This volume includes over twenty of C. S. Lewis's most important literary essays, written between 1932 and 1962. The topics discussed range from Chaucer to Kipling, from 'The Literary Impact of the Authorized Version' to 'Psycho-Analysis and Literary Criticism, ' from Shakespeare and Bunyan to Sir Walter Scott and William Morris. Common to each essay, however, is the lively wit, the distinctive forthrightness and the discreet erudition which characterizes Lewis's best critical writing.
I've read and enjoyed almost all of Lewis's other writings, so I decided to check _Selected Literary Essays_ (SLE) out of the campus library and read it over the Christmas break. Some of the essays (e.g., "Metre, "The Alliterative Metre", and "The Fifteenth-Century Heroic Line") will be of quite limited interest, I think, and I wouldn't be surprised if some readers get bogged down with them and abandon the book. But those who press forward and endure to the end will be amply rewarded, for SLE contains some of Lewis's best writing. In particular, the essays on Bunyan, Austen, Scott, and Kipling are not to be missed. Not to be missed, that is, if you can locate them. I personally wouldn't suggest paying the exorbitant prices that used-book sellers are currently demanding for copies of SLE. If nothing else, try Interlibrary Loan. Maybe in a few years prices will be reasonable.
Good reading for fans of English Literature
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 27 years ago
This book is an expansion of Lewis's book THEY ASKED FOR A PAPER (published in 1962) and collects 22 of Lewis's essays on literature together. Lewis is more interesting on some things than on others, but all in all, this was an enlightening book to read. Eng. lit. fans and Lewis enthusiasts will be the ones most likely to read this book with pleasure.
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