Hey, everybody, welcome back to Tumnus’ 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 The CS Lewis Encyclopedia by Colin Duriez.
Title: The CS Lewis Encyclopedia 
Author: Colin Duriez
Publisher: Crossway Books (February 2000)
ISBN-10: 1581341369
ISBN-13: 978-1581341362
Summary:
In this concise and comprehensive book, author Colin Duriez supplies readers with an A-to Z look at CS Lewis, his life and his writings.
Review:
It may seem strange to see an Encyclopedia dedicated just to CS Lewis, but seeing how many handbooks and indexes exist on Twilight saga, then perhaps it is fitting that writers like CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien have a place in that special niche market. Colin Duriez- author of The Inklings Handbook and The JRR Tolkien Handbook- now comes forth to present a concise look at CS Lewis.
The book covers every aspect of CS Lewis from family to his works both well known and not so familiar. It looks at various events and important people in Lewis’ life like; JRR Tolkien, Owen Barfield, Charles Williams, Warnie Lewis, and Joy Davidman. Even minor things like the names of all seven lords in Voyage of the Dawn Treader are in this encyclopedia (can any fan name them all right off the top of their head with out looking at the book or Google searching them?) Some entries are short, others, like ones on “joy” or “faith” are much longer.
Despite being an encyclopedia, this is not at all a dry read. It is full of plenty of good biographical and bibliographical information, especially for those wondering what else CS Lewis wrote. Mr. Duriez does occasionally editorialize in a few articles, for example he does weigh in his opinions on CS Lewis’ The Dark Tower. While many fans may disagree with him, his opinions are not too intrusive to the book as a whole.
There are a few errors in the book, such as the article on Jill Pole that she came with Edmund, Lucy, and Eustace to Narnia in Voyage of the Dawn Treader. However, such a thing is to be expected when one person is trying to supply an exhaustive and concise resource on CS Lewis, his life and his writings, as opposed to a large group. Any such errors Duriez apologizes for right away in the preface.
In all, The CS Lewis Encyclopedia is a very good, but not perfect resource. Much of it could come in handy for research papers or articles. Fans are sure to find it enlightening and may even find out something new about CS Lewis that they never knew before.
4 out of 5 Shields
Order the book from Amazon.com
Es una muy buena iniciativa… ya que la misma J.K. Rowling se inspiro en narnia para escribir sus libros de Harry Potter y no solo por eso sino tambien por ese club de los Inklings, los cuales revolucionaron la forma de escribir historias y aun su legado permanece!
Vale la pena conocer mas de cerca esta escuela literaria! 😀
Lord rhoop, Lord Bern, Ah . . . Lord Octesian . . . uh . . . ohh boy . . .
Um Lord Argoz . . . dang . . . ummmmm . . . mabey I should just stop and look it up 🙂
and thank you for the compliment. I will ceisndor the blogging suggestion, but I am not quite sure how to go about it.I am not upset that you do not like the Assisi quote. I believe God made us all in unique ways so that we may serve in unique ways and reach people in unique ways. As Aslan meets Lucy in a unique way he also meets Edmund or Eustace in their own unique ways and each have unique roles in Narnia. For myself I have always seen the Assisi quote as a call to live life in such a way that it becomes the same as preching the gospel. A believer’s life is under scrutany by the non believer. Often they are looking for a reason to belive. Sometimes they are looking for an excuse to not believe. We cannot give them any excuse. God finds some of His lost sheep through evangelism and some are found through living our daily lives, in full view of every one around. In my own life I know people who came to Christ not by my words but because I was genuine.
Ha ha! Trying to recall from memory the lords’ names was a fun challenge! My brothers and I finally remembered all of the lords’ names this evening, after trying to think of them all pretty much the whole day. The one we had the hardest time remembering was Lord Revillian.
Yes, I think even in the book, Caspian had a hard time remembering their names.
It’s surprising that Mr Duriez made that error about Jill Pole since his 1990 book, the CS Lewis “handbook”, got it right. Still nobody’s perfect.
Wow! I can’t remember the lords’ names. Jonathan, you’re right. Caspian had always problem with that. He couldn’t remember Rhoop.
There is another book similar in name “The C S Lewis Readers Encyclopedia” edited by Schultz and West and published by Zondervan. It is an excellent resource, with both biographical material on Lewis, articles on all his books and friends, as well as topical articles. If you are looking for an encyclopedia about C.S. Lewis, it deserves your consideration.
Another great book that just came out this year is “Speaking of Jack” by Will Vaus. The subtitle is “A C.S. Lewis Discussion Guide” and while it’s meant to be used primarily as a resource for people involved in what’s called C.S. Lewis Societies, it is very useful for personal enjoyment, as each of the short chapters gives interesting information about 36 of Lewis’ books that it presents.
Thanks for posting! I should check that out sometime. (when I have time anyways, but thanks!)
Man what would i give for some news!:( paul, you could really make my day by announcing MN as being Greenlit!:)