Last Friday a little more than 20 of us spent the late afternoon learning about C.S. Lewis. We watched a one hour documentary on his life. After that Dr. Gregg led a discussion on some of his writings which we were assigned.
These included his essays On Stories, his review of Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, and the transcript of a recorded conversation between Lewis, Kingsley Amis, and Brian Aldiss about the importance of stories and myths.
We wrestled with many questions and points during our discussion. What do children stories and legends do that normal stories don't? Why is it important to read a book more than once? Do movies and TV shows hurt our imagination?
C.S. Lewis would answer respectively with the following.
"The Value of the myth is that it takes all the things we know and restores to them the rich significance which has been hidden by 'the veil of humanity'."
"An unliterary man may be defined as one who reads books once only."
"There is death in the camera."
These included his essays On Stories, his review of Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, and the transcript of a recorded conversation between Lewis, Kingsley Amis, and Brian Aldiss about the importance of stories and myths.
We wrestled with many questions and points during our discussion. What do children stories and legends do that normal stories don't? Why is it important to read a book more than once? Do movies and TV shows hurt our imagination?
C.S. Lewis would answer respectively with the following.
"The Value of the myth is that it takes all the things we know and restores to them the rich significance which has been hidden by 'the veil of humanity'."
"An unliterary man may be defined as one who reads books once only."
"There is death in the camera."