On Stories

A repackaged edition of the revered author’s collection of essays on writing fiction.

C. S. Lewis—the great British writer, scholar, lay theologian, broadcaster, Christian apologist, and bestselling author of Mere Christianity, The Screwtape Letters, The Great Divorce, The Chronicles of Narnia, and many other beloved classics—was a professor of literature at Oxford University, where he was known for his insightful and often witty presentations on the nature of stories. This collection assembles nine essays that encapsulate his ideas about fiction, including "On Stories," "The Death of Words," and "On Three Ways of Writing for Children," as well as eleven pieces that were unpublished during his lifetime.

Contents:

Preface

1. On Stories
2. The Novels of Charles Williams
3. A Tribute to E. R. Eddison
4. On Three Ways of Writing for Children
5. Sometimes Fairy Stories May Say Best What's to Be Said
6. On Juvenile Tastes
7. It All Began with a Picture
8. On Science Fiction
9. A Reply to Professor Haldane
10. The Hobbit
11. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings
12. A Panegyric for Dorothy L. Sayers
13. The Mythopoeic Gift of Rider Haggard
14. George Orwell
15. The Death of Words
16. The Parthenon and the Optative
17. Period Criticism
18. Different Tastes in Literature
19. On Criticism
20. Unreal Estates