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Loading... Of Other Worlds: Essays and Stories (original 1966; edition 2017)by C. S. Lewis (Author)
Work InformationOf Other Worlds: Essays and Stories by C. S. Lewis (1966)
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. A collection of essays on the theme of writing, storytelling, fantasy, science fiction, and children’s fiction. Most of them are pretty short and I really liked them! It also includes some fictional stories which were the same as in The Dark Tower. ( ) I have not read all of the pieces in this book, but what I've read is fantastic. I will make some comments about the pieces I most enjoyed, and list some quotations from each. "On Stories" is Lewis' quintessential essay about, well, the "story-ness" of stories; it may be likened to Tolkien's essay "On Fairy-Stories," which despite its narrower scope, covers many of the same ideas. Lewis describes the two different ways in which stories are enjoyed by different people, which is really a distinction of the people and not the stories themselves: Through "excitement" or through the greater atmosphere created by the story. He prefers the latter. A few great quotes, completely out of context:
In "On Criticism," Lewis admirably touches on one of my great pet peeves (along with another problems of literary critique): Those people who claim to know what the author intended. "In fact," he says, "most of what we call critical writing contains quite a lot of things beside evaluation." He goes on to name those things and show why they are bad. Some more discontextual quotations:
I originally read "After Ten Years" in college (in the fall of 1998, I believe...) in [b:The Dark Tower and Other Stories|22548|The Dark Tower and Other Stories|C.S. Lewis|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1328876445s/22548.jpg|14571577] and loved it immediately. I was immensely intrigued with the idea of Helen's fading beauty, and it inspired me to write a rather poorly constructed song called "Yellow-haired Man," which I still melancholically sing in my echoing boudoir from time to time. It's too bad Lewis never finished it; I think it could have rivaled [b:Till We Have Faces|17343|Till We Have Faces A Novel of Cupid and Psyche|C.S. Lewis|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1328875067s/17343.jpg|2072983]. I was going to three-star this because each piece here can be found in either [b:On Stories: And Other Essays on Literature|242140|On Stories And Other Essays on Literature|C.S. Lewis|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1390778300s/242140.jpg|234584] or [b:The Dark Tower and Other Stories|22548|The Dark Tower and Other Stories|C.S. Lewis|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1388899227s/22548.jpg|14571577]. However, this one was published first, so four stars it is. I love virtually every entry in this book, especially the literary essays on stories in general, fairy stories, 3 ways of writing for children and juvenile tastes in stories. Much of this is a great complement to Tolkien's three hour Oxford lecture On Faerie Stories--which is drier but serves as a good grounding for Lewis' essays in this book I have doubts whether Lewis would have pubbed the accompanying illustrative short stories if left to his own devices. However the book was published three years after his death and edited by Walter Hooper. Anyway, I pretty much ignored the stories in rating the book. no reviews | add a review
A repackaged edition of the revered author's treasury of essays and stories which examine the value of creative writing and imaginative exploration. C. S. Lewis--the great British writer, scholar, lay theologian, broadcaster, Christian apologist, and bestselling author of Mere Christianity, The Screwtape Letters, The Great Divorce, The Chronicles of Narnia, and many other beloved classics--presents a well-reasoned case for the importance of story and wonder, elements often ignored by critics of his time. He also discusses his favorite kinds of stories--children's stories and fantasies--and offers insights into his most famous works, The Chronicles of Narnia and the Space Trilogy. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)823.912Literature English English fiction Modern Period 1901-1999 1901-1945LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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