On Stories: And Other Essays on Literature

by C. S. Lewis

Overview

On Stories is a companion volume to Lewis's collected shorter fiction, The Dark Tower and Other Stories and presents the literary face of C. S. Lewis's many aspects. The theme of this collection is the excellence of Story, especially the kind of story dear to C. S. Lewis -- fantasy and science fiction, which he fostered in an age dominated by realistic fiction. Gathered here are nine essays, including "On Stories" and "On Three Ways of Writing for Children," and eleven pieces not previously collected, among them reviews of works by J.R.R. Tolkien, Charles Williams, Rider Haggard, and George Orwell; a panegyric to Dorothy Sayers; and an essay, "The Death of Words," which shows how common usage can distort and deprive language.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062643605
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	02/14/2017
Edition description:	Reissue
Pages:	272
Sales rank:	38,274
Product dimensions:	5.30(w) x 7.90(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

C. S. (Clive Staples) Lewis (1898-1963), one of the great writers of the twentieth century, also continues to be one of our most influential Christian thinkers. A Fellow and tutor at Oxford until 1954, he spent the rest of his career as Chair of Medieval and Renaissance English at Cambridge. He wrote more than thirty books, both popular and scholarly, inlcuding The Chronicles of Narnia series, The Screwtape Letters , The Four Loves , Mere Christianity and Surprised by Joy .

Date of Birth:

November 29, 1898

Date of Death:

November 22, 1963

Place of Birth:

Belfast, Nothern Ireland

Place of Death:

Headington, England

Education:

Oxford University 1917-1923; Elected fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford in 1925

Website:

http://www.cslewisclassics.com

Table of Contents

	Preface	ix
	On Stories	3
	The Novels of Charles Williams	21
	A Tribute to E. R. Eddison	29
	On Three Ways of Writing for Children	31
	Sometimes Fairy Stories May Say Best What's to Be Said	45
	On Juvenile Tastes	49
	It All Began with a Picture ...	53
	On Science Fiction	55
	A Reply to Professor Haldane	69
	The Hobbit	81
	Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings	83
	A Panegyric for Dorothy L. Sayers	91
	The Mythopoeic Gift of Rider Haggard	97
	George Orwell	101
	The Death of Words	105
	The Parthenon and the Optative	109
	Period Criticism	113
	Different Tastes in Literature	119
	On Criticism	127
	Unreal Estates	143

Editorial Reviews

"Though shorter than Haruki Murakami's South of the Border, West of the Sun, it is a more expansive work, delving into frightening territory....Smoothly translated by James Westerhoven, Okuizumi's prose is full of glassy surfaces that tilt to reach vertigo-inducing depths.-Los Angeles Times
"This eloquent, sorrowful, marvelously translated novel is a meditation on the ravages of war, the persistence of violence on the human soul and incredible bravery."-The Washington Post

From the Publisher