras during an enormous scene, during Mr. Gresham’s first day on the set and, according to him, set his mind at ease at once regarding his capability to handle the task. In addition, Mr. Gresham said that the cast and crew were some of the most congenial he’d ever seen and during his visits he never heard a cross word among them.

Then, remarkably, he invited guests to walk to an open microphone for the next half an hour and ask any question. This led to an amazing maze of thoughts and stories and the guest of honor handled everything like a pro. I suppose he is. After that lengthy and gracious presentation, he then stayed at the conference late into the following day to sign copies of his new book about his stepfather called Jack’s Life. The book is accompanied by a DVD interview of Mr. Gresham and the title’s handwritten signature, he revealed to me while signing my own copy, was his own.

The next two days were filled with a myriad of classes ranging from discussions on Tolkien, Lewis, and the constellation of inklings surrounding them, as well as modern authors, such as Gaiman and Rowling, who have been impacted by their works. Further classes tried to extract connections to other classics that preceded the inklings and one paper in particular, which drew a connection between C.S. Lewis’ Til We Have Faces and Gaston Leroux’s The Phantom of the Opera, drew literal gasps from the audience. Christopher Mitchell, the Assistant Professor of Theology at Wheaton College, and the director of the Marion E. Wade Center, which houses a major collection of the books and papers of seven British authors including Lewis, Owen Barfiled, G.K. Chesterton, George MacDonald, Dorothy L. Sayers, J.R.R. Tolkien, and Charles Williams, led a prize session which explored the Christian impulse of C.S. Lewis and the impact it had on his writings. It was Mr. Mitchell’s belief that Lewis’ works may be more powerful to the modern generation than they even were during the age in which he lived.

Aside from the intellectual panels which jam packed the schedule, attendees were treated to a performance of An Evening With C.S. Lewis by actor David Payne, who has played Jack in a number of productions of Shadowlands. His performance, which was graced only by an armchair and a small endtable holding a pot of tea, was spectacularly personal and gave the audience the sense that had truly spent an evening in the living room of this amazing and humble author. The Glass Hammer gave an afternoon performance the following afternoon and then, the conference culminated Saturday night with a passion filled performance by the Nashville Symphony of The Lord of the Rings, featuring music from all three films and accompanied by a large screen which featured the moving artwork of Alan Lee.

The next morning, a happy group returned through the Wardrobe door carrying their goody bags, filled with numerous Lewis inspired treats. A cd recently released by Andrew Peterson (who actually attended the conference and three of my own classes) is rife with references to both Tolkien and Lewis to the point that it’s almost hard to take it all in. Perhaps my favorite song on the album is called Little Boy Heart Alive and features several lines to make Lewis’ fan’s hearts skip a beat: This is the Kingdom calling, Come now and tread the dawn and Met a kid at the railroad track, He had a stick and a nylon sack, I ran to the house to pack, I wanted to follow. Take a ride on the mighty lion, take hold of the golden mane, the is the love of Jesus, So good, but it is not tame. Ever the road goes on and on and on. And that’s only a small snip of the lyrics from Peterson’s The Far Country that are directly Narnia related. The entire album is dedicated to the impact that the works of the Inklings have had on his life. In addition to this delightful freebie, guests also received copies of Jonathan Rogers’ The World According to Narnia, miniature editions of the upcoming edition of Sacred History magazine which features a glorious artwork by Carly Castillion of Lewis himself, full color articles by Mr. Gresham and a myriad of information regarding the upcoming film including a small poster. The edition will be released for December 2005. In addition to freebies, the halls were lined with several booths offering Lewis and inkling books, a round the clock running trailer and small documentary on the album inspired by the film compliments of Narnia on Tour, and various other sundries which knew the art of singing to one’s pocket.

It is clear from the enormous response to this conference that the focus on these works is not merely a passing fad. The Inklings are on the move and they are deftly and swiftly making it Past Watchful Dragons.

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