[thelionscall] Re: Joy in Narnia
Here's an example of that sense of longing which Lewis labeled
as "joy". The following poem was written by C.S. Lewis for the
magazine "Fantasy and Science Fiction" in its June 1959 issue. In it
he laments that the science fiction stories he had been reading were
mostly the same old earthly stories, just set in outer space.
AN EXPOSTULATION
(Against too many writers of science fiction)
Why did you lure us on like this,
Light year on light year, through the abyss,
Building (as though we cared for size!)
Empires that cover galaxies,
If at the journey's end we find
The same old stuff we left behind,
Well-worn Tellurian stories of
Crooks, spies, conspirators, or love,
Whose setting might as well have been
The Bronx, Montmartre, or Bethnel Green?
Why should I leave this green-floored cell,
Roofed with blue air, in which we dwell,
Unless, outside its guarded gates,
Long, long desired, the Unearthly waits,
Strangeness that moves us more than fear,
Beauty that stabs with tingling spear,
Or Wonder, laying on ones heart
That finger-tip at which we start
As if some thought too swift and shy
For reason's grasp had just gone by?
--- In thelionscall@yahoogroups.com, "Dan Stanley" <dstanley@...>
wrote:
>
> Lewis fell in love with faerie tales at a very early age. His best
> friends were people who he found also loved the myths and faerie
tales
> of long ago. What Lewis loved about them most of all was a sense
of
> longing that they triggered in him. There is a longing in every
human
> that no earthly pleasure can satisfy. The enchantment of those
faerie
> tales intensified that longing in Lewis. His word for that longing
> was "joy". Lewis wanted to reproduce that feeling of joy for
others in
> the Narnia books. And I'd say he succeeded.
>
> Have you ever felt that joy while reading the Narnia stories? The
> longing to be in Narnia is just a part of it. The stories never
> completely satisfy. We are left longing for more of Narnia, more
> adventure, and more of Aslan.
>
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/thelionscall/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/thelionscall/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
mailto:thelionscall-digest@yahoogroups.com
mailto:thelionscall-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
thelionscall-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
