A Grief Observed by C. S. Lewis Summary and Reviews
|
List Price: Our Price: $5.74 You Save: $6.25 (52%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $3.26 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of A Grief Observed
Book Review: An Extended Prose Poem
Summary: 5 Stars
C.S. Lewis published A Grief Observed under the pseudonym N. W. Clerk, (the N. W. is Anglo-Saxon shorthand for nat whilk, "I know not whom"). In fact, the book was never published under Lewis' name while he lived. First published in 1961, it has been called an unsettling book and the use of a pseudonym seems to indicate that Lewis knew that it would be found so.
Some argue that it is not about Lewis' anguish over his wife's, Joy's, death but instead a fictional account of grief. Mary Borhek summarizes the position of those who hold this view: "The only reasons I can see for believing the book to be a fictionalized account are a desire to distance oneself from the extreme discomfort of confronting naked agony and an unwillingness to grant a revered spiritual leader and teacher permission to be a real, fallible, intensely real human being."
Still others object to Lewis' candid expressions of anger at God, suggesting the book demonstrates Lewis' loss of faith: John Beversluis in his C. S. Lewis and the Search for Rational Religion states that "There is no case for Christianity in this book. Gone are the persuasive arguments and the witty analogies. Gone, too, are the confidence and urbanity evident in The Problem of Pain...The fundamental crisis of the book is a crisis of meaning, a crisis of such paralyzing magnitude that Lewis tries to distance himself from it in every possible way."
Noelene Kidd in A Grief Observed: Art, Apology, or Autobiography? argues the book "is not simply a record of Lewis's grief at the loss of his beloved wife...but a dissection of grief itself. The work is chiefly an apology concealed by art." Still others find the book, while a deeply moving account of loss, overly introspective and emotional, verging on the maudlin. Yet Lewis avoids bathos in the book at least in part because of a clipped, prose style characterized by short, simple sentences and brief, almost snapshot-like paragraphs. These stylistic devices prevent his wallowing in excessive self-pity; in effect, he becomes a surgeon analyzing a patient's medical chart. Ironically, of course, he is at the same time both surgeon and patient."
Don King has written:
"A close consideration of the prose style of A Grief Observed suggests the book may be read as vers libre or free verse, poetry relying not upon a regular metrical pattern but instead upon pace or cadence. Furthermore, whereas conventional poetry places a premium upon the foot and the line, free verse finds its rhythm in the stanza. Accordingly, the short paragraphs of A Grief Observed function as stanzas linking it with other ostensibly prose works such as Psalms and the Song of Songs. If we read Lewis' book this way, we may find that while his focus upon traditional poetic conventions in his consciously conceived poetry actually restrains his poetic impulse--that is, his concern with form overshadows his poetic sensibilities--the release he experiences unconsciously in free verse liberates his poetic impulse so that A Grief Observed becomes his greatest poem."
As I read A Grief Observed I had all this in the back of my mind. Occasionally I would find myself pulling parts of it out and rewriting them in my mind to reflect more of what I saw as in a poetic structure. Here are a few of what I did. I found they made the book more memorable for me, rather than saving a few quotations which is my normal reading practice.
Her Absence
At first I was very afraid of going to places where H. and I had been happy,
Our favorite pub, our favorite wood.
But I decided to do it at once,
Like sending a pilot up again as soon as possible after he's had a crash.
Unexpectedly, it makes no difference.
Her absence is no more emphatic in those places than anywhere else.
It's not local at all.
I suppose that if one were forbidden all salt one wouldn't notice it much more in any one food than in another.
Eating in general would be different, every day, at every meal.
It is like that.
The act of living is different all through.
Her absence is like the sky, spread over everything.
After All Hope Was Gone
It is incredible how much happiness, even how much gaiety, we sometimes had together,
After all hope was gone.
How long, how tranquilly, how nourishingly,
We talked together that last night!
And yet, not quite together.
There's a limit to the 'one flesh.'
You can't really share someone else's weakness, or fear or pain.
What you feel may be bad.
It might conceivably be as bad as what the other felt,
Though I should distrust anyone who claimed that it was.
But it would still be quite different.
When I speak of fear, I mean the merely animal fear,
The recoil of the organism from its destruction;
The smothery feeling; the sense of being a rat in a trap.
It can't be transferred.
The mind can sympathize;
The body, less.
In one way the bodies of lovers can do it least.
All their love passages have trained them to have, not identical, but complementary,
Correlative,
Even opposite, feelings about one another.
We both knew this.
I had my miseries, not hers;
She had hers, not mine.
The end of hers would be the coming-of-age of mine.
We were setting out on different roads.
This cold truth, this terrible traffic regulation
('You, Madam, to the right
-- you, Sir, to the left')
Is just the beginning of the separation
Which is death itself.
Praise Is The Mode Of Love
Praise is the mode of love which always has some element of joy in it.
Praise in due order;
Of Him as the giver,
Of her as the gift.
Don't we in praise somehow enjoy what we praise,
However far we are from it?
I must do more of this.
I have lost the fruition I once had of H.
And I am far, far away in the valley of my unlikeness,
From the fruition which,
If His mercies are infinite,
I may some time have of God.
But by praising I can still,
In some degree, Enjoy her,
And already, In some degree,
Enjoy Him.
Better than nothing
Book Review: An Interesting Read
Summary: 5 Stars
C.S. Lewis's "A Grief Observed" is quite different from most of his other works. It is a thoroughly honest recording of his thoughts about the death of his wife. Whereas Lewis carefully argued for the compatibility of suffering and a loving God in "The Problem of Pain," he never claimed that his arguments and philosophical thinking would be any comfort for the actual suffering a person may experience. "A Grief Observed" reveals this to be the case- Lewis finds himself doubting God (mostly doubting His goodness) because of his tremendous grief.
The book is composed of four short chapters, and you can easily see changes in his demeanor and ways of thinking throughout the short book. By the end, Lewis seems to have regained a level of confidence in his faith, although he was shook to the core by the death of his wife.
For me, the book was a strange read, and I had little ability to relate to Lewis. I have not experienced such a tragic loss yet, though there is little doubt that one day, this book will connect with me on a deeper level. However, as to whether or not this short book offers a good source of comfort to those who have suffered a great loss, I cannot say. Yet, if you want to see C.S. Lewis at his most human, most honest moments, then "A Grief Observed" is the book to read.
Book Review: An Objective View
Summary: 5 Stars
Grief is a vacuum and the mourner is an embarrassment to everyone he meets, Lewis concludes. The bereaved person experiences horror because the she (or he), the decedent, will not live in memory. Impressions will fade.
The author's experience was that the consolations of religion were not available. Reality is unbearable, it is asserted. Grief feels like fear. The world seems flat, shabby in grief.
When something really happens it is different than what has been bargained for. The author compares God to a surgeon, he keeps on cutting. Grief feels like suspense. (It is a severe interruption of habit.)
A wife plays many roles, contains so many persons in herself as Lewis puts the matter. The interest of the book is the psychology in it.
Book Review: An Uncomfortable But Rewarding Read
Summary: 4 Stars
"A Grief Observed" is a collection of notebook entries penned by Lewis after the death of his wife. In the introduction Madeleine L'engle writes, "I am grateful to Lewis for having the courage to yell, to doubt, to kick at God in angry violence. This is a part of grief which is not often encouraged." When I first encountered Lewis' yelling and kicking, I was not thankful. I was uncomfortable. I didn't want one of my heroes in the faith talking to and about God like this. I wanted him to grieve with sure and steady faith. My discomfort with grief and all that it brings with it was being revealed. As I finished the book I was grateful to have had my own faith poked and proded and my heart exposed. Whereas I didn't agree with all of Lewis' doctrine, I appreciated his willingness to take it out and look at it again.
I would offer one recommendation to anyone reading this book. Try to read it in one or two sittings. In doing so you will be able to better see the process of Lewis' grief. You will see that as the process of mourning unfolds there are still questions and doubts, but there are also honest admissions of immaturity and self-pity. You will see how Lewis looks back at earlier entries, written in deep darkness, and sees them more clearly as the sun was beginning to rise. His willingness to deal with his own questions and doubts is refreshing as he comes back to the same, solid truths that he held before and is able to approach them with eyes more widely opened by grief.
Book Review: An accurate description of grief done in magnificent writing.
Summary: 5 Stars
Having been through the loss of my spouse to cancer recently, I had a very difficult time even figuring out what it was that I was feeling. I was able to relate so much to C.S. Lewis's account of his own grief. His writing is magnificent, and his remarkable views on grief have been helping me get a whole new perspective on my own grief and loss. I highly recommend it for any christian struggling with the grief of their loved ones (especially spouse).