Record Number: 32405

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'Nothing in it however, [ie "A Student in Arms"], if I remember aright, quite reaches the level of this last article, a wise and charming piece of work - and doubly so from the exquisite appropriateness with which it comes from the pen of a man who died a few days after writing it. As you say, there is almost something divine about the way in which he sums up his beliefs and his views on death, just as though he knew the end was coming and meant to finish off his work. The substance of this paper resembles Bernard Shaw's cry, "Why not give Christianity a trial?" - so far at least as the writing of a scholar and a gentleman can resemble that of a Philistine.'

Century:

1900-1945

Date:

Between 21 Oct 1916 and 27 Oct 1916

Country:

England

Time

n/a

Place:

Great Bookham
Surrey
'Gastons'

Type of Experience
(Reader):
 

silent aloud unknown
solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown

Type of Experience
(Listener):
 

solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown

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Reader / Listener / Reading Group:

Reader:

Clive Staples Lewis

Age:

Child (0-17)

Gender:

Male

Date of Birth:

29 Nov 1898

Socio-Economic Group:

Professional / academic / merchant / farmer

Occupation:

Student

Religion:

Church of England

Country of Origin:

Northern Ireland

Country of Experience:

England

Listeners present if any:
e.g family, servants, friends

n/a

Additional Comments:

n/a

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Text Being Read:

Author:

Donald Hankey

Title:

'Don't Worry'

Genre:

Other religious, Biography, Autobiog / Diary, Obituary, personal reflections on death in war

Form of Text:

Print: Serial / periodical

Publication Details

'The Spectator', vol.117 (21 October 1916), pp. 466-9

Provenance

unknown

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Source Information:

Record ID:

32405

Source:

Print

Author:

C. S. Lewis

Editor:

Walter Hooper

Title:

C. S. Lewis Collected Letters

Place of Publication:

London

Date of Publication:

2000

Vol:

1

Page:

242

Additional Comments:

From a letter to his father, 27 October 1916. The George Bernard Shaw quotation is the subtitle to the 'Preface to Androcles and the Lion: On the Prospects of Christianity'.

Citation:

C. S. Lewis, Walter Hooper (ed.), C. S. Lewis Collected Letters, (London, 2000), 1, p. 242, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=32405, accessed: 03 May 2024

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Additional Comments:

I have marked the provenance 'unknown' because no detail is given, but Lewis's father subscribed to 'The Spectator' and may have sent this copy to him. He had certainly done so the week before: 'Many thanks for the "Spectator" which I shall certainly keep...' (Letter to his father, 19 October 1916, v.1, p.237) The obituary was published as a pamphlet by W. Speaight in 1916, and the reflection 'Don't Worry' forms Chapter Xll of 'A Student in Arms', Second Series, published by Andrew Melrose in 1917.