Root and Mark Neal count 17 different literary genres in which Lewis wrote: apologetics, autobiography, educational philosophy, essays, fairy stories, journals, letters, literary criticism, literary history, lyric poetry, narrative poetry, novels, religious devotion, satire, science fiction, short stories, and translations.49 The argument for Lewis as a master communication craftsperson rests not only on his productivity and popularity, but also on his genre-spanning professional presence throughout a bookstore.
Besides Lewis’s considerable professional and popular works, his skill as a communicator is evident in the thousands of letters he wrote. He considered writing responses to his letters both a burden and a responsibility, and he would respond to anyone who wrote to him. He believed that if he was sharing information with his readers and listeners and they responded to him with a letter, it was his obligation to acknowledge their response. With the help of his brother Warnie, Lewis would dedicate a portion of most workdays to answering letters. Lewis’s close friend Owen Barfield observed, “Lewis used to sit down and answer his letters, which became very numerous indeed, either before or immediately after breakfast.”50 Some of his responses were quite brief, but others were full of detailed explanations, heart-felt empathic response, or advice.
The massive three-volume publication of his letters, masterfully edited by Walter Hooper, fills 4,000 pages.51 Estimates for the number of Lewis letters range from 10,000 to 14,000.52 New discoveries of Lewis letters continue to emerge. For example, I own a short note Lewis wrote to Nobel Laureate Jacques Lucien Monod, thanking Monod for a letter extoling Lewis’s literary contributions; the letter does not appear in any published collection. The skillfully edited book Letters to Children, compiled by Lyle Dorsett and Marjorie Lamp Mead, showcases Lewis’s tenderness, sensitivity, and clarity in responding to the hundreds of letters he received from his younger fans.53 Letters to an American Lady includes the correspondence of Lewis to a woman known only as Mary in the book, who is now known to be Mary Willis Shelburne, then a widow from Washington, DC.54 Such letters provide a record of Lewis’s stalwart, faithful friendship. (Lewis eventually provided a monthly stipend for Mary from royalties of his books published in the U.S.) Letters to his life-long friend and confidant Arthur Greeves published ←9 | 10→in They Stand Together55 and correspondence (originally written in Latin) to Don Giovanni Calabria56 also are compiled in separate published collections. Sheldon Vanauken’s autobiographical book A Severe Mercy describes the author’s friendship among himself, his wife Jean (called Davy) and C. S. Lewis; several letters between Lewis and Vanauken are included in the book.57
So we have a record of not only Lewis’s “front stage” polished, professional communication with his readers and academic colleagues, but also his “back stage” communication with countless individuals, which he would never have imagined would be read by others. Such an extensive 360-degree view of an author is not available for many other communicators. With today’s reliance on ephemeral, often-deleted electronic messages, we may no longer have such permanent records of an author’s public and private communication. Although Lewis’s letters did not have the benefit of careful editing by proofreaders (he sometimes struggled with spelling), Lewis letters provide a rich and comprehensive basis for analysis.
C. S. Lewis was often introduced at speaking events or described on the dust jackets of his books as “Professor Lewis.” It was only during the last nine years of his life, however, that he officially acquired the title “professor,” a prestigious rank bestowed by British colleges and universities on a select few. When at Magdalen College in Oxford, Lewis lost the election for Professor of Poetry to Cecil Day-Lewis (father of Oscar-winning actor Daniel Day-Lewis) in 1951. But three years later, in recognition of his academic accomplishments, he was appointed Chair of Medieval and Renaissance Literature at Cambridge, a position that also included the coveted title Professor. Lewis was well qualified for his professorial rank. Although he did not hold an earned doctorate, he had received honorary doctorates from several universities.58 His triple first honors at Oxford, along with his voluminous output as an author and scholar, and his skill as a tutor and lecturer, had firmly established his academic credentials. C. S. Lewis clearly deserved the title Professor.
But what did he profess? Lewis’s title was Professor of Medieval and Renaissance Literature, yet he had eclectic academic interests in a variety of subjects. As noted earlier, his formal education included not only classical Greek and Roman literature, typical curricular components of an Oxford education, but also philosophy and English literature. His lectures at his first teaching position for University College focused on philosophy. His writing reflects his diverse interests and ←10 | 11→broad scope of knowledge, including an interest in words, language, meaning, and philology; this book suggests that in addition to his other diverse academic interests, he was a professor of communication.
To make the case that Lewis should be embraced for his knowledge of human communication, it helpful to know how the communication discipline and Lewis’s interests intersect. The central focus of the communication discipline, according to former National Communication Association president David Zarefsky, is the study of the relationship between messages and people.59 Meaning, messages, and the importance of language are also consistent and pervasive themes running throughout Lewis’s professional work. As this book documents, Lewis possessed a sophisticated understanding of the nature of meaning and the centrality of using language to develop human connections.
The communication discipline is interdisciplinary; it embraces several academic traditions, some as ancient as the study of rhetoric, and others more contemporary, including social media and critical cultural theory. Mirroring the multifaceted nature of the communication discipline, Lewis, too, had interdisciplinary interests; his study and writing ventured into literature, literary history, theology, psychology, philosophy and other topics found in both the humanities and social sciences. An essay or lecture about education and Natural Law blossomed into a multi-part lecture series that continues to be required reading in philosophy classes: The Abolition of Man.60 Lewis’s writing reflects his own interdisciplinary approach to whatever topic or issue he is exploring. Ideas emanating from philosophy, literature, theology, and literary criticism are sprinkled throughout his writing and speaking.
The National Communication Association, the oldest and largest national professional academic communication association, defines communication as “how people use messages to generate meanings within and across various contexts” and “the discipline that studies all forms, modes, media, and consequences of communication through humanistic, social scientific, and aesthetic inquiry.”61 The U.S. Department of Education defines the academic domain of communication as including “instruction in the theory and practice of interpersonal, group, organizational, professional, and intercultural communication; speaking and listening; verbal and nonverbal interaction; rhetorical theory and criticism; performance studies; argumentation and persuasion; technologically mediated communication; popular culture; and various contextual applications.”
