                           19980920.00

Date: Sat, 19 Sep 1998 09:47:33 -0400
To: Ernst Meyer 
From: Bill Edwards 
Subject: Re: Die Andere (4)
Status: RO

>I look forward to seeing you again in my office
>at 1679 Mass. Avenue
>on Thursday, September 24, at 6 p.m.
>
>The characters in a novel unavoidably acquire an existence
>independent of their author whose claim to interpreting them
>should be no greater than that of any careful reader. Except
>to the extent that my knowledge of the text might be more
>detailed, your judgments about Doehring's personality are
>no less valid than mine.
>
>I think that Murphy's candor has the effect not so much
>of persuading Doehring to a different point of view as
>of neutralizing Doehring's inhibitions.
>
>Chapter 17, it seems to me, is tedious and too much dominated
>by Doehring's selfcenteredness to be either interesting or
>edifying. I hope your reading of the text survives it.
>
>With respect to C.S. Lewis's writings, I must plead ignorance;
>and ask your advice which of his books I should read first.

I am looking forward to seeing you on Thursday! I have just gotten through
chapter 17--I *think* (hope) Doehring at the end does not just dismiss
Dorothea as an intellectual/spiritual lightweight, although he seems to
have grave concerns as to what mutual understanding they would have if they
were married to each other, since she does not have the same education,
interests, or intellectual interests that he does.  We shall see.

As you said in an earlier note, Doehring does struggle in himself with a
real split between the inner versus the outer, the individual versus the
social or corporate.  I can empathize with this, being an introvert myself.
I wonder if  Dorothea is as in love with the outer and social, as opposed
to the inner and spiritual, as Doehring fears.

C.S. Lewis had a profound impact on me at a tender age--I was reading him
when I was converted to evangelical Christianity in high school.  His
imaginative works remain with me more than his apologetic, perhaps.  I also
think he learned a good deal (by suffering) through his marriage late in
life to a woman who then died of cancer.  The Hollywood movie Shadowlands
dealt with this, although not ideally...

It's a sleeper, but his book _Till We Have Faces_, which is a retelling of
the Cupid and Psyche myth from the standpoint of one of Psyche's ugly
sisters, is probably his best work of fiction.  I would also recommend his
Space Trilogy:  _Out of the Silent Planet_, _Perelandra, and _That Hideous
Strength_.  These books are space romances, but were written as an antidote
to the hard science fiction that H.G. Wells wrote.

Lewis was close friends with J.R.R. Tolkien, who also was a major influence
on my imagination at an early age (_The Lord of the Rings_).  Lewis,
Tolkien, Charles Williams, and Dorothy Sayers were all in a reading group
at Oxford called the Inklings, whose floruit was the 40's and 50's.  Sorry,
I am waxing prolix on this subject... -- Bill

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