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C. S. Lewis. The Collected Letters of C. S. Lewis: Volume III; Narnia, Cambridge, and Joy 1950-1963. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 2007. xx+1810 pp. $42.95 (cloth), ISBN 9780060819224.
"Have I confessed to you," wrote C. S. Lewis in 1950, "that an inability to read biography is one of my defects? Except Boswell, of course" (26). This is an odd claimto make for a man who twice read J. S. Mill's Autobiography, yet if it is true that Lewis did not enjoy biography, it «rill not likely be the case for those who pick up the third volume of The Collected Letters of C. S. Lewis, for in its letters not only do we continue to gain wonderful biographical information from the editor, Walter Hooper, but we get tremendous insight into Lewis from Lewis himself (which is always refreshing) concerning matters both great and small, all of which is written with the Oxford don's usual good sense and humor.
The third volume of The Collected Letters of C. S. Lewis is the final volume in a trilogy which Hooper, of whom Lewis himself said was "a very much better C. S. L. scholar than I" (1393), had been editing for over seven years. It is a real pleasure to say that this volume, if its content is not as interesting as that of volume two, is the best of the series not only because it is published on much better quality paper than its predecessors (my volume one is already yellowing). It is especially so because Hooper has been allowed to include not only all of the letters published between 1950-1963 (I found only one letter from Letters to Children missing), but also all of the letters (180 pages worth) excluded in volumes one and two, including "The Great War Letters," which are essential reading for all those interested in Lewis's philosophical development, and some interesting letters to such famous figures as I. A. Richards and T. H. White. Throughout these 1800 pages, every fan of Lewis, regardless of his or her discipline, «rill find something of worth.
For instance, even the person who has read A Grief Observed and The Four Loves «rill appreciate Lewis's comments on marriage. In a letter to Cecil Harwood concerning Harwood's...