This is just a short conversation that C.S. Lewis and one of his good friends J.R.R. Tolkien could have had about Tolkien's opinion of The Chronicles of Narnia.
Tolkien
So, as we both know, I'm not the biggest fan of your books. The Chronicles of Narnia.
Lewis
Yes, I do know about your disliking of my books, but yet I still don't really know why you have this dislike for them. Would you care to let me in on your dislike of my books?
Tolkien
Well, first and far most, your use of Christianity is so very overdone. It is obvious that you are using the character of Aslan as a Christ figure, and personally I believe that if you do put any Christian themes into your writing you should hide them in plain sight. Not make them so easy to see, they shouldn't be the first thing that the reader notices and when it comes to these books, it is the first thing most readers would notice. You are not a professional on this subject, and this information should be left to the professionals.
Lewis
Why does it really matter if I am a professional on Christianity?
Tolkien
That would be because you are giving your readers a false sense of knowledge. You are giving them information that could be wrong, and just your opinion. All you are doing is creating hearsay and not real absolute knowledge, and I believe that that is wrong.
Lewis
You use the same kind of things in your books, yet you can criticize me on the same things?
Tolkien
I never said I don't use bits of Christianity in my writing, but I do not make them obvious. I hide these in my writing. But, speaking of my writing, you seem to also drew a lot of your ideas from my own mythology. It also didn't take you very long to write your seven books, it only took you seven years? While my writing of my four books in my Lord of the Rings series took me about fourteen years.
Lewis
You are upset with my books because it only took me a short amount of time to write them, is that what you are telling me?
Tolkien
Yes, it is something that bothers me. It doesn't completely ruin my opinion of your books, but I think it is a very interesting factor of your books that makes me less of a fan of them. Now, back to the problem of your use of Christianity.
Lewis
What else do you have to say about that?
Tolkien
I just think that your view of Christianity may blur and change the ways in which you portray certain aspects of your books. That's all I have to say. You do know most of these things dear friend.
Lewis
I understand what you are saying, I just may not agree with you. We may have some other issues to talk about that are currently at hand. But today is not that day.
So, as we both know, I'm not the biggest fan of your books. The Chronicles of Narnia.
Lewis
Yes, I do know about your disliking of my books, but yet I still don't really know why you have this dislike for them. Would you care to let me in on your dislike of my books?
Tolkien
Well, first and far most, your use of Christianity is so very overdone. It is obvious that you are using the character of Aslan as a Christ figure, and personally I believe that if you do put any Christian themes into your writing you should hide them in plain sight. Not make them so easy to see, they shouldn't be the first thing that the reader notices and when it comes to these books, it is the first thing most readers would notice. You are not a professional on this subject, and this information should be left to the professionals.
Lewis
Why does it really matter if I am a professional on Christianity?
Tolkien
That would be because you are giving your readers a false sense of knowledge. You are giving them information that could be wrong, and just your opinion. All you are doing is creating hearsay and not real absolute knowledge, and I believe that that is wrong.
Lewis
You use the same kind of things in your books, yet you can criticize me on the same things?
Tolkien
I never said I don't use bits of Christianity in my writing, but I do not make them obvious. I hide these in my writing. But, speaking of my writing, you seem to also drew a lot of your ideas from my own mythology. It also didn't take you very long to write your seven books, it only took you seven years? While my writing of my four books in my Lord of the Rings series took me about fourteen years.
Lewis
You are upset with my books because it only took me a short amount of time to write them, is that what you are telling me?
Tolkien
Yes, it is something that bothers me. It doesn't completely ruin my opinion of your books, but I think it is a very interesting factor of your books that makes me less of a fan of them. Now, back to the problem of your use of Christianity.
Lewis
What else do you have to say about that?
Tolkien
I just think that your view of Christianity may blur and change the ways in which you portray certain aspects of your books. That's all I have to say. You do know most of these things dear friend.
Lewis
I understand what you are saying, I just may not agree with you. We may have some other issues to talk about that are currently at hand. But today is not that day.
Endnote
This particular endnote helped me learn a lot about Lewis' personal life instead of just his books. It is all about his relationship with Tolkien, which happened to be really interesting. They had a very interesting relationship, one that involved a lot of intellectual conversations about each others books and things outside of just books. They were very willing to give each other feedback even if its bad feedback. They didn't hold back from each other, and that was really cool to learn about. Just like the twitter account, this interview between two of these great writers, was something that made me get into not only Lewis' head but also Tolkien's.
My choice audience for this particular genre would be an audience of people who are interesting in the life of Lewis, and even the life of Tolkien. I think that anyone, adults and children alike, could enjoy reading this. This genre gives just a small bit of the relationship between these two writers and I think getting information about their friendship helps give people who want to know about these two men a good view of who they were when they were together.
The reason that I, Jena Jones, choose to create a interview between Lewis and Tolkien was because I enjoy both of their books, and I think that their friendship is really entertaining to learn more about. I think that by creating this, anyone, including myself, can gain some great knowledge about two great people. I honestly just wanted to know more about their relationship and working on this genre gave me a good reason to look up this particular information. It was actually pretty easy to find this information because in almost every book about either author you can find information about the other and their relationship.
I used three different sources to get information to get me some slight knowledge about the two writers. First, I used a website to get this knowledge, and what I did was just add bits and pieces from this to get the conversation together, and to find things that Tolkien thought about Lewis' writings. Then I also used two small excerpts from two different books to help to do the same thing as the website did for me.
I think that I did a pretty good job integrating these sources into my genre, I think I made them into my own in a very interesting way by turning them into a conversation with two different people. I don't think that there would have been a better way of integrating these sources into my genre.
This particular endnote helped me learn a lot about Lewis' personal life instead of just his books. It is all about his relationship with Tolkien, which happened to be really interesting. They had a very interesting relationship, one that involved a lot of intellectual conversations about each others books and things outside of just books. They were very willing to give each other feedback even if its bad feedback. They didn't hold back from each other, and that was really cool to learn about. Just like the twitter account, this interview between two of these great writers, was something that made me get into not only Lewis' head but also Tolkien's.
My choice audience for this particular genre would be an audience of people who are interesting in the life of Lewis, and even the life of Tolkien. I think that anyone, adults and children alike, could enjoy reading this. This genre gives just a small bit of the relationship between these two writers and I think getting information about their friendship helps give people who want to know about these two men a good view of who they were when they were together.
The reason that I, Jena Jones, choose to create a interview between Lewis and Tolkien was because I enjoy both of their books, and I think that their friendship is really entertaining to learn more about. I think that by creating this, anyone, including myself, can gain some great knowledge about two great people. I honestly just wanted to know more about their relationship and working on this genre gave me a good reason to look up this particular information. It was actually pretty easy to find this information because in almost every book about either author you can find information about the other and their relationship.
I used three different sources to get information to get me some slight knowledge about the two writers. First, I used a website to get this knowledge, and what I did was just add bits and pieces from this to get the conversation together, and to find things that Tolkien thought about Lewis' writings. Then I also used two small excerpts from two different books to help to do the same thing as the website did for me.
I think that I did a pretty good job integrating these sources into my genre, I think I made them into my own in a very interesting way by turning them into a conversation with two different people. I don't think that there would have been a better way of integrating these sources into my genre.