[Tirned Tinnu]

[img]smilies/eek.gif[/img] Yiowie! There's a lot of talent in here...
Just wanted to pop by and well, plop down my very simplistic views on C.S. Lewis and Tolkien.

I was graced by having a good librarian who recognised my love of fantasy. She gave me "The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe" to read. Of course, I gobbled it up and craved more. I read it a book a week until I'd come to the very end, ravinous for an explanation, when the book suddenly turned from mythological/spiritual to a wholly Christian epic. I was stunned. I actually tossed the book at the wall in anger. I was not ready to accept Lewis's intentions. His depication of Christ as the Lamb and the slaying of Alsan disturbed me greatly. Who was this author to mix the Land of Faery with Christian beliefs?! I had considered them separate worlds even though I had never read a Finnish Saga or an Irish tale from the Toyne. I had some greco-roman mythology at the time, and this seem to suffice when it came of fauns and wood spirits.

It wasn't until years later that I got to reading the "Prelandria" Series when I understood Lewis's fancifil worlds. He was all about telling the tale with a slight twist to it, a Christian twist as well as SciFi and Fantasy mingled together.

When I finally happened on Tolkien, it was a bit of a relief not to deal with Christianity on Lewis's level, but to have it symbolized with a First Testiment feel.
I liked that I didn't have to worry about theology and could wrap myself in pure fantasy for a while. Now I know better, having read most of his works.

Yes, LOTR was a work of goodness, a moral code to follow, a tale of happiness, through much sorrow. I adore it, and have of late wondered at its sublime array of tales that I still learn from.