Narnia Fans » The Screwtape Letters

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’s Life, “The Dark Tower”, and other matters.

JS: I read your book,Jack’s Life. I have to admit it was one of the best biographies I’ve read about him.

DG: Thank you.

JS: I felt at times while reading it that I was reading on of Jack’s own stories as it felt a lot like one in terms of how you wrote it. Was that your intention?

DG: Not at all, but it is a very fine compliment and I thank you for it.

JS: I’m assuming you used secondary sources to get the information on his childhood and everything up to the point of his meeting with your mother. What sources did you use?
DG: The Hooper/Green Biography, The George Sayer Biography, and the Companion and Guide by Hooper, but mostly merely to check dates and details for accuracy.

JS: How come no one has yet to make a “good” bio-pic on CS Lewis, meaning a film that accurately portrays his life?

DG: How do you accurately portray 65 years in less than 65 years? But I think that someone sooner or later will attempt to do so and when they do I hope I am still around to help.

JS: I read one of Jack’s short stories ” The Dark Tower”. Are you familiar with it?

DG: Of course.

JS: There is a huge controversy about that story as there is some debate as to whether or not it is a “true” Lewis tale. Do you think it was?

DG: Of course it was. The whole controversy thing was engineered for very personal reasons by a lady who is now dead. Her fanciful theories have been pretty thoroughly discredited.

JS: Do you ever remember him talking about it?

DG: “The Dark Tower”? No, but another of her targets, “The Man Born Blind” (originally working titled “Light”) Jack read to me when I was but a lad.

JS: I have read “A Man Born Blind” as well as the rest of Jack’s short stories and that they would make great made-for-TV movies ( or episodes of a TV show like The Twilight Zone or The Outer Limits). Have you ever given much thought into having those adapted from stories to the screen? I know I’d enjoy them!

DG: I haven’t actually thought of that, partly I suppose because I am not exactly short of projects already.

JS: Another one of his short stories that intrigued me as “After Ten Years”, a fragments of a novel about the journey of Menelaus and Helen of Troy. Why didn’t he finish it?

DG: He died first.

JS: Do you think it needs to be?

DG: Not unless Jack comes back to do it.

JS: So, I take it if a currently living author were to approach you asking if they could complete “After Ten Years” or even “The Dark Tower”, you would decline the offer?

DG: Absolutely.

JS: A bit of a trend in Christian fiction is for writers to do a book “in the style” of The Screwtape Letters (meaning a correspondence between a senior devil and a more inexperienced tempter) such as Randy Alcorn’s Lord Foulgrin’s Letters. Are you familiar with that book or any others like it?

DG: I am actually a fan of Randy Alcorn’s work, but I haven’t as yet read that particular one. The Screwtape styled books I have read I have not found to be particularly encouraging.

JS: One book I have in my library is a comic book adaptation of The Screwtape Letters that was put out by Marvel Comics and Thomas Nelson back in 1994 ( they had done similar with Bunyans’ Pilgrim’s Progress and Charles Sheldon’s In His Steps). Did you serve as a consultant for it?

DG: To be honest, I actually don’t remember.

JS: Is there the possibility Narnia Fans could ever see graphic novels ( or comic books)of all seven Narnian Chronicles and the Space Trilogy? Again, it is something many fans would enjoy. Would you encourage or endorse such a project?

DG: That would depend very much on the quality and standards of the project concerned.

JS: One of my friends wants to try and get his four year old brother into reading by reading him the Narnian Chronicles, however the lack of pictures doesn’t interest his brother. I recommended The World of Narnia series by Deborah Maze ( the four volume series based on TL,TW,TW ) as a good introduction. ( He didn’t want to use the movie story books as he felt then he may as well show him the movie). Are there any other children’s books based on Narnia that you’d recommend as a means of introducing younger readers to the world of Narnia, and thus perhaps get them more interested in reading at a younger age?

DG: He could try The Giant’s Surprise by Hyawin Oram. But the Chronicles themselves would be best read as bedtime stories one chapter at a time when he is a bit older. Four is probably a little too young for them.

JS: I’ve heard that there is a film version of The Screwtape Letters in the works. Is this true?

DG: Yes. I am one of the Producers.

JS: How are they going to adapt it into a film ( if they are in fact > doing this)? The book is largely a collection of letters!

DG: We are working that out right now.

Come back next week when we discuss the Narnia Film project!

Producer Ralph Winter was recently interviewed by Infuze Magazine and they asked him about the status of The Screwtape Letters.

What’s happening with C.S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters?

It’s in development with Fox and Walden Media. Fox has owned the property for decades. They bought it in the 50s. There was management at Fox that wanted it and bought it, and they’ve owned it for decades.

So what’s the current status?

We’re signing deals right now. We’re finishing the Fox option deal, we’re finishing my deal with Walden. Doug Gresham’s deal is done.

Does the movie have a green light?

Not yet. We’ve been talking to Randall Wallace about writing and directing. We need to have more discussions with Fox and Walden about that, and make sure that Randy’s still available. Everybody wants to make this movie; I think it’s going to happen, I just don’t know what the timetable is right now.

We’re very excited about that. With the right script, dealing with temptation and that whole upside down world, it could be a very, very interesting movie. And it’s going to be dark. This isn’t a light, happy, Narnia piece.

The C.S. Lewis name alone should be enough to draw people into the theaters.

We’ve been telling people that for years, and they wouldn’t believe it. And now that Narnia has happened, they’re a lot more open to it. (Laughs.)

Ralph Winter Prods. is producing a bigscreen adaptation of the C.S. Lewis novel “The Screwtape Letters” with Philip Anschutz’s Walden Media.

Pic will be produced via Walden’s Bristol Bay Prods. banner (“Ray,” “Sahara”).

Pic, which Walden hopes to release in 2008, is the company’s second Lewis collaboration following “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,” which grossed $744 million worldwide. The sequel to that pic, “Prince Caspian,” is due out next year.

Like “Narnia,” “The Screwtape Letters” — which is described as a midbudget, primarily live-action pic — embodies Christian themes.

First published in 1942, “The Screwtape Letters” takes the form of a series of missives from a senior demon, Screwtape, to his wannabe diabolical nephew, Wormwood. As a mentor, Screwtape advises his protege on the finer points of undermining faith and promoting sin. His instructions are interspersed with observations on human nature and Christian doctrine.

Since taking over the publishing of “The Screwtape Letters” in 2001, HarperSanFrancisco has sold almost 1 million copies of the trade paperback alone.

Producing are Ralph Winter, Randy Argue and Lewis’ stepson Douglas Gresham.

Susana Zepeda, prexy of Ralph Winter Prods., is co-producing and shepherding the project for the company.

Walden execs on the project are exec VP of production Alex Schwartz, senior VP of production Jackie Levine and creative exec Bonnie Solomon.

ICM negotiated the deal on behalf of Winter and Argue.

A participant in this forum has complained that the Narnia movie departs from “the essence of Christianity,” and that it glorifies war. This person goes further by claiming that the “deification of war” is particularly associated with “right-wingers.”

Let me dismiss first the most easily dismissed contention. In the entire history of the world, no political, religious or cultural force has EVER been responsible for so many murders as the LEFT-wing Communism of China and Russia. And millions of those deaths didn’t even rise to the dignity of war; they were killings of defenseless civilians by THEIR OWN governments, in “peacetime.” And even as I write, it is the LEFT-wing Communist government of North Korea which is showing that it refuses to abide by its own agreements on arms restrictions. That same government has squandered huge amounts of humanitarian aid to build up military forces it does not need, leaving its people in crushing poverty. This fact, by the way, has been observed by Doctors Without Borders, a humanitarian organization which is not at all “right wing.”

As for “the essence of Christianity”: efforts to get only “the essence” of something often result only in getting an incomplete and misleading picture. Yes, Jesus in His earthly ministry was gentle and loving, and so He will be to all who share in His Kingdom eternally. But when He comes in clouds of glory to overthrow all evil, Revelation 19 makes it very clear that He Himself will SLAY His enemies. There is a limit on God’s grace–not because His gracious nature can ever be exhausted, but because He does not owe it to stubborn evildoers to let them continue unchecked in their unrepentant evil forever. To get a better understanding of why this is so, you can go to Mr. Lewis and read “The Great Divorce.”

Looking back at “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,” Aslan for His own part actually did MORE killing in the book than in the movie. In the movie, at least the theatrical-release cut, Jadis was the only person Aslan slew. But in the book it says that Aslan charged in along with His followers from the castle, and that together they immediately killed the majority of the Witch’s forces. No body count is given, but it is plain that Aslan was killing evil creatures with His very own teeth and claws; nor are we led to feel that there was any unfairness in the fact that those monsters no longer had any chance of being able to hurt Him. It was fair for Aslan to kill them because they brought it on themselves by siding with Jadis.

The partial pacifist did admit that some wars are unavoidable. But since this is true, why should we NOT hold up as role models those who fight by necessity on the right side of an unavoidable war? What’s wrong with some shining-sword imagery for Peter Pevensie? If we can’t admire a hero who fights for the sake of love rather than hatred or greed–a hero who would NEVER kill from wanton bloodlust, and whose desired end result is justice and peace–when can we EVER admire any mortal?

As someone has said, it is the soldier, not the poet, who gives us freedom of speech; it is the soldier, not the journalist, who gives us freedom of the press; and it is the soldier, not the clergyperson, who gives us freedom of religion. The honorable warrior–like Tolkien’s character Faramir–faces war so that others may be protected from its horrors. I spent twenty years in the United States Navy, though not in combat as things turned out. I can tell you that American military servicemembers who salute the flag, enjoy war movies, and in some cases have killed enemies with their own hands, are the SAME ones I have seen throwing themselves into compassionate charitable activities in their off-duty time: tutoring schoolchildren, fixing houses for poor families, joining hospice groups to comfort the terminally ill, and so forth. Why, just look at Mr. Lewis: he was a combat soldier, and his life was full of deeds of charity and generosity which he never bragged about.

In “The Screwtape Letters,” Lewis warned us against “crowding to that side of the boat which is already nearly gunwale under.” Western civilization has for decades had all the pacifists, diplomats, excuse-makers and appeasers it can possibly use, and more besides; yet we still see writers insisting that what we have too much of is ferocious, gung-ho “right wing” militarism. The fact is that the free world has bloodthirsty enemies who were NOT “provoked” by anything we did…who hate us merely because we do not conform to them…and who would still hate us if we were as sinless as the unfallen Adam. Some of them can be led to salvation by the love of Jesus; but since Jesus Himself said that those who take the narrow way are a minority, there will never be enough of our enemies converted that their threat can be bloodlessly neutralized. They are in the wrong; they would like to kill every one of us participating in this forum; and I am not ashamed of admiring those who bravely fight against them in literal armed combat.

The Narnia movie did not forget about forgiveness; unless the character of Edmund was eliminated from the story, I don’t see how anyone can think that the issue of forgiveness was discarded. Follow-on films will have plenty of opportunity to develop the subject of forgiveness further. But they can only do this if the country the films are produced in DOESN’T get overrun by the enemies of civilization. And it won’t be movie actors, movie directors or movie commentators who prevent this calamity from happening; it will be fighters for justice, who are not at all “deifying” war, but who do value a victory over evil and realize that it must be earned the hard way.

An appeal has been issued to find the relatives of an Ulster woman who received a letter from CS Lewis in 1944. The letter was found in a Belfast auction several years ago, but a Co Tyrone-based Lewis biographer believes it might be an entry point into a much bigger story, much like one of Lewis’ magic wardrobes.

Dr Ronnie Bresland, author of The Backward Glance: CS Lewis and Ireland, said: “Although this letter is not very significant it is every collector’s dream to find a collectable letter in an old book. “It would be interesting to find the relatives of the addressee today as you never know what further stories would be unearthed.” The letter was found in an old copy of the CS Lewis book The Screwtape Letters and was signed by a Jean Walker on May 22, 1944. CS Lewis addressed the letter to Miss Walker and, as the book was found in a Belfast auction, the owner thinks she probably lived in greater Belfast.

Oxford-based Mr Walter Hooper is editing Volume III of the Collected Letters of CS Lewis and promised to include it in the supplement. He said: “I can verify that the letter is genuine, it was typed by the author’s brother, WH Lewis, and signed by CS Lewis.”

London book collectors Maggs Brothers estimated it could fetch between £750 and £800 at auction. A spokeswoman said: “The fact that the letter is typed makes it less valuable than if it had been entirely in his hand, however, he does mention his work, which is of interest to collectors.” Anyone who thinks they may know a CS Lewis fan called Miss Jean Walker who lived in greater Belfast in 1944 is asked to contact the News Letter on 90 680 189 or email p.bradfield@newsletter.co.uk

When Michael Travers first read C.S. Lewis’ writings as a teenager, he “didn’t think much” of Lewis’ legendary “Mere Christianity” and felt his “Screwtape Letters” were “not as impressive to me” as they were to others.

Admittedly, his disinterest had more to do with his spiritual condition at that time than the quality of Lewis’ work, said Travers, an English professor and C.S. Lewis scholar at Southeastern College at Wake Forest, the undergraduate school of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C.

Travers’ interest in Lewis has led him to speak at four C.S. Lewis conferences, and he has been asked to contribute two chapters on Lewis in an upcoming major four-volume scholarly work by Bruce Edwards.

After his conversion in his mid-20s, Travers, then a doctoral student studying John Milton, decided to give Lewis another try while he was in the process of “rethinking my whole discipline from a Christian perspective.” Travers re-read Mere Christianity and, among other works, the seven-volume “Chronicles of Narnia” series for the first time. He continued pouring through much of Lewis’ work in the years to come, which he credits as seminal in shaping his thinking on many issues, most notably how to integrate his academic discipline and his faith, as Lewis did so well.

Travers found in Lewis a talented apologist, brilliant fiction writer and courageous academician, willing to stand behind his Christian beliefs even when vilified by colleagues.

Perhaps in no other venture did Lewis receive more criticism from his Oxford peers than when he decided to write the Chronicles of Narnia, a series of children’s books from a Christian perspective.

However, after reading the Narnia series, and re-reading them to his children as they were growing up, Travers takes from the books an altogether different impression.

“I think they are the premier children’s fantasy stories of the 20th century,” Travers said unreservedly.

[Read the rest at BP News]

A Northern Ireland CS Lewis fan has come forward with a letter from the author which he stumbled across in a public auction. The Co Down man, who wishes to remain anonymous, came across the find in a Belfast auction some years ago, but has now dug it out to have it inspected in the wake of the global success of the CS Lewis film, The Lion The Witch And The Wardrobe.

He said: “I found it among a lot of items which appeared to be a house clearance and it was actually sitting in a copy of one of his books, The Screwtape Letters. “It is nice to have it as he is a writer I greatly respect. “It was written from his home, The Kilns in England, to a lady in Belfast during the 1940s and he was simply telling her about the publication date for his next book. “I have read various biographies about him and was aware that he used a reference number on every letter he wrote, and this one is no exception.” Former chairman of the CS Lewis Centenary Group, James O’Fee, said: “When CS Lewis first became famous he would have been getting hundreds of letters every day and it was his policy to reply to each one by return post. “Although this doesn’t sound like a very substantial letter, it just shows you that such items can turn up in the most unexpected places.”

[By Philip Bradfield]

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]

In October 1945, C.S. Lewis wrote a slightly grumpy reply to someone asking him to do a book on Christianity, in plain language, specifically for workers. Since giving a series of wartime BBC lectures on the faith’s basics, Lewis had become a kind of Christian Answer Man, and frankly, he had other ambitions and projects. “I am nearly 47,” he complained. “Where are my successors?”

“It’s interesting,” says Alan Jacobs, author of The Narnian (HarperSanFrancisco), a new Lewis biography, “that 60 years later, nobody has really turned up.” Lewis, whose day job was Oxford medievalist, did eventually get around to other work, including seven children’s books about a place called Narnia. Ninety-five million Narnia books have been sold since then, and as Disney begins test screenings for its December release of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, based on the series’ first volume, the septet is back near the top of the children’s best-seller lists.

Yet Lewis’ popularity extends beyond the Borders children’s section. This year HarperSanFrancisco, which publishes some of the best known of his dozens of adult titles, including Mere Christianity (a collection of those radio talks) and The Screwtape Letters (a set of funny-creepy faux missives from a senior devil to his nephew), sold 843,000 copies, twice as many as in 2001. Multiple books about Lewis debut annually; this year’s crop features Jacobs’ biography and Jack’s Life (Broadman & Holman) by Lewis’ stepson Douglas Gresham. In 1947, a TIME cover story hailed Lewis as “one of the most influential spokesmen for Christianity in the English-speaking world.” Now, 58 years later (and 42 after his death, in 1963), he could arguably be called the hottest theologian of 2005.

[Read more at Time.com]

George Sayer, author of Jack & recorder of the 1952 home-made tapes of Tolkien reading from The Hobbit & The Lord of the Rings, died recently in Malvern, Worcs.

As I walked away from New Buildings, I found the man that Lewis had called “Tollers” sitting on one of the stone steps in front of the arcade.

“How did you get on?” he asked.

“I think rather well. I think he will be a most interesting tutor to have.”

“Interesting? Yes, he’s certainly that,” said the man, who I later learned was J.R.R. Tolkien. “You’ll never get to the bottom of him.”

Author George Sayer will bring you closer to the real C.S. Lewis in Jack. Drawing from a variety of sources, including the million-word diary of Lewis’s brother and from twenty-nine years of close friendship with this century’s most influential Christian apologist, Sayer gives a warm and enlightening insider’s look at the man whom God used to bring many back to the faith.

Offering never-read-before glimpses into Lewis’s extraordinary relationships and experience, Jack details the great scholar’s life at the Kilns; days at Magdalen College; meetings with the Inklings; marriage to Joy Davidman Gresham, and the creative process that produced such world-famous works as the classic Chronicles of Narnia, Mere Christianity, and The Screwtape Letters.

Mythlore says this book is “likely to become the definitive biography” of C.S. Lewis. It is that and more–an intimate account of a gifted literary scholar and best-selling author, the man who has helped generations hear and understand the heart of Christianity as never before.

[Order 'Jack: A Life of C.S. Lewis' on Amazon.com]