Brace Yourself for Narnia!

I’ve written so much about the upcoming film version of The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe for GalleyCat that I felt like it might be time to spread the story around a bit. And as you can imagine, with the film coming out this Friday, the coverage is heating up. Claudia Eller of the Los Angeles Times has a look at producer Philip Anschutz, centered around his efforts to make a “wholesome” blockbuster film “that doesn’t rely on sex, foul language or violence to sell tickets.” (The article also gives a sad indication of how little is apparently expected from LAT readers: “He’s considered a contrarian, meaning he likes to operate counter to conventional wisdom.” Time was the average adult might be expected to know the definition of ‘contrarian.’)

Meanwhile, Seattle Times film critic Moira Macdonald provides readers with an introduction to the Narnia series, which she describes as “a sum of the various influences in [C. S.] Lewis’ life.” Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee might agree, but she doesn’t much like what it says about Lewis, then. She’s upset about the religious hardsell and how it may alienate Britons: “Most of the fairy story works as well as any Norse saga, pagan legend or modern fantasy, so only the minority who are familiar with Christian iconography will see Jesus in the lion.” Astonishing if true statistic: “43% of people in Britain in a recent poll couldn’t say what Easter celebrated.” And this is a nation with an official state church, for crying out loud!

Of course, it’s entirely possible that this indifference is entirely Toynbee’s, rather than England’s, as she’s clearly got some religious issues which lead to statements like this: “Of all the elements of Christianity, the most repugnant is the notion of the Christ who took our sins upon himself and sacrificed his body in agony to save our souls. Did we ask him to?” And talk about your harsh assessments: Aslan is for this critic “an emblem for everything an atheist objects to in religion.”

5 December 2005 | watch this |

Jeremy Mercer’s Holiday Gift Suggestion

Time Was Soft There is Jeremy Mercer‘s story of how—if I can be glib for a moment—he fell in love with the Paris bookstore Shakespeare & Co. while on the run from gangsters. As a former bookstore employee myself, I’m always up for tales of life among the stacks…and, like any good bookstore employee, Mercer couldn’t quite work his recommendations down to a single volume. But that’s okay…

For me, Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood is one of the most important books I’ve read and among the dozens of people I’ve urged to read it, there has never been a complaint. Capote is going through a renaissance, with two films about his life in the cinemas, and this is just recognition for a man who changed the face of American literature. In Cold Blood may be the first example of creative non-fiction, and even if he is accused of taking minor poetic liberties, it buttresses one of my central beliefs: True stories are always more stunning and emotionally moving than anything an author can imagine. On a personal level, the book opened a new perspective on my work. I was a crime reporter when I read it, and was sinking in the mire of empty murders and drunken car wrecks. Capote taught me these tragedies could be turned into something beautiful.

As my own book is an homage to George Whitman and his wondrous Shakespeare and Company, I would also suggest a copy of Dostoevsky’s The Idiot. This is George’s favorite book and he considers himself a real-life version of Prince Myshkin. Set between a cold Moscow winter and the white nights of a St. Petersburg summer, it is a stark but enchanting look at idealism and love and what sometimes gets lost when they collide. I guarantee if you walk into George’s shop with a well-thumbed edition under your arm, you will be soundly embraced and offered a warm bowl of soup.

4 December 2005 | gift ideas |