C.S Lewis vs J.K Rowling

Pick an author

  • C.S Lewis

    Votes: 7 43.8%

  • J.K Rowling

    Votes: 9 56.3%
  • Total voters
    16
  • Poll closed .
Laro

Laro

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C.S Lewis vs J.K Rowling aka Narnia vs Harry Potter aka man vs woman?

Let see. Vote for which one you think is a better writer and why?
I don't want to see any of this:
"Rowling will win cuz harry is da best :D!!1"
and this:
"Narnia was like da best movy eva!! go lewis!!!11!!1"

Don't forget, C.S Lewis wrote more than just Narnia. He likes to write fictional books for children, teens even adults.

J.K Rowling is known throughout the world because of her success on Harry Potter series. She wrote many other books than just that. Please uderstand that.


I guess these rules state that you have to know why you're voting for them.
 
First of all, I'm going for JK Rowling. She's really touched my heart with the Harry Potter series and is just so descriptive with her writing. She actually makes you feel like you're actually there watching everything unfold right before your very eyes.

I haven't actually read The Chronicles of Narnia, but I have watched the film. Just like Harry Potter, it's got a great heart and is something to actually see.

So my decision is for JK Rowling to win this one. Not because "Harry's like the best and can kick anyone's ass", but because Rowling is hard-working and really cares for her characters.
 
I'm going to back up what Faith said about J.K. Rowling. I started reading some of C.S. Lewis' books but never got round to finishing them, they never really captured my attention the way that the Harry Potter series did. I would get lost in those books and I could really believe that I was there watching the events, whereas I never got into the C.S. Lewis books like that...
 
I have very strong, non flattering views on Lewis, which I won't repeat here in case of offending any of his admirers. I disagree with his Narnia books and the ideas behind them, and I certainly don't agree with his works on Christian apologetics. His writing style is his saving grace though. In my view, it is the closest that prose comes to poetry in children's fiction.

Rowling? I don't like her writing. Sure, she knows how to craft a great story, points of which reach genius. But her character development, underlying themes, and dialog is poor in comparison to most writers. At it's best, it can rival adult orientated fiction, but at it's worst, which it does many times, it's as bad as most Internet fan fic.

So who did I vote for? Based on plot and who I at least I can agree with on some themes, it would be Rowling, considering that I dislike the Narnia story in itself, and that I disagree strongly with Lewis and his underlying intentions. Based on writing though, it would be Lewis.

Hence, considering the vote is for the better writer, my vote goes, begrudgingly, to Lewis. He must have rolled in his grave when I pressed that button.
 
JK for me. I enjoyed being in Harrys world and felt for the characters and loved the story development.

However I wasnt a fan of Narina. I tired to read the series, but I just coudlnt be as absorded as I was with JK.
 
JK for me too. Mainly due to the fact HP was one of the only series of books that I actually looked forward to reading whereas though I haven't read Narnia the film was good but it didn't attract me to read the book whatsoever.
 
JK for me. While I do really like the Chronicles of Narnia, they're heavy-handed when it comes to the allusions. One does have to account for the fact that Lewis purposed his works in such a way that he was destined to have a smaller audience, not to mention the very slight hermeneutic difference between children's lit of his days as compared with the contemporary sense that Rowling's work has. But I suppose that doesn't change the fact that Rowling in general has a more streamlined writing style.
 
Lewis for me. While I liked Harry Potter, I felt that Rowling pandered to the fans way to much in the last three books.

Also, after book 4, I felt that the series gradually got worse. Book 5 was boring, Book 6 felt like a very long fanfic, and I liked book 7 but I felt that she got a bit too kill happy.
 
Jk.
Her writing captivated me more, The movies based off of her writing were slightly better, and, well... She didn't bore me, not once. I Can't say that about many book series anymore.
 
Rydia said:
Lewis for me. While I liked Harry Potter, I felt that Rowling pandered to the fans way to much in the last three books.

Also, after book 4, I felt that the series gradually got worse. Book 5 was boring, Book 6 felt like a very long fanfic, and I liked book 7 but I felt that she got a bit too kill happy.
Click to expand...

I agree with the series starting to edge toward fan-service, but I really like Book 5. Total agreement about book 6 and 7, though.

While JK did do more pandering to her readers, I do think her product is still better. Lewis could be said to pander too much to the religious crowd - which is my personal complaint.
 
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. :lol: Lewis for ideas, Rowling for writing.
 
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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.
 
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!
 
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.:monster:

Mod Edit: Please use spoiler tags next time. Thank you.
 
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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.
 
Hera Ledro said:
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.
Click to expand...
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.
 
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Hera Ledro said:
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!
Click to expand...

...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.
 
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?
 
I think better comparisons could be made here. They have written their books half a century apart, and times have changed a great deal.

J.K. is not a particularly great writer, but her talents are more to do with characterisation, creativity and accessibility. Her morals, beliefs and themes are in touch with my own and I felt a close affinity to her noble characters because of that.

Lewis, on the other hand... The whole Chronicles of Narnia is so fake, didactic and repulsive. I hate his ideals and his beliefs. So, the lion is basically God, and you have to do whatever he says. You can't make your own decisions. And oh, he doesn't want Susie in his new world because she likes lip stick. And also, making little boys into warriors is super cool.

I really love what Philip Pullman says about him, and how he wrote His Dark Trilogy purely as a response to Narnia. I recall Pullman saying that Narnia is the most poisonous thing he has ever read.
 
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