Through a New Wardrobe: The NarniaFans Interview Series: Learning more about C.S. Lewis & His Circle

Hey, everybody!  Welcome back to Through a New Wardrobe, where we sit down and chat with some of today’s hottest writers who have been influenced by C.S. Lewis and the  Land of Narnia. Most of you will probably know that last few weeks we were fortunate enough to hear from our friends at Oxford University Press about a new book they were releasing entitled C.S. Lewis & His Circle: Essays and Memoirs from the Oxford C.S. Lewis Society. In fact you can read our review of the book here. Today we are pleased to have one of the books editors, Roger White, with us today to discuss this new book.

C.S. Lewis & His Circle
C.S. Lewis & His Circle

NarniaFans: Before we get too far underway, would you be able to tell our readers what exactly the Oxford C. S. Lewis Society is? Were any of the editors members?

 

Roger White: The group is a literary society interested in the life, work, and thought of C. S. Lewis and the intellectual and spiritual colleagues he knew and admired. Typically, this interest has translated into considering themes related to Christianity, culture, and the imagination through the lenses of theology, fiction, literary criticism, philosophy, and poetry. Meetings are held every Tuesday during term time at Oxford University and usually feature an invited speaker with a lively discussion following. Attendees include college students, faculty members, community residents, and often, first-time visitors to the city. There are several levels of associate membership—some of which Narnia Fans may wish to investigate through the Society’s website—but all three of the book’s editors were full attending members when we resided in Oxford. In fact, Brendan and Judith served in several positions with the organization and both are past presidents.

 

NF: How long has it been around?

 

Roger White: Suzanne and Gregory Wolfe started the Oxford C. S. Lewis Society in 1982. We knew readers would be interested in learning about the Society, so we had the Wolfes (no relation to the editors) write the book’s foreword about the organization’s founding and Michael Ward, author of Planet Narnia and senior-member of the Society, write an afterword giving a brief history of the group.

 

NF: Who has spoken to this group?

 

Roger White: The University of Oxford serves as a crossroad for academics from around the globe allowing the Society along the way to host many top scholars on C. S. Lewis and his circle. For example, in the area of Inklings studies specifically, Humphrey Carpenter, Diana Pavlac Glyer, and Colin Duriez have all presented at meetings. The span of speakers goes from established world-class scholars to up-and-coming university student researchers; from colleagues and students of C. S. Lewis to former Inklings members.

 

Beyond the extraordinary list of contributors we were able to feature in the book, other noteworthy speakers across the years included: Priscilla Tolkien and Fr. John Tolkien (daughter and son of J. R. R. Tolkien), Brian Sibley (co-writer of BBC radio adaptations of The Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia), Aidan Mackey (leading G. K. Chesterton scholar), Chris Mitchell (former Director of the Marion E. Wade Center), Stan Mattson (Founder and President of the C. S. Lewis Foundation), and Ruth Spalding (actress and close friend to Inkling, Charles Williams).

 

 

NF: Can you give us a quick teaser for C. S. Lewis and His Circle that will give us an idea of what we’re in for?

 

Roger White: I think reading the table of contents and contributor list is one of the best ways to get a taste for the book. Walter Hooper, C. S. Lewis’s secretary, friend, literary executor, and biographer, tells how the Chronicles of Narnia were developed and in another chapter he introduces readers to the Inklings. Joan Murphy, a cousin to C. S. Lewis, describes childhood memories of growing up with the Lewis brothers. Alister McGrath describes C. S. Lewis as a defender of the Christian faith. Elizabeth Anscombe responds to Lewis’s rewrite of a chapter inspired by her criticism. Rowan Williams, former Archbishop of Canterbury, offers an insightful commentary on That Hideous Strength. Peter Bide tells the story of how he came to officiate the wedding of Lewis and Joy Davidman. And there is more; I have not even mentioned the three chapters written by Inklings members!

 

NF: So is this book literary criticism, a biography or both?

 

Roger White: The book includes some literary criticism and some biography, but that’s because it is a compilation of works representing various literary types and aspects of C. S. Lewis and his circle. It is an insider’s view of the Oxford C. S. Lewis Society over the last 30 years and a collection of original source materials presented in the form of academic essays and popular memoirs. The result is an array of voices, styles, and ideas that illuminate the ongoing study of C. S. Lewis, his thought, life, and social circle.

 

NF: What inspired you three to collect these essays and memoirs?

 

Roger White: Walking down the streets of Oxford and through the medieval colleges of the university evokes a strong sense of history. The tradition of the city combined with the richness of the Oxford C. S. Lewis Society experience prompted us to want to gather the best presentations from the archives and insure that those voices did not disappear. These rich conversations about faith, culture, and imagination as inspired by C. S. Lewis and his circle merited a second hearing and broader audience.

 

NF: What kind of work does this kind of project entail?

 

Roger White: We started with an archive of over 200 audio recordings on cassette tapes. Judith put together an initial inventory that we turned into a spreadsheet for coding. We narrowed down the list by asking long-time members of the Society to recall and identify noteworthy talks. Then we determined which speakers had published their material elsewhere and selected speakers with close ties to Lewis and the Inklings. Once this refined list was developed, we began listening to the recordings, contacting speakers, and digitizing and transcribing selected talks. Along the way we learned that some speakers still had copies of their papers, making our work a lot easier. Other speakers were no longer alive, so we had to contact family members and literary estates to secure permissions to include their work. Once the final list was put together and all the draft manuscripts were completed we had a solid book ready for a publisher!

 

NF: What is the hardest part about working on a project like this?

 

Roger White: One difficult aspect of putting this collection together was determining if any of the material had been published previously, was easily accessible elsewhere, or had already received widespread distribution. Many speakers use public talks to fine-tune material for publication and present similar material in different venues. It took a lot of time to research these questions. By the way, Douglas Gresham, Lewis’s stepson, Laurence Harwood, and Barbara Reynolds had some great presentations to the Society we wish we could have published first!

 

Another difficult aspect was working with talks by authors who are no longer with us. This meant that we couldn’t ask for clarification when parts of an audiotape were inaudible or unclear, or when we weren’t sure about a reference. In some cases, it was also very difficult to find the heirs responsible for these authors’ estates, to get their permission.

 

NF: Where there any essays you wished you could have included? Why?

 

Roger White: Only a few published accounts exist of Inklings members reflecting on and sharing their impressions of other Inklings members. Society records indicate that Lord David Cecil, an Inklings member, spoke at a 1984 meeting, but unfortunately, we don’t have a recording of that talk. It would have been wonderful to have his reminiscences of C. S. Lewis and the Inklings to go along with the other two Inklings member’s memoirs included in the book—Owen Barfield and John Wain. Hearing their manner of speech, how they express ideas, and listening to book excerpts read aloud gives a hint of how an actual Inklings meeting might have sounded.

 

NF: Anything else you’d like to tell our readers before we go today regarding this book?

 

Roger White: Whether you are a seasoned C. S. Lewis scholar or an enthusiastic new reader of the Chronicles of Narnia, you’ll find something of interest in this varied collection of essays and memoirs. You may never get to visit Oxford, the city where C. S. Lewis lived and the Inklings met regularly, but for a time, in the reading of this book, you will have an idea of what it was and is like to attend an Oxford C. S. Lewis Society meeting. Whatever your entry point you will become part of that extended circle of those who find the life, work, and message of C. S. Lewis compelling and inspiring.

1 Comment

  1. Thanks for this interview. I was sceptical whether yet another book about the Inklings would add much to what’s already out there, but this one does look interesting.

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