XPost: rec.arts.books.childrens, rec.arts.movies.current-films,    
   lt.books.cs-lewis   
   From: hayesmstw@hotmail.com   
      
   On Wed, 19 Oct 2005 14:48:08 -0700, Derek Janssen    
   wrote:   
      
   >Steve Hayes wrote:   
   >>   
   >>>In Paul F. Ford's "Companion to Narnia," (1980) there are plenty of   
   >>>words dedicated   
   >>>both to the "Sexism" entry and "Susan Pevensie." However, neither   
   >>>implies that   
   >>>female sexual maturation was what irritated Lewis. I'm afraid I don't   
   >>>have time to go   
   >>>into detail right now. Do check it out. Ford does point out how Lewis   
   >>>becomes less   
   >>>sexist in the later books.   
   >>   
   >> Did anything actually "irritate" Lewis? He pointed out that some people grow   
   >> up into airheads, and confuse maturity with sophistication.   
   >   
   >Similar to when Lewis described one colleague who read Lucy's tea party   
   >with the faun and said, "Aha, it's a *sexual* metaphor disguised for the   
   >age group, isn't it?"   
   >Lewis replied that, no, he just thought it sounded like rather a cozy   
   >afternoon with tea.   
      
   Yes, that sort of thing.   
      
   Shorty after reading LWW for the first time, I went to England to a university   
   there, and experienced a cosy winter afternoon with tea in an academic   
   setting. But perhaps those who like reading sex into everything might have   
   taken the crumpets as a metaphor.   
      
   Those who cannot conceive of any enjoyable experience other than orgasm are   
   missing something.   
      
   >>>Personally, I sensed as a kid that in "The Last Battle," Lewis was   
   >>>simply admitting   
   >>>that he'd annoyed many readers in his portrayal of Susan over the years   
   >>>and so was   
   >>>trying to atone for that by finally making her the outsider in more   
   >>>ways than one.   
   >>   
   >> Lewis acknowledged that as a middle-aged adult, he enjoyed fairy tales. Not   
   >> all adults do. He thought they were missing something.   
   >   
   >And specifically, that children who retain their tolerance of   
   >fairytales--and the willingness to accept archetypal good-vs-evil   
   >morality under unusual circumstances--on into middle-age adulthood   
   >manage to keep their willing suspension-of-disbelief perspective well   
   >intact towards certain *other* supernatural ideas of right and wrong in   
   >our own world--   
   >Much longer than those who spent their time wanting to rush out of   
   >childhood and become "grown-up" as soon as possible, and finding nothing   
   >but mature shallowness waiting for them...The "mature" Susan, of course,   
   >now clearly being as shallow as they come.   
      
   Perhaps it is far simple: Pullman may have shares in the cosmetics industry,   
   and disapproved of any suggestion that that that and fashion are not the most   
   provound and significant human endeavours.   
      
   --   
   Steve Hayes   
   Web: http://www.geocities.com/hayesstw/stevesig.htm   
        http://www.bookcrossing.com/mybookshelf/Methodius   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)