Dear Everyone,
C.S. Lewis dedicated The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe to his Goddaughter, Lucy Barfield, when she was fifteen years old.
Lucy lived a remarkable life. She was adopted by Owen Barfield, a member of the Inklings, and became a Goddaughter to Lewis. At age thirty, she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and subsequently lived many years as a shut-in. Lewis made her famous by not only dedicating the story to her, but by naming the heroine, Lucy Pevensie, after her. After the book’s publication, children from around the world wrote to “the real Lucy” through Lewis’ publishers. While she was confined to her bed, Lucy endeavoured to reply to each and every letter, deriving much comfort and cheer from her correspondence with the world’s children.
In the dedication, Lewis points out that children grow faster than books and so Lucy will be too old to read fairy tales when the story is published. However, he writes, there will come a day when she will be old enough to read fairy tales again and he hopes that on that day she’ll read his story …
The words of Lewis’ dedication have stayed with me since I read them many years ago. His point might be sociological – perhaps older people are comfortable enough to be past caring what guests think of the reading materials displayed on their coffee tables. Or perhaps, and more likely, his observation is that adults can enjoy some children’s stories as much as children and maybe more.
(I’ve wondered what Lewis would have made of the recent explosion in the young adult genre of contemporary fiction. What would he have thought of Harry Potter? His Dark Materials? The Hunger Games?) (I’ve also wondered, in my more wicked moments, what his fellow Inkling, J.R.R. Tolkien, would have thought of the paranormal and fantasy books… )
So it is with Lewis’ wisdom that I have included references to children’s books in my novel, Gabriel’s Inferno. Over the course of the next few Tuesdays, I’ll be offering a few words about those books. (There is a Lucy in my story, too. See if you can find her)
The first book I’d like to mention is Margery Williams’ The Velveteen Rabbit. You can download an electronic version of this story from Amazon.com for free.
In Gabriel’s Inferno, one of the characters likens Julia Mitchell to the velveteen rabbit. Without posting spoilers, I’ll allow you to come to your own conclusion about how accurate the characterization is.
I will say, however, that there are at least two pieces of wisdom included in Williams’ story that adults will appreciate. First, there is the observation about how love changes one’s perception of something. Things, and even people, become more beautiful when we love them. Second, there is the observation that love somehow makes a thing real. Love has the power to transform something or someone into something very special. In her story, Williams says that this transformation is permanent. Once something becomes Real, she writes, it can’t become un-Real.
C. S. Lewis was very wise to remind his Goddaughter (and us) that some of the greatest wisdom in the world can be found in a simple fairy tale.
All the best and thanks for reading,
SR
PS. News related to Gabriel’s Inferno is posted on my Facebook page and also through my Twitter account.
If your book club decides to read Gabriel’s Inferno, will you drop me a line and let me know? If you’re looking for a place to discuss the book (and also the postings I’m placing here on my website), there is an online reading group on Goodreads you can join.
I am honoured to have had all three of my novels appear on the New York Times and USA Today Bestseller lists. I was a Semifinalist for Best Author in the 2011 and 2012 Goodreads Choice Awards. {