Path: ultra.sonic.net!samba.rahul.net!rahul.net!a2i!news.pbi.net!su-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!cpk-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!news.bbnplanet.com!dispatch.news.demon.net!demon!aristos.demon.co.uk!aristos.demon.co.uk!sam From: Sam Dodsworth Newsgroups: alt.books.cs-lewis Subject: Re: Difficulties with Date: Tue, 11 Feb 1997 12:37:22 +0000 Organization: Annexia Free Press Distribution: world Message-ID: References: <1997021010090972756@zetnet.co.uk> <1997021021032272756@zetnet.co.uk> NNTP-Posting-Host: aristos.demon.co.uk X-NNTP-Posting-Host: aristos.demon.co.uk MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Newsreader: Turnpike Version 3.01 <7c0azr3XvpMr4dZzpifF$I+pPf> Lines: 41 In article <1997021021032272756@zetnet.co.uk>, David R L Porter writes > >Agreed. My point was a slight one, but I think it's probable that >Lewis, who was of course very diffident about his role as a layman >talking about theology, might have consciously gone back to the >winning formula he'd used in the broadcast talks. > That's a very plausable idea, and one that I'll bear in mind. Thanks. >Incidentally, I have a few of the reviews of 'Miracles' taken from >the 1947 papers at the time. > W. J. H. Sprott in the New Statesman disliked what he saw as >unwarrantable leaps of argument: "Something supernatural having been >found, the next step - or rather leap - is taken with that agility >for which Mr Lewis is so justly renowned ...: > The Times Literary Supplement regretted the absence of recent or >contemporary cases, but said "Mr Lewis has produced an impressive >book ... He has shown that it is irrational to overlook the >possibility of the miraculous ...". > The Expository Times gave it quite a eulogy: "Mr Lewis is always >terribly clever, and in nothing more so than in the brilliance of his >illustrations. But in this book there is a pervading seriousness >befitting the greatness of his theme. It is a book that will repay >(and need) re-reading." > I think they all had a point, and the reviews tell us a lot about the papers that printed them. I also see that the TLS seems to have changed less than its recent makeovers would suggest. I don't suppose anyone knows what sort of paper the "Expository Times" was? I have an image (from the title and language) either of a religious paper or a terribly earnest journal devoted to "improving the masses", but the time gap makes it difficult to interpret the style with any confidence. Sam Dodsworth (sam@aristos.demon.co.uk) "I think there should be more sex and violence on television, not less. Both are powerful catalysts of social change, at a time when change is desperately needed." -J.G. Ballard