Tolkien & Lewis - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

littlemanpoet · 05-05-2002, 06:04 AM

Yes, there is more to the cooling friendship than a literary rivalry. It has been hinted that Tolkien disapproved of Lewis marrying a divorce. That also does not sufficiently explain the situation.

Here is some more information to lend insight. Lewis was a "grouper". He liked to get men together to quaff good ale and discuss literature, philology, and whatever else came up as interesting discussion. To use a Jungian term (Lewis and Tolkien are on record as having an appreciation for Jung), Lewis was an extravert, and had a naturally loud voice. With this loud voice Lewis was known to decry womanhood as the weaker sex with all its foibles, and to revel in the company of men to do man-like things. By contrast, Tolkien was an introvert (by the way that does not mean that he didn't like people, but that he 'charged his batteries' by being away from people or in a circle of close friends). And Tolkien was very happily married. Thus, Lewis was the driving force behind the Inklings in the first place. When he married Joy Davidman, his entire focus shifted away from his men friends to his new wife. The sharp change in Lewis' attitude toward women was not lost on Tolkien. And suddenly the driving force of the Inklings had decided to 'motor another engine'.

My guess is that while Tolkien understood what had happened, he was still hurt by the sudden disappearance of all the friendly and erudite attention Lewis had poured on him.

The above also is not really convincingly (to me) enough to explain the cooling. Lewis also left Oxford to teach at Cambridge. And his faith was different enough from Tolkien's as to add to this growing list of differences. Also, I don't think Tolkien was really at all comfortable with Lewis' outpouring of non-fictional defense of Christianity - the abolition of man, the problem of pain, mere christianity, etc.

This next is mere speculation: by the 50s, Lewis was a popular man in England, having read his books over the radio, whereas Tolkien was still struggling financially and LotR had not yet taken off.

All these differences added up to a cooled friendship, but I don't think they held each other in any less regard for all that - they simply didn't have that much to talk about anymore.

05-05-2002, 06:04 AM	#19
littlemanpoet Itinerant Songster Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: The Edge of Faerie Posts: 7,066	Yes, there is more to the cooling friendship than a literary rivalry. It has been hinted that Tolkien disapproved of Lewis marrying a divorce. That also does not sufficiently explain the situation. Here is some more information to lend insight. Lewis was a "grouper". He liked to get men together to quaff good ale and discuss literature, philology, and whatever else came up as interesting discussion. To use a Jungian term (Lewis and Tolkien are on record as having an appreciation for Jung), Lewis was an extravert, and had a naturally loud voice. With this loud voice Lewis was known to decry womanhood as the weaker sex with all its foibles, and to revel in the company of men to do man-like things. By contrast, Tolkien was an introvert (by the way that does not mean that he didn't like people, but that he 'charged his batteries' by being away from people or in a circle of close friends). And Tolkien was very happily married. Thus, Lewis was the driving force behind the Inklings in the first place. When he married Joy Davidman, his entire focus shifted away from his men friends to his new wife. The sharp change in Lewis' attitude toward women was not lost on Tolkien. And suddenly the driving force of the Inklings had decided to 'motor another engine'. My guess is that while Tolkien understood what had happened, he was still hurt by the sudden disappearance of all the friendly and erudite attention Lewis had poured on him. The above also is not really convincingly (to me) enough to explain the cooling. Lewis also left Oxford to teach at Cambridge. And his faith was different enough from Tolkien's as to add to this growing list of differences. Also, I don't think Tolkien was really at all comfortable with Lewis' outpouring of non-fictional defense of Christianity - the abolition of man, the problem of pain, mere christianity, etc. This next is mere speculation: by the 50s, Lewis was a popular man in England, having read his books over the radio, whereas Tolkien was still struggling financially and LotR had not yet taken off. All these differences added up to a cooled friendship, but I don't think they held each other in any less regard for all that - they simply didn't have that much to talk about anymore.