Another vote for Lewis… I don’t find the Christian symbolism pushy at all- in fact one of the key things I brought from the series was in The Last Battle when the warrior of the Calormenes was still brought to Aslan despite his devotion to Tash (the evil god) because his heart was in the right. I think that made a deep impression on me when I was very young and allowed me to be more open to other religions/cultures than my upbringing would have encouraged me to be.
I read Tolkien almost all the way through but by The Return of The King I just couldn’t take it any more. I’m someone who would usually long, huge epic stories but I could not slog through any more of those books.
There are many parts of Lewis’ series that I find myself thinking about even as an adult- Eutace & the Dragon, The boy learning to ride on a Talking Horse, Jill Pole & playing up to the Giants, Reepicheep, etc… In my opinion, they are lovely stories and the characters are interesting. I will say that TLWATW is my least favorite, but I still enjoy it.
Tolkien by far. He was a better writer and a more competent storyteller. I find Lewis’ Christian allegory to be thematically oppressive and smug, no matter what he said about his intent. Of course, it’s difficult for me to separate my reading of his children’s books from my awareness of his apologetic works, so I’m probably biased there.
Oh, Lewis. I love Tolkien, but there’s more variety in Lewis’s writing. I’m devoted to Perelandra, Till We Have Faces, The Great Divorce, The Abolition of Man. Also he reminds me of Chesterton, whom I love.
I love both, and can’t choose for certain. But, one of my great joys in life is reading Lewis on the medieval world-view; I enjoy most of his non-fiction a lot (heck, I own the OHEL volume!). While JRR’s writing on fantasy is excellent too, I have to give Lewis the edge in non-fiction. But that might be because I haven’t read much of Tolkien’s non-fiction; I’ve enjoyed what I have read.
I’m not sure you can compare the two when most people’s point of reference for Lewis are the Narnia books. I mean it’s almost like saying which do you prefer “Finding Nemo” or “The Passion of Christ” - different styles for different audiences.
As I child I was hooked on the Narnia series, loved 'em, read and re-read 'em. So much so that I’m afraid to go back to them now in case I find out how much I’ve changed/lost the more innocent world view I once had or they disappoint in some other way. For the record the whole Christian allegory thing went over my head, I can recall very few details, from other events I estimate I must have read them all by the age of 9, younger maybe.
At about the same sort of time Mum read The Hobbit to us and I loved it but gave up on Tolkein as the other books are not written for kids and I couldn’t get into them, too dense - my brother, three years older launched into Tolkein and so it became ‘his’ domain. It wasn’t much later that rushed thro the whole Rings cycle in time to see the first movie having read the book - it was a pleasure not a chore and I was in awe at the man’s imagination and depth of detail. I’d like to re-read it at a slower pace.
All this to say that, sorry roger thornhill but you’re not comparing like with like.
As a person? Lewis. If I had to pick one of the two to take a walk with or have a meal with or take a class from, it’d easily be Lewis.
LOTR vs. Narnia? Lord of the Rings. Deeper, more satisfying. But then, it was essentially Tolkien’s life’s work, while Narnia doesn’t stand nearly so tall in Lews’s total output.
Comparing their complete works? I’d take Lewis, for the sheer variety of his work. There’s hardly anything he wrote that isn’t characterized by intelligence, insight, imagination, clarity of thought and of writing, and (moreso than Tolkien) humor and generosity of spirit.
I have read Lewis’ other stuff, and I still say Tolkien. I can’t state clearly and in a understandable way what my criticisms were with Out of the Silent Planet, That Hideous Strength, etc. (Oh dear, I do hope I have those names right, it’s been so long). Perhaps I’ll try to pick them up again and read them.
I’m pretty much saying ditto to Thudlow here, but this IS a poll. I deeply enjoyed the Rings trilogy and the Narnia books, and if I had to choose which of those I thought was better fiction, I would choose Tolkien. When you add in an SF trilogy that wowed me when I was in college and the Christian writing that was instrumental in my becoming a Christian myself, the depth and breadth of Lewis’ work wins out over the brilliance of LOTR.
Gotta agree here. Lewis might as well as jumped out of the book and hit you in the head with a bible and Tolkien’s call for a return to feudalism was never really something I agreed with. Don’t get me wrong, I loved reading both of the stories, I’m just not going to identify myself as strictly either. Although Tolkien gets a slight edge 'cause my fave out of all of them was The Hobbit.
Now if I could pick any book series at all, I’d go with King’s Dark Tower.
Tolkien. He wrote two of the books on my list of the top ten fantasy novels. As for Lewis, I started a thread in Cafe Society about a month ago to share my opinions on his books.
I really like both but I’m a total Tolkien-head now. If you’d asked me 20 years ago, it would definitely have been Lewis, though. It took me a while to get into Tolkien, but once I did, it was love.
**Lewis ** = Jelly beans – fast read, good story teller, valid observations, not a lot of work
**Tolkein ** = Chocolate cheesecake with strawberries & merlot – extremely rich, must be read with thought and leisure, each phrase is to be enjoyed and inspected like fine jewlery to maximize the bounty of the prose.
Love 'em both, but if I’m in the mood for one, the other…not so much.
