The Mythmakers
The Remarkable Fellowship of C.S. Lewis & J.R.R. Tolkien
Ratings2
Average rating4.8
15
The Remarkable Fellowship of C.S. Lewis & J.R.R. Tolkien
Ratings2
Average rating4.8
From New York Times bestselling, award-winning creator John Hendrix comes The Mythmakers, a graphic novel biography of two literary lions--C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien--following the remarkable story of their friendship and creative fellowship, and how each came to write their masterworks Through narrative and comic panels, Hendrix chronicles Lewis and Tolkien's near-idyllic childhoods, then moves on to both men's horrific tour of the trenches of World War I to their first meeting at Oxford in 1929, and then the foreshadowing, action, and aftermath of World War II. He reveals the shared story of their friendship, in all its ups and downs, that gave them confidence to venture beyond academic concerns (fantasy wasn't considered suitable for adult reading, but the domain of children), shaped major story/theme ideas, and shifted their ideas about the potential of mythology and faith. The Mythmakers also shows the camaraderie and the importance of the social/literary circle of friends called the Inklings, and how the friendship of these two great men fell apart and came together again. Hendrix concludes describing how the writings of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien had re-enchanted the 20th century, after two World Wars. In writing aimed at scholars, adults, and young people, these two tweedy academics altered the course of storytelling and embraced the concept that fantasy writing for an adult audience was an accepted form of literature. The format is similar to The Faithful Spy: prose interspersed with images and narrative comics. The narration is often conversations between a knowledgeable wizard and a comical lion. Through brisk conversation between these two friends, they explain some of the bigger ideas in an approachable and entertaining way. Throughout the story, there are "gateways" that lead readers to the back matter where certain themes, such as how myth/fantasy evolved or the art of world-building, are discussed more fully. This device keeps the main story flowing quickly and smoothly for those readers not interested in the more academic ideas behind the narrative. Among the ideas covered in the narrative and back matter: - Tolkien's world-building - The "Theology of Creation" linking their faith to their writings - The meaning of real friendship - Notions of modernity and mythology - The value of fantasy - The power of a creative community - An exploration of the different kinds of storytelling in Narnia and The Lord of the Rings, both relying on "the Myth" as a storytelling device, but differing in the use of allegory vs. symbolism - The creative differences of Lewis and Tolkien: the high standards of Tolkien's fiction and the faster and more immediate approach of Lewis's - Logos vs. Mythos: Lewis created from images, Tolkien created from language - The mixing of mythologies Also included are an author's note, endnotes, bibliography and index.
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Summary: A graphic novel biography of Lewis and Tolkien’s friendship.
This is the fifth book I have read by John Hendrix. I have written about his biographies of John Brown and Dietrich Bonhoeffer. This is more like the biography of Bonhoeffer than John Brown. The biography of John Brown was about 40 pages and more similar to Hendrix’s books about Jesus in that length and format. The longer biographies, this one and the Bonhoeffer one, are a combination of text and graphics. It is not unusually for there to be 200 words on a page. Some pages are predominately graphics, especially the sections where a lion and a wizard are narrating the story. But there are long sections that are more text heavy.
And when you think about these as graphic novels, you should think about a graphic novel as a format, not an age target. These are readable for late teens, but they are not children’s books. There are long sections about the academic meaning of myth, or how stories communicate truth. I have seen a couple of reviews that thought those longer sections were not as helpful, but I can see their point. This isn’t a biography of the two men as much as it is a biography of the conversation that Tolkien and Lewis and another friend had about viewing Christianity as “true myth” that helped Lewis overcome his objections to Christianity.
That famous conversation wasn’t just instrumental to Lewis’ conversion to Christianity, it was also instrumental to Christianity reclaiming story as a feature in understanding the Bible and the world around us. I recently read a book about how Lewis was influenced by medieval thought and Hendrix’s book also pointed out how Lewis and Tolkien, because they were shaped by literature, helped to move Protestant Christianity to rediscover story and myth as important intellectual categories. Myth doesn’t mean “untrue” or fiction, myth in Lewis and Tolkien's view was about deeper systems of thought. I don’t think that Lewis or Tolkien would approve of Jordan Peterson’s use of the Old Testament, but Peterson has been influenced by the idea of myth that Lewis and Tolkien were promoting and which is discussed well here.
Necessarily, graphic novels use the format of image to communicate. I think Hendrix does a great job of communicating information, using the format to communicate in ways that text alone would make difficult. And he includes a lightness and humor to his books that is appropriate to the subject, but make the books enjoyable.
This was originally posted on my blog at https://bookwi.se/mythmakers/
Originally posted at bookwi.se.
