Another reason it was unsatisfying on this level was that the fictional elements made it difficult to be sure which parts he wanted me to seriously entertain. The devils are a good example of this -- they're basically a slightly sophisticated version of the shoulder-devils from comic strips, and I find it extremely difficult to imagine anyone really taking them to exist. Except, Lewis warns against this very thing in his text, saying that the way devils keep us from realizing they exist is to put pictures of men in red tights in our heads, and say that, since we cannot believe in something like that, we cannot believe in them. Okay, so I shouldn't dismiss Lewis' devils out of hand because of the ridiculous elements of their anthropomorphism; but which parts of Lewis' ridiculous portrayals (which in my view encompass most of the book) am I to take it that he wanted me to disregard, and which am I to take it that he really wants to argue for as things that exist? Since his only communication with me is from within a narrative that assumes all of it to be true, there is no way for him to make it plain, and indeed he doesn't.
Since the book didn't actually make me as unrelievingly cranky as it appears from this report so far, I should probably find something that isn't cranky to say, and in fact there were occasional things I did like. I thought that the quasi-libertarian philosophy on love that Screwtape explains as the underpinning of devil society was actually clever and well-conceived; unlike most of the devil things in the book, I found it both novel and believable. I think there were also a number of things I found insightful that I now forget; for instance (since I remember this one), I think that his points about getting caught up in hurtful patterns with the people we live with, and forgetting to apply our general moral principles or our abstract kind feelings for these people in our individual interactions with them, are well-taken. If I had come upon this book as a Christian who already agreed with it on all important points, and just took it as a colourful book of advice, I would probably have been a lot better-disposed toward it than I actually was.
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timeasmymeasure
#2 (Part 2)
Date: 2007-11-05 06:21 am (UTC)Since the book didn't actually make me as unrelievingly cranky as it appears from this report so far, I should probably find something that isn't cranky to say, and in fact there were occasional things I did like. I thought that the quasi-libertarian philosophy on love that Screwtape explains as the underpinning of devil society was actually clever and well-conceived; unlike most of the devil things in the book, I found it both novel and believable. I think there were also a number of things I found insightful that I now forget; for instance (since I remember this one), I think that his points about getting caught up in hurtful patterns with the people we live with, and forgetting to apply our general moral principles or our abstract kind feelings for these people in our individual interactions with them, are well-taken. If I had come upon this book as a Christian who already agreed with it on all important points, and just took it as a colourful book of advice, I would probably have been a lot better-disposed toward it than I actually was.
-Andy H.