Bowdlerizing C.S. Lewis
June 19, 2001
During the
Victorian era, the prevailing delicacy of the age inspired Dr. Thomas
Bowdler and his sister to edit Shakespeares plays to make them suitable
for family reading. All off-color jokes and sexual matter were
removed. The word bowdlerize entered the language as a synonym for
militant prudery.
Today it appears that a new species of
bowdlerization is afoot. It seems that HarperCollins has acquired the right to
republish C.S. Lewiss seven classic childrens books about the land
of Narnia and to edit out their Christian content. Apparently the idea is to
reshape the stories on the model of the hugely successful (non-Christian) Harry
Potter stories, and to market toys based on the Narnia characters, also on the
Potter model.
In a leaked HarperCollins memo, a corporation
executive offers emphatic assurances that no attempt will be made to
correlate the stories to Christian imagery/theology.
Its almost unbelievable.
De-Christianizing the works of one of the greatest Christian authors of the
twentieth century? The Narnia stories owe their artistry and power to
Lewiss way of infusing the Christian message into simple tales about
children and a lion named Aslan. The lion, an awesome and thrilling character,
represents Christ.
How Aslan can be suitably watered down for
secularized family reading remains to be seen. Any such attempt is
bound to destroy the point and energy of the Narnia books. You might as well try to
edit God and Satan out of Paradise Lost.
Usually we revere a great authors
intentions and artistic integrity; but when it comes to Christianity, such
considerations may be sacrificed to higher values, such as
multiculturalism and oh yes money.
Lewis would be outraged and sickened by this
compromise of his work. Are the keepers of his estate willing to sell him out to
the very secularist forces he fought with all his genius? Can they betray his trust
so shamelessly?
Maybe editing Aslan down to modern scale is a
job for the Jesus Seminar, which is devoted to editing the Gospels by deleting any
sayings that sound too Christian. One excellent reason for believing in Christ is
that after 2,000 years he is still as troubling to the conscience as he was in his
own time. If he can be reduced to a bland moral teacher, whose doctrine is
indistinguishable from modern political platforms, he becomes much safer and
easier to sell. Whole denominations are based on adapting Jesus to the Latest
Thinking.
Lewiss fictional adaptation of Christ
is another matter. Aslan is not a watered-down substitute for Christ, but a
spiritually challenging figure who conveys, even to adult readers, some of the
wonder of the Original. He seems to be more than the flesh of HarperCollins can
bear.
Lewis always insisted that a good
childrens story cant be just a dumbed-down version of a story for
adults. It has to be a good read for adults too. He liked the analogy of a string
quartet, which uses fewer of the orchestras resources than the symphony,
but is just as demanding in its own way. Children, in fact, are more apt than adults
to stop reading a story when they find it dull.
This respect for children made Lewis a great
childrens author, as well as a great author for adults. I never read the
Narnia stories until I was in my 20s, and I was overwhelmed by their inherent
power. I still reread them, as I reread Lewiss other works. They are all of a
piece.
The notion that any editor can
improve Lewiss works is a presumption worthy of the
Bowdlers. But in an age that regards nothing as obscene, the energies of censorship
are turned against unseemly expressions of Christianity. One wonders whether the
unexpurgated Narnia stories will remain available. Perhaps there will be an
adults-only edition?
Aslans message to children (and
adults) is a stern but loving one: You must change. This sets the Narnia stories
apart from all the childrens books that are merely adventures, with merely
external foes and monsters, however dangerous or malevolent or spooky. In Narnia,
no enemy can truly threaten a child without the childs spiritual
cooperation.
Has this profoundly Christian message been
lost on the Lewis estate?
Joseph Sobran
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