Ah, my favorite C.S. Lewis book of all time gets a mention in todays OSC review column.
For those of you have haven't read it, Till We Have Faces is a re-telling of the myth of Eros and Psyche.
Lewis does make some important changes to the myth. He moves the setting from ancient Greece to a more exotic, oriental sort of land. He makes the motives of the Gods much more enigmatic and strange.
And he makes our narrator (Psyche's half-sister Orual) into a character much more sympathetic and human than the "jealous sister" seen in the older story.
An important detail of her fateful reunion with Psyche is changed, making her later actions much more complex and ambiguous.
Orual truly loves Psyche, in her way. It's a flawed love, but it's a sincere one.
This really is a great story. And it's most definitely not for children. Check it out.
Posted by JennaDean (Member # 8816) on :
I love C.S. Lewis, and I'll have to check this out.
I don't know the original story, though. (Gaps in my education?) Where would I find that? Greek mythology?
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
Yep. It's a classic myth, and even worked its way into medieval fairy tales; it's almost certainly the inspiration for elements of "Beauty and the Beast."
I know so many peoplw who love Till We Have Faces that one of these days I'm going to have to read it again. I just didn't do that much for me at the time.