Lewis vs. Tolkien

[breakinglight11]

In the process of reading Surprised by Joy, C.S. Lewis's autobiographical account of his religious journey. In the course of things, I find myself comparing his way of writing to that of J.R.R. Tolkien, who was his close friend and colleague.

As much as I love both authors, I have alwys found Lewis's work to be deeper, more mature, and more profound than Tolkien's. Lewis always seems to have a thoughtfulness and a reflectiveness that his colleagues just doesn't seem to have for me. Tolkien's epics are grand and poetic and powerful, but they never seem to thematically go as deep. But I think it comes from the way the two men think. Tolkien had the disadvantage of having lived comfortably in his beliefs for the entirety of his life; he never had any need to dig or wrestle with anything, and it shows in the way his work just seems to take certain concepts for granted as truths of the universe. Lewis, on the other hand, is much more reflective-- he had to struggle to any surety under the exacting criticism of his own standards. Lewis, if you read any of what I call his personal works, those written about his personal matters, is an intensely self-aware man, and you can tell he came to it only by the stark and ruthless self-examination he enforced in his struggle toward understanding of his life and his philosophy as it related to God and the universe. I think this difference in the two men shows very much so in their writing. It's the reason why I love Lewis, in fact, and the reason I would say I prefer him to Tolkien.

Comments

[laurion]

Also, you should look at the relative professions of the two. Tolkein was a professor of language who wrote his works on the side... impressive work for a hobbyist!

[koboldninja-5.livejournal.com]

So I will admit that I much prefer Tolkien, but that is also a matter of what types of books I like. I prefer to be told stories and events, while I tend to simply overlook depth of meaning and symbolism. I, too, didn't notice the Christian symbolism when I first read the Chronicles (but I guess it is forgivable when you are 8...except that I would do the same now). I read Chronicles first and enjoyed them, then read Lord of the Rings and enjoyed them. As I have grown up LoTR passed Chronicles and continued to find a special place in my heart while Chronicles went the other way.

I still like both, I just like LoTR more. I suspect that this had more to do with the maturity of the world, than anything else. Now this is not the same thing as the maturity or depth of writing, just that as a world Middle Earth is more developed, richer and more mature. Narnia always felt vaguely childish to me. There is nothing wrong with it at all, just not what I prefer. I should also mention that as much as I love LoTR, in many ways I prefer the Silmarillion because the emphasis is on the world.

I just feel that while Lewis may have been exploring faith and reason and morality, Tolkien was exploring mythology, world creation, languages, with morality still in existence, just as a secondary concern for him.

My two cents.