Mommy Brain

I finished Jack’s Life: The Life Story of C. S. Lewis by Douglas Gresham and I now feel starved to read everything Lewis wrote. I’ve read the Narnia books, of course, and Mere Christianity and The Screwtape Letters, but nothing else. If you are interested in Lewis at all, this book is a must-read. Written by his step-son, it is a very personal look at his life.

Mr. Gresham has some wise words on writing…

“…back in those days writing was done with a pen made of a wooden handle with a steel nib attached to it. You dipped your nib into a bottle of ink or an inkwell and then wrote until the ink on the nib ran out, usually about six or seven words. Then you dipped again.

This is how I learned to write at school, and as crude as it sounds, there were distinct advantages to this system. You had to pause every few seconds to dip your pen in the bottle of ink, and this gave you time to reflect and think about what you were writing. Nowadays with ballpoint pens that last for ages and even more with typewriters and computer keyboards, people often write away without thinking enough about what they are saying.” pages 106-107

..and on secrets…

“…in 1947, while on holiday in Ireland, Warnie [C. S. “Jack” Lewis’s brother] first drank himself into a hospital in Drogheda, a town that was to become a regular place for his recovery from alcohol poisoning for years afterward. It is significant of how badly this terrible disease of alcoholism had attacked that he also began at this time to lie to himself and others about it. He even lied about his drinking in his own diary.

Jack worried about him and did not have any idea how he could help his elder brother. He began to try to keep alcohol away from Inklings meetings and out of their home. It didn’t do much good though because Warnie could not understand that Jack’s reluctance to open a bottle of wine was actually for his sake and not anything to do with Jack’s preferences. Uncharitably he put it down to Jack’s stinginess, but he was lying to himself, for he knew that Jack was by nature the most generous of souls. Alcoholism was poorly understood then, and it was considered a disgraceful personal weakness rather than a disease, as it is thought of today. The truth about it is probably somewhere in between these two ideas and perhaps a bit of both. In any case, Warnie’s alcoholism was considered to be an utter disgrace to him and to his family, and so it was kept as much of a secret as possible. Looking back on it now, it is probable that this secrecy did more harm than almost anything else could have done to Warnie’s health. Secrets are always dangerous and evil things and in this case particularly so. In those days it was only good manners to offer someone an alcoholic drink almost whenever you met them, and all the Inklings would have been in the habit of inviting or even encouraging Warnie to drink. After all, they didn’t know that he was an alcoholic. That was a secret. If they had known, they probably would have been able to help him quite a lot simply by never tempting him. The destructive nature of secrets was not understood back then any more than was alcoholism.” pages 135-136

…and, of course, on his beloved step-father…

“On Friday, November 22, 1963, the famous writer Aldous Huxley died. On the same day in Dallas, Texas, John F. Kennedy, then president of the United States of America, was shot dead. Also on the same day at 5:34 in the afternoon, C. S. Lewis died at his much loved home, The Kilns, Kiln Lane, Headington Quarry, Oxford. He was the finest man I ever knew in my life, and I miss him to this day. But he was ready to go. He had done all he wanted to do and said all that he wanted to say; and more important still, God was ready to take him home.” page 164

“I am sometimes asked what it is like living in the shadow of such a great man, and I always point out that Jack did not leave a shadow behind him but a glow. If I am able to reflect even the slightest spark of that glow, I am more than happy to do so. Jack left us Narnia, the wonderful land of Aslan and Tumnus, of the White Witch, of unicorns and dragons, high adventure and endless joy. He left us Glome, that dark and dreadful city; and in showing us the way out of it, he taught us how to lift our veils. Jack left us Malacandra and Perelandra and showed us the dangers and the joys that lie in wait for us in such places of the soul. And more than this, he faced the darkness that he found in this world and lit for us bright lamps to show us the path that all of us need to find. You will find them in the shelves of any good bookstore or library. Just look for the name C. S. Lewis.” page 165