XPost: alt.fan.tolkien, rec.arts.books, rec.arts.sf.written   
   From: "@   
      
   Perhaps you didn't read very carefully: Pullman railed against   
   asceticism from the positions of Siddhartha and Nietzche, argued against   
   the 'Church''s position of treating it as an intrinsic, a priori good   
   (note: this is pullman's position, not mine, or entirely factual).  His   
   characters engage in it at the end out of a position of utilitarianism;   
   it worked to be a far greater good for them to sacrifice it (your   
   'asceticism') and not partake, then for them to engage in it.  One   
   choice does not a lifestyle make. And besides, it was necessary to make   
   the end sad.   
      
   ~Maru   
      
   Steve Hayes wrote:   
   > I'd say the opposite.   
   >   
   > Lewis gets preachy at times (especially about how bad it is to lock oneself   
   > into wardrobes, in twee asides to the reader), but nothing like Pullman.   
   >   
   > And at least Lewis is consistent. Pullman rants against Christian asceticism   
   > most of the way through all three books, and then has his hero and heroine   
   > embrace it (or something very like it) at the end.   
   >   
   >   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)