It feels different near the Shire.... - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

Nar · 10-10-2002, 09:21 AM

Bethberry, I'm sorry to hear you've been denied from a forum of argument for being female-- I keep hoping the human race will be over and done with such things (obviously it hasn't happened everywhere yet). Joy Davidman (sp?) was not a pop culture figure, she was C.S. Lewis' wife, who singlehandedly switched him from his earlier simpleminded theories about the superiority of men to women (as Child has informed me in another thread, and I can see the effect in Lewis' later novels) to a better view not founded on hysteria, a couple of bad experiences (I believe his landlady Minna was somewhat of a hysteric when he was a young impressionable man and there's some suggestion they had a hysteric co-dependant sort of romance-- I forget which biography that was, I don't usually read them), and near-total ignorance (he lost his mother as a boy). Pre-Joy, Lewis was against having 'gurlz' around when men discussed serious scholarly stuff and, I think, somewhat insufferable about Tolkien's inexplicable insistence on going home to his wife and family; post-Joy, Lewis wanted her included in everything. That's why LMP thought of her in conjunction with the Inklings discussions with Lewis, Tolkien and others.

Re: cigar horror, LMP, you're probably being haunted by Miss Hardcastle (the villainess from That Hideous Strength by Lewis), not Joy. I HATED everything connected with her (Miss H.) but she does tend to lodge in the brain-- thanks, C.S.-- I wish you'd kept your fevered nightmares to yourself! Ah, I forgive you, I liked everything before and after that blasted book. Just wish I could vacuum the inimitable Miss H. out of my subconscious!

As to Goldberry, she should have stayed. I'm sure she had much to say, and Frodo would have liked to hear it. I wonder who those dreams came from-- Bombadil, the house, the Shire, or Goldberry?

Bombadil and Celtic figures-- how about the Green Man?

10-10-2002, 09:21 AM	#1
Nar Wight Join Date: Apr 2002 Posts: 228	Bethberry, I'm sorry to hear you've been denied from a forum of argument for being female-- I keep hoping the human race will be over and done with such things (obviously it hasn't happened everywhere yet). Joy Davidman (sp?) was not a pop culture figure, she was C.S. Lewis' wife, who singlehandedly switched him from his earlier simpleminded theories about the superiority of men to women (as Child has informed me in another thread, and I can see the effect in Lewis' later novels) to a better view not founded on hysteria, a couple of bad experiences (I believe his landlady Minna was somewhat of a hysteric when he was a young impressionable man and there's some suggestion they had a hysteric co-dependant sort of romance-- I forget which biography that was, I don't usually read them), and near-total ignorance (he lost his mother as a boy). Pre-Joy, Lewis was against having 'gurlz' around when men discussed serious scholarly stuff and, I think, somewhat insufferable about Tolkien's inexplicable insistence on going home to his wife and family; post-Joy, Lewis wanted her included in everything. That's why LMP thought of her in conjunction with the Inklings discussions with Lewis, Tolkien and others. Re: cigar horror, LMP, you're probably being haunted by Miss Hardcastle (the villainess from That Hideous Strength by Lewis), not Joy. I HATED everything connected with her (Miss H.) but she does tend to lodge in the brain-- thanks, C.S.-- I wish you'd kept your fevered nightmares to yourself! Ah, I forgive you, I liked everything before and after that blasted book. Just wish I could vacuum the inimitable Miss H. out of my subconscious! As to Goldberry, she should have stayed. I'm sure she had much to say, and Frodo would have liked to hear it. I wonder who those dreams came from-- Bombadil, the house, the Shire, or Goldberry? Bombadil and Celtic figures-- how about the Green Man?