Of mice and men and Magdalen: C. S. Lewis’s Oxford
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Of mice and men and Magdalen: C. S. Lewis’s Oxford
1–10 of 26 posts
Re: Of mice and men and Magdalen: C. S. Lewis’s Oxford
#2> The sheer level of spartan discomfort, for instance, that university denizens were expected to endure
Sometimes* I wonder how much of the spartan discomfort in 1984 was authorial discretion characterising outer party life, and how much was just the background normal spartan discomfort of mid-XX britain.
* like when I read that Orwell had been burning furniture to stay warm
Re: Of mice and men and Magdalen: C. S. Lewis’s Oxford
#3> The sheer level of spartan discomfort, for instance, that university denizens were expected to endure Sometimes* I wonder how much of the spartan discomfort in 1984 was authorial discretion characterising outer party life, and how much was just the background normal spartan discomfort of mid-XX britain. * like when I read that Orwell had been burning furniture to stay warm
It seems like the splendor and comfort of student life varied wildly depending on class and wealth (see: the depiction of Oxford in Brideshead Revisited).
Re: Of mice and men and Magdalen: C. S. Lewis’s Oxford
#4"Magdalen" is pronounced Maudlin. That's how Oxford's locals detect 'tourists' ;)
Re: Of mice and men and Magdalen: C. S. Lewis’s Oxford
#5"Magdalen" is pronounced Maudlin. That's how Oxford's locals detect 'tourists' ;)
Then I got it wrong the entire time I was there, lol.
Re: Of mice and men and Magdalen: C. S. Lewis’s Oxford
#6> He was required to write an official account of his term, and did so as a five-act drama in blank verse entitled “The Tragi-Comicall Briefe Reigne of Lewis the Bald”.
Nice to see he was capable of self-deprecating humor.
Re: Of mice and men and Magdalen: C. S. Lewis’s Oxford
#7Interesting. I thought “Till We Have Faces” was the main work that dealt with losing his wife.
Re: Of mice and men and Magdalen: C. S. Lewis’s Oxford
#8Interesting. I thought “Till We Have Faces” was the main work that dealt with losing his wife.
"Till We Have Faces" may have some influences from his grief, but the primary subject was theological in nature, dealing with a character whose life is filled with questions and complaints against divinity and how those seem to go unanswered. The conclusion underscores this:
> I ended my first book with the words no answer. I know now, Lord, why you utter no answer. You are the answer. Before your face the questions die away. What other answer would suffice?
("Till We Have Faces", pt 2. ch. 4)
It is a novel that is more an apologetic that deals with philosophic quandaries than anything relating to personal loss.
Re: Of mice and men and Magdalen: C. S. Lewis’s Oxford
#9Interesting. I thought “Till We Have Faces” was the main work that dealt with losing his wife.
Davidman had a lot of influence on the writing of "Till We Have Faces," but it was published before her death. "A Grief Observed" is the book Lewis wrote about the grief that followed.
Re: Of mice and men and Magdalen: C. S. Lewis’s Oxford
#10Not very impressed with the writer: CS Lewis was impressed enough with JRRT that the character of Ransome in the Space Trilogy is based on him.
And Shadowlands was probably based on the book “A Grief Observed” , which was not mentioned.
Further the Space Trilogy mentioned multiple times Lewis’ dread of bureaucracy including the NICE being an agent of evil and Studdock’s wrongful desire to be part of the in crowd of the fictional school’s management.