Record Number: 32422

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

(1) ' ... I took my courage in both hands and knocked up the Master of University.... What pleased me most was the masses upon masses of books in his house: among which I saw, tho' of course I couldn't look at it properly, a volume of that glorious new Malory - the one like my "Psyche" you know.' (2) 'The story of "Cupid and Psyche", which Lewis read over Christmas, is one episode in "The Golden Ass" of Apuleius (b.c. AD 114). He read it in "The Story of Cupid and Psyche", translated by William Adlington, Temple Classics (1903)'

Century:

1900-1945

Date:

Between 11 Dec 1916 and 25 Jan 1917

Country:

Northern Ireland

Time

n/a

Place:

Belfast
Co. Down
'Little Lea', 76 Circular Road

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:

Adult (18-100+)

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:

Northern Ireland

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

n/a

Additional Comments:

n/a

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Text Being Read:

Author:

Lucius Apuleius

Title:

The Story of Cupid and Psyche

Genre:

Classics, Fiction, Astrology / alchemy / occult, Milesian tale, an in-set tale in 'The Golden Ass' - a precursor to the picaresque novel

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

Translated by William Adlington; edited by the R. J. Hughes. London: J. M. Dent, 1903 (Temple Classics Series)

Provenance

owned

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Source Information:

Record ID:

32422

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:

268

Additional Comments:

(1) From a letter to Arthur Greeves, 28 January 1917 (2) From a footnote to this letter, by the editor Walter Hooper. The Master of University College at this time was Reginald W Macan. The College had awarded Lewis a scholarship.

Citation:

C. S. Lewis, Walter Hooper (ed.), C. S. Lewis Collected Letters, (London, 2000), 1, p. 268, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=32422, accessed: 17 May 2024

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Additional Comments:

In his footnote quoted above, Hooper continues: 'The long gestation of "Till We Have Faces" (1956) probably began with this reading of the "Cupid and Psyche" story.' This may well be so: while still working on the novel, Lewis writes to his friend Christian Hardie: 'About your question: the idea of re-writing the old myth, with the palace invisible, has been in my mind ever since I was an undergraduate and it's always involved writing through the mouth of the elder sister.' (Letters, v.3, p.633) In the winter of 1916/17 Lewis was, in effect, an undergraduate, having been awarded a scholarship to University College Oxford. I have accepted Hooper's citation of the edition Lewis had bought, but I cannot find any independent evidence for it.