In his essay, “Sometimes Fairy Stories May Say Best What’s To Be Said,” Lewis describes the purpose of a writer and the importance of fairy tales. Lewis states that the creative writer should be concerned with both pleasing and edifying the reader. The writer should be considered as both author and as man. In order to further explain this distinction, Lewis explains that the author has a reason for writing, and the man has a reason for writing. First, the author gets an idea for a story, which Lewis describes as bubbling images or mental pictures. The author must have two ideas in order for his part to be complete: an idea or image and an longing for a form for the piece to take. So the author must have a general story and an avenue to write it through: verse, short story, novel. The man portion of the writer is the critic. The man takes the author’s ideas and decides how practical the ideas are, or if the idea and the writer are a good match. Lewis uses the example of being attracted to a woman to explain his point. The author finds the woman attractive and the man decides whether or not she is the sort of girl worth marrying.
Lewis explains that this model of the author’s steps are how he comes to conclusions on writing books. He sees an image, gets inspired by a form, and then allows his manhood to decide about all of the logistics involved with writing. The man side of Lewis wanted to find a way to strip away the “churchy” feel of the gospel and tell the story in a raw and new way so that it would make an impact in a way the church cannot.
Lewis explains the importance of fairy tales to both children and adults. He references J.R.R. Tokien’s Lord of the Rings and ponders how both adults and children enjoyed the novel. Lewis believed that children’s should be written for more than the enjoyment of children, but also for the pleasure and edification of adults. Lewis states, “it certainly is my opinion that a book worth reading only in childhood is not worth reading even then” (38).
Lewis’ statements about children’s books and how they should be approached reminds me of our Children’s Literature class here at Southern Wesleyan. Lewis claims that children’s books should only be written for children, not by changing the genre of a novel, but by leaving out contents that children will dislike or not understand. Thus, writing fairy tales for children should not be so different from writing fairy tales for adults. The books we learn to love in childhood are often the reason an adult became an avid reader in the first place. In Children’s Literature, we are taught to find books about subject our children will want to read. Fairy tales, sports, or dancing are categories that ignite a passion in a child a young age that stays with that child into adulthood.
Of Other Worlds by C.S. Lewis
NY: Harcourt, 1966
Lattes with Lewis 