Who knew C. S. Lewis

Lewis knew Sayers, who showed up at an Inklings meeting once. Apparently she was cordially welcomed but the atmosphere didn't flow the way it normally did because she was - well - a lady.

Tolkien didn't have a high opinion of her work, particularly the Peter Wimsey novels, but he certainly would have been courteous to her as a person.

Tolkien really didn't like Charles Williams' work, especially his poetry, but he was courteous enough to him as a man.
 
According to an article in my christian History Biography magazine, Lewis admired her plays very much. Though the scenario that I was thinking happened was not in there, so I'll have to look and research that some.
 
You know Pauline Baynes isn't on this list of people who knew Lewis. I don't know if she was chosen by Lewis to illustrate his CON books or if the publisher chose her. They weren't very close, only met twice. Lewis didn't like her lion drawings.
 
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Wow, that's odd. I guess because we grow up with those illustrations, we think they're the perfect ones. Probably the publisher did choose her.
 
TimmyofOz said:
You know Pauline Baynes isn't on this list of people who knew Lewis. I don't know if she was chosen by Lewis to illustrate his CON books or if the publisher chose her. They weren't very close, only met twice. Lewis didn't like her lion drawings.
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He admired her drawings of something else she drew though. I can't remember what it was. Does anyone know if his dislike was based on the Aslan standing on two feet with the witch picture? or just general dislike?
 
^ Wouldn't be surprised if he wasn't keen on that particular drawing -- why is Aslan suddenly on two feet? He certainly doesn't hint at that in the text! It's not illustrations for the 1939 Wizard of Oz film! :p
 
images
pauline-baynes-narnia-aslan-girls.jpg

This is kind of a Ozzy lion.:D
 
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TimmyofOz said:
You know Pauline Baynes isn't on this list of people who knew Lewis. I don't know if she was chosen by Lewis to illustrate his CON books or if the publisher chose her. They weren't very close, only met twice. Lewis didn't like her lion drawings.
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Sorry Timmy she was and also worked with Tolkien. At the end of the day it was up to Lewis to pick the illustrations, which she drew many off, like the drawings of darth vader he did not look like what we see in the films. :)
 
Not sure what your point is JtW. I read two different sources that Lewis was not close to Pauline Barnes including an obituary of her's. She was recommended to Lewis by others including Tolkien. Her work I feel was excellent. And even if Lewis made some complants I guess he saw no need to change illustrators when he knew her work was respected by others. Again both my souces said they only meet twice. Lewis told his biographer, George Sayer, that she could not draw lions.
 
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TimmyofOz said:
Not sure what your point is JtW. I read two different sources that Lewis was not close to Pauline Barnes including an obituary of her's. She was recommended to Lewis by others including Tolkien. Her work I feel was excellent. And even if Lewis made some complants I guess he saw no need to change illustrators when he knew her work was respected by others. Again both my souces said they only meet twice. Lewis told his biographer, George Sayer, that she could not draw lions.
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It wouldn't surprise me that Lewis would complain over a drawing of Aslan...after all, he believed there couldn't be any way to accurately portray Aslan on screen in a film.
 
Aravis Kenobi said:
It wouldn't surprise me that Lewis would complain over a drawing of Aslan...after all, he believed there couldn't be any way to accurately portray Aslan on screen in a film.
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True they only met twice but was not that your question who knew Lewis?, she up dated her drawings in colour for the new versions of the book mine have the black and white drawings. There is a book called A Book of Narnians with all the Narnians in colour. Baynes was offended by Lewis's remark that she could not draw lions if he did not like them he should have said so. True Aravis Kenobi Lewis could not see how they could portray Aslan or any of the Narnians on TV or film wonder what he would think if he could see the films now would he approve or disapprove? :)
 
He would probably approve of the technology and the way Aslan was brought to life (since they were able to animate something that resembles a real-life lion), but as to the story Aslan is in in the films...Lewis wouldn't be very pleased with that, and he also would not be pleased with the way Aslan was displayed in Dawn Treader (2010). The filmmakers diminished/distorted/destroyed Aslan's deity in a way that is completely unforgivable.

But I digress. Back on topic.
 
I don't know any true Narnia fan that doesn't like Pauline Baynes work. She was also well recommended to Lewis and did illustrations for his closest friends (Tolkien and Roger Green). In 1968 she was awarded the prestigious Kate Greenaway Medal for her outstanding contribution to children's literature. I feel that over time Lewis and Baynes would have been very good freinds if they had meet more often and come to understand each other like Lewis and Elliot did. I think many of the larger full color work that Baynes did for CON was done after Lewis' death.

I know Lewis was very worried about how Aslan would portrayed in movies. I don't think he would have like the BBC version. I am not sure Lewis would have liked The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (Animated) (1979) version either. Aslan was a real lion to Lewis. I think he would have liked a Mufasa like lion for Aslan. And I think he would have liked the CGI version of Aslan in the recent movies.
 
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TimmyofOz said:
pauline-baynes-narnia-aslan-girls.jpg

This is kind of a Ozzy lion.:D
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I've never seen that illustration before - doesn't quite look like her usual Narnia illustrations! (Obviously I as an illustrator of sorts myself, know that styles can be varied, though.) Aslan looks very stylised there, though the picture as a whole is very pretty.
 
What's interesting is the inconsistency. In several places Lucy is portrayed as "fair" (i.e. blonde), and is in fact drawn that way in many of the books. But in other places, such as this, she'd portrayed as dark-haired.
 
Polly and Jill are drawn as blonds by Pauline Baynes, but I think Lucy is always drawn with dark haired. I forget if Lewis said that Lucy was a blond. Lucy was a blond in the Animated (1979) version
 
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Not always. In Horse, in the long picture of the Narnian army in the chapter Shasta in Narnia, she's drawn with blonde hair. She's also described there as "a fair-haired lady with a very merry face..." In Lion, right toward the end, she's explicitly described as "gay and golden-haired". But you're correct that she's largely drawn with dark hair, including all through Caspian and Dawn Treader. Another example of why one shouldn't take illustrations at the same value as the text itself.
 
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