Terry Lindvall - Surprised by Laughter Revised and Updated: The Comic World of C.S. Lewis

SURPRISED
BY LAUGHTER
THE COMIC WORLD
OF C. S. LEWIS
TERRY LINDVALL, PH.D

1996 by Terry Lindvall

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Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE. The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977. Used by permission.

Scripture passages noted NIV are from HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations noted NRSV are from the NEW REVISED STANDARD VERSION of the Bible. 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. All rights reserved.

Excerpts from That Hideous Strength and Perelandra reprinted with permission of the estate of C. S. Lewis and Bodley Head.

Excerpts from Discarded Image, An Experiment in Criticism, Spensers Images of Life, Selected Literary Essays, Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Literature, and Studies in Words by C. S. Lewis reprinted with permission of Cambridge University Press.

Originally produced for Star Song by the Livingstone corporation, Dr. James C. Galvin, Michael Kendrick, Elizabeth Winnowski, and Brenda James Todd, project staff.

ISBN 978-1-59555-478-9 (TRADE PAPER)

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Lindvall, Terry

Surprised by Laughter: the comic world of C. S. Lewis/by Terry Lindvall

p.cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 0-7852-7689-0

1. Lewis, C. S. (Clive Staples), 1898-1963-Humor. 2. Christianity and LiteratureEnglandHistory20th Century. 3. Satire, EnglishHistory and criticism. 4. Comic, The, in literature. I. Title.

PR6029. E926Z782 1995

823' .912dc20

94-42023
CIP

Printed in the United States of America
11 12 13 14 15 QG 6 5 4 3 2 1

This book is dedicated to my parents,
John and Mae Lindvall,
whom I suspect conceived me
and my twin sister (Tessy Joy)
and my other siblings, Debby and John Mark,
in laughter and love. They bequeathed to us
all their habits of faith, hope, and loving humor.
And to my wife, Karen, who married me
with a blessed sense of farce and love and gave me
a jolly, robust son, Christopher,
and a bundle of Caroline Joy.
Soli Deus Gloria.

Contents

For the opportunity to recast this work for a paperback edition, I am indebted to Joel Miller who stumbled across the original hardback copy one night when he couldnt sleep (and this book helped cure him of his insomnia) and an amazing editor, Heather Skelton, whose name conjured up one of my favorite poet laureates and bards, John Skelton. But that is another book. Both enabled me to correct the notation system of the hardback book, add an index, and tidy up the bibliography, all academic tasks that haunt professors when they are left undone. Otherwise, even with all the fresh and excellent scholarship on C. S. Lewis since the publication of this work, I adhere to the classic principle that if it aint broke, dont fix it. I could have rewritten the whole darn thing, but I am getting older and have some other tasks to finish.

In the sixteenth century, a marble statue of a torso was unearthed in Rome from the third century. The fundamentalist Cardinal Carafa, notorious for his fig-leaf campaign of covering up the genitalia of Michelangelos painting of the Last Judgment, allowed locals to plaster this statue with Latin epigrams, which quickly inspired mischievous Italian wits to paste their own naughty satire onto the statue. These attached ditties became known as pasquinades, witty verse lampooning the pope and government. Pasquino became the name of this talking statue, decorated with light, vernacular, and earthy verses.

This was my task here. To cover the great literary monument of C. S. Lewis with bits of jocular graffiti, with his own words on jokes and humor, in order to not let him stand as a stone idol, but be recognized as a talking statue for a more vulgar aspect of life, namely human laughter. In studying this Anglican icon of the twentieth century, I hoped to outline some of his key ideas of the nature and functions of laughter and to set forth some of his examples of humor as well as some old jokes that, as Aristophanes said, never fail to make his audience laugh. Of course, obeying the dictum of Cicero regarding comedy, I recognize that to make your audience laugh at the end, you must make them cry at the beginning, or at least bore them for a brief season.

The pasquinades I have scribbled here do no damage to the statue, but add a little color and character to a person who has significantly influenced Christian thinking. Hopefully, they also make us better thinkers and a bit lighter and more mischievous in our own characters.

This book owes itself to the merry band of friends, colleagues, and guides who contributed generously to my seeing and thinking and to my learning and laughter. My wife, Karen, did not complain when diapers, dust, and time piled up like mountains but made me realize why I married her every time she laughed. My son Tophee and daughter Chevy made me laugh again and again. All my in-laws confirmed the truths of old comic stereotypes. More than a decade ago, John Lawing introduced me to someone older than himself, G. K. Chesterton, and helped me keep my insanity during the more sanitized seasons of Regent University.

An ecumenical company of friends and former students, now grown up, including Dan Holt, Steve Sylvester, Matthew Melton, and a host of others in my classes in humor and satire and film comedy, gave more than they realized (but not enough to warrant financial renumeration). Former dean Jack Keeler not only secured a sabbatical for me (in which I was able to live and study at the Kilns with the most hospitable Michael Piret, now the Reverend Doctor Dean of Divinity at Magdalen College in Oxford) but also showed me a model of sanctified sarcasm that has yet to be put to fictional character. Former Regent president Bob Slosser was himself the breath of fresh air I needed during stale years.

Enormous gratitude must go to those paragons of virtuous patience, Mildred Stonecypher, Sandy Horton, Karen Schindler, Suzanne Morton, and Rande Fritz, who typed into eternity and whose fingers wore out before their deeds of kindness did. A merry nod is tipped to Marjorie Mead and Barbara Reynolds, who graciously opened the doors of the Wade Collection to me. To Pam Robles, my diligent wordsmith and friend, who took out the bawdy passages that might have gotten me into trouble, I offer deep gratitude. Thanks must also be showered upon that special saint of editorial perseverance and polish and joy, Scotty Sawyer. And to that agent of mercy and mirth, son of a friend, David West, Jr., will come the reward of a few nickels and much praise.