C.S Lewis vs J.K Rowling - Page 2

January 15, 2008, 11:47 AM

I'll be honest; I don't like either. However, there was a time when I was touched by the story of the young wizard without a real family, so J.K. Rowling gets my vote. Sure, Narnia is probably full of wonderful ideas, but I dislike the writing style and so never managed to get fully engrossed in it. I wanted to, but his style totally put me off. J.K. Rowling's ideas might be repetative, but her writing's fine. I never read the last 2 books though 'cause her ideas were just getting old... Eep, okay, I'm not gonna vote.

Lewis for ideas, Rowling for writing.

January 15, 2008, 11:25 PM

I really liked C.S. Lewis. the furthest i ever got into harry potter waz chapter 3 of the first book. im not sure if it waz so much her writing because shes probably a good writer, i just think it waz the subject matter. i love fantasy, but harry potter just never really did it for me. i loved the chronicles of narnia because every book had a great storyline that pulled u in, and i liked that it had a religious twist. i didnt even expect that it waz going to and waz pleasantly suprised when it waz in the last book. overall, i believe C.S. Lewis was a great writer, and i plan to read the chronicles again sometime soon.

January 20, 2008, 12:06 AM

Basing my point on their main series, I vote for Lewis.

In all honesty, his books had more literary value, AND were a good read. Harry Potter was great and all, but it was only a good read. Narnia was a good read and had excellent symbolism, themes, etc.

ASLAN FTW! LONG LIVE THE LION!

January 20, 2008, 12:24 AM

JK kicks ass.
I read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows, and it's sad how many died, Colin Creevy, Tonks, Lupin, and Hedwig. And this shocked me alot.
Ginny marrying Harry, Hermione marrying Ron, and Neville marrying Luna.
What about Fred and George?
They look good with Parvati and Padma Patil.

Mod Edit: Please use spoiler tags next time. Thank you.

January 20, 2008, 12:38 AM

Um, I may not be a mod in this section, but as a member, I urge you to use spoiler tags so as to prevent the spoilge for people who don't want it to be spoiled.

Basically, if you're going to reveal something about the plot, use the spoiler tags.

January 20, 2008, 12:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hera Ledro

Um, I may not be a mod in this section, but as a member, I urge you to use spoiler tags so as to prevent the spoilge for people who don't want it to be spoiled.

Basically, if you're going to reveal something about the plot, use the spoiler tags.

How do you use spoiler tags?

Mod Edit: ...

Click "Go Advanced", highlight the spoiler information, then click the rectangular box "BC".

Now please stay on topic next time. Thanks.

January 21, 2008, 10:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hera Ledro

Basing my point on their main series, I vote for Lewis.

In all honesty, his books had more literary value, AND were a good read. Harry Potter was great and all, but it was only a good read. Narnia was a good read and had excellent symbolism, themes, etc.

ASLAN FTW! LONG LIVE THE LION!

...You think Harry Potter doesn't have literary value?

JK has plenty of symbolism, as well as thematic devices. Not only this, she is a master of shaping the arc of story, allowing each installment and the series as a whole to have cohesion as well as each having different layers of development. Her allusions were much more clever as opposed to Lewis' symbols which are entirely conventional to the point of being trite.

I love the traditional Christian symbolism which runs through Narnia, but think of it this way - part of the beauty in symbols such as the Lion and the Lamb are what they allude to (obviously Jesus, as well as the general notion of salvation, mercy, etc.) rather than any actual innovation or appropriateness which Lewis did himself. Also, hundreds of previous authors have used such traditional symbols (lion, lamb, fish, chalice, etc.) in many significant works.

In contrast, Rowling does not directly take an archetypal icon, but does the more innovative and artistic choice of adapting it. For example, both Dumbledore and Harry can be said to follow the archetype of the Messiah; it's the same archetype Jesus, Horus, Gandalf, and the Terminator all fall into, but they're all vastly different.

Now I can't say this is all Lewis' fault that he didn't get too fancy. Part of his strategy was to strip away allusions and get to the heart of his religious intents. As he put it, Aslan wasn't meant to be a symbol for Jesus Christ, but rather WAS Jesus, but in a different form (said more or less outright to Lucy at the end of Voyage of the Dawn Treader).

Yet, frankly when he strips so much away, it leaves one to wonder, why did he make up the idea of Narnia at all? If he didn't want to make an analogous or allegorical world, then why couldn't he have just written a children's Bible?

I disagree with Lewis' attempts to avoid allegory. It just makes the story seem much more hokey. Probably one of the best dispersion of Biblical ideas through literary means comes from a highly complex allegory - the famed Lord of the Rings cycle.

Not that I dislike Lewis - in fact the Chronicles of Narnia are among my favorites, but frankly they're didactic nature can be abrasive.

January 21, 2008, 1:04 PM

I hate Narnia..But..I hate Harry potter more..so..Screw you Rowling, I vote for CS.

February 25, 2008, 6:04 PM

I voted for C.S. Lewis, because I really have a deep, deep love for the Narnia books, which got hokey with the last book and The Magician's Nephew. My favorite is A Horse and His Boy, which seemed like an excellent break from 'ZOMG, Aslan is Hey-Zeus!'

On the other hand, Potter is a more intriging story and it isn't a meta-arc sort of story. The time and places don't shift as dramatically as Narnia does-we get shown the creation and end of a world, for crying out loud, where most of HP takes place over roughly seven years worth of time, each having a familiar cycle to break with all sorts of plot devices.

The writing styles are also quite different. Where it has taken roughly a decade for HP to finish, it took decades for Sir Charles to finish his works on Narnia.

...and the Screwtape Letters is absolutely a hoot.

I haven't read J.K. Rowling's other works... would someone be willing to list them?