Hey, everybody! Welcome back to Tumnus’s Bookshelf, where we review any and all books by, about, and inspired by CS Lewis and the land of Narnia. For today’s review we will be looking at CS Lewis: My Godfather by Laurence Harwood.
Title: CS Lewis: My Godfather
Author: Laurence Harwood
Publisher: IVP Books (November 20, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0830834982
ISBN-13: 978-083083498
Summary:
In this book containing plenty of personal anecdotes and letters, Laurence Harwood, the son of Inklings member Cecil Harwood, shares his personal recollections of his illustrious godfather, CS Lewis. Complete with some rarely seen historical photographs and even some sketches by CS Lewis, Harwood gives readers a new facet to the portrait of CS Lewis’ life.
Review:
There really can be no shortage of biographies on CS Lewis, especially when those closest to him can provide readers with a more complete portrait of the man. While there are plenty of books by his closest friends including his step-son, this is one written by one of his godchildren. In the preface, Laurence says that in the case of most godparent-godchild relationships, the godparent no longer plays a role in the child’s life upon reaching adulthood. Harwood shows us this was not so with CS Lewis. Until Lewis’s death in 1962, he remained an active part of Laurence’s life.
The book also goes into detail into some of Lewis’s other friendships. Many biographies focus a great deal on his relationships with Joy Davidman, JRR Tolkien, Arthur Greeves, or Charles Williams. This is the first to focus mainly on Lewis’ friendships with not only Cecil Harwood, but Daphne Harwood ( Cecil’s wife) and with Owen Barfield. The reader can see how he was quick to ask forgiveness and even extend it, and how even if his friends disagreed with him on theological matters he still respected them.
One can also see how Lewis’s friendship with Laurence matured over time. When he was a child Lewis wrote in a simple and strait forward manner that did not talk down to him, and even included sketches and doodles for him. As the boy grew older the letters contained more depth and encouragement. In many ways Lewis served as his mentor through out life.
Many details on Lewis’s life are not dealt with, such as the death of Janie Moore or the forming of the Inklings. However; those things are largely unimportant to this book -as it is about CS Lewis and his friendship with the Harwoods above all else. This book seeks to illuminate an aspect of Jack’s life that long-time fans are unaware of.
The most intriguing part of this book is the excerpts from letters and journal entries, as well as Lewis’ sketches. We see through the letters with Laurence how Lewis was so good at writing for children; it was all because he was good at communicating and relating to them at their level, without being condescending; which is something I think all adults who interact with children should try to emulate. The letters also show that even an Oxford don can have some fun and doodle in the margins.
All in all this is a very good book, one that many long time CS Lewis fans will enjoy. The book is short, but that does not at diminish the quality of the information in this book. If read along side Jack’s Life and Lenten Lands by Douglas Gresham and the other top notch biographies on Lewis we can only get a much better picture of CS Lewis as a person.
5 out of 5 shields