Door Jam: Volume 2

Canceling C.S. Lewis, ‘Hobbit’ first edition fetches fortune, and more

The Door Jam is a place to squeeze in relevant articles written about C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, their work, adaptations of their fantasy worlds, and other potentially interesting news and information. I’m not necessarily endorsing (or criticizing) these articles or bits of news, merely sharing them with you.

C.S. Lewis Links

I’m not canceling my favorite books, despite my dark skin troubling their authors

I was shaped by the core message of Fantastic Mr Fox, which emphasised the importance of not being greedy, the Magic Faraway Tree and its lessons of friendship, and The Chronicles of Narnia, which taught me to love above all else. How could it be that by virtue of their stories, these individuals – seemingly so intolerant of someone like me, a Sri Lankan woman with very noticeably dark skin – were incredibly formative in making me who I am today?

As I said above, I normally just share the articles without interacting with them. But this writer, Satara Uthayakumaran, repeats a claim that the stories of Lewis were “inherently sexist.” She does maintain that she can still enjoy and benefit from the books, though she does so through an interpretive method, “Death of the Author,” that Lewis would reject.

I won’t argue the sexist point here. I would, however, encourage anyone who wants to know more about Lewis’ attitude toward women in his life and writing to read the excellent collection of essays Women and C.S. Lewis.