More on Fairytales — A Quote from CS Lewis
Jul
22
2024
“When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up.”
– C.S. Lewis, 1898 – 1963
I feel reasonably confident there’s no need to introduce CS Lewis, but I do think this quote on his love of fairy tales is a nice continuation from last week’s quote from Sara Maitland on the magic of “Once upon a time…”
The reflections on what it truly means to be grown up is also a recurring theme in the Narnia stories, so it’s interesting to see the connection to the author’s own lived experience.
My own ’umble opine on the matter is that if we love a particular story or a kind of storytelling then it doesn’t matter what others think, we should read and reread away – which I believe is also implicit to the Lewis quote. 😀
A story for lovers of the magical, regardless of age…
Comments
Strong love for that quote from this fairy tale enthusiast…
It’s a great quote, innit? I think you’ll like tomorrow’s too. 🙂
I saw!! Thank you so much.
Another quote from CS Lewis popped up on my feed today – the one about the rather silly (and juvenile) dislike of being a child and childish things. Ie, there is nothing so childish as thinking one has moved beyond enjoying childish things… (I think he had stories in mind!)
Maybe he was taking issue with St Paul, aka Saul of Tarsus: “When I was a child I spake as a child…but when I became a man, I put away childish things.” 😉 Or maybe he got ribbed for writing fairy stories for children, in which case Lewis definitely had the last laugh.