Abstract

A startling book from a prolific and admired British scholar-critic of literature and its place in education. Upon confronting the Narnia stories and adult fantasies of C. S. Lewis, Holbrook uncovers disturbing evidence of psychic fears and aggressive solutions that seem antithetical to Christian values and thus to Lewis's reputation. Writers of children's books must be able to depict a world as children envision it, but Lewis's childhood was marked by the death of his mother, neglect from his father, and perverse cruelty from a demented schoolmaster. Holbrook demonstrates how these traumatic experiences are reflected in each of the seven Narnia books, with additional chapters on That Hideous Strength, Perelandra, and Till We Have Faces. Such psychoanalytic interpretations can become doctrinaire and extreme, and Holbrook does at times transform seemingly innocent episodes and names into somber equivalents, yet this is a striking and highly original study that all C. S. Lewis enthusiasts must read.