It was known that C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien had planned to write a book about language together, but no one ever knew how far the project got, or what happened to any work done. Now a Texas scholar has announced the discovery of a draft of the first pages of the book.
Steven Beebe, Regents’ Professor and Chair of the Texas State Department of Communication Studies, discovered the opening pages of the unpublished manuscript in the Oxford University Bodleian Library and has recently documented that the manuscript was the beginning of the previously believed to be unwritten Lewis and Tolkien book.
Although C. S. Lewis started the book, there is no evidence that Tolkien began work on the project.
Thanks to Dale Nelson for the tip. Dale is always on the ball.
Fascinating. I wished they had worked through an essay on this. What about lecture notes or recorded lectures from either of them?
You know, I heard John Lennox of Oxford this week on the radio say that he got bored with this studies at times and sneaked across campus to hear Lewis speak. He said Lewis would start lecturing as soon as he walked through the door, taking his coat off as he spoke, and he finished in the reverse fashion by putting on his coat, etc. as he closed. His last words came as he walked out the door.
If you view the original television production of Shadowlands, Joss Ackland does the routine where Lewis starts his lecture out in the hallway. It’s a delightful moment.
Phil, Lewis’s books The Discarded Image and Spenser’s Images of Life are based on his lectures (in fact the latter is based in part on notes taken by a student).
There are a number of pieces you can read about Lewis as a lecturer. Don’t miss one by Roger Poole in the collection We Remember C. S. Lewis, ed. Graham.