New from C.S. Lewis Communication studies chair discovers forgotten manuscript of 20th century literary legend

by Steven Beebe

ho would have thought that while my wife and I were doingW our laundry at a bustling laundromat on Aquarena Springs Drive in San Marcos, Texas, in the spring of 2009, I would solve a decades-old literary mystery involving two of the 20th century’s most famous authors – C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien?

Beebe bought this photograph of Lewis from a rare book dealer in Oxford. It is the only known signed photo of Lewis, one that he sent to a school girl in Chicago in 1963, along with a letter.

28 hillviews fall 09/winter 10 As Sue and I sighed over our broken washing machine and his last drafts. He left few clues about his evolving patterns trudged off to do our laundry, I grabbed a book to read to of invention. pass the time – The Company They Keep by Diana Glyer – an excellent book chronicling the collaboration among “The After reading several handwritten manuscripts of such Inklings,” a group of writers who met together weekly in works as A Grief Observed and Studies in Words, holding his Oxford. The two leading Inklings were C.S. Lewis, author hand-drawn map of Narnia in my hands, and reading other of The Narnia Chronicles, and Mere essays, I asked for a notebook that was described as including Christianity; and J.R.R. Tolkien, famous for writing The a variety of miscellaneous notes and scraps. At the Bodleian Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Library, one must request a book or manuscript and then wait a few hours or sometimes a day or more to retrieve But the story of the literary mystery really goes back to what was ordered. Since the Bodleian is a non-lending the spring of 2002. On development leave from Texas State, library, books and manuscripts are under tight security and I was reading original handwritten C.S. Lewis manuscripts read in special reading rooms; not even the queen can take a book out of the library! When the manuscript came from the archives, it was a somewhat worn little orange-covered paper notebook. Lewis had written the word “Scraps” on the outside cover.

Others had read these scraps before I did – it was actually quite famous because its pages included the only existing fragment drafts for the Narnia Chronicles. Early ideas for The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and The Magician’s Nephew could be found about 9 or 10 pages into the small note- book. But it was on the first page of the book (actually the first page when I turned the book upside down and read it back to front) where I read the words, “In a book like this it might be expected that we should begin with the origins of language…” I froze. I held my breath. “What’s this?” I thought. “A book about language? But I don’t recall this from any of Lewis’ published books.”

Significance delayed In the Bodleian Library at Oxford University, Steven Beebe holds C.S. Lewis’ note- book titled “Scraps,” which contains the beginning of a book that Lewis planned realized that I was reading a manuscript, or at least partial to write with fellow Oxford faculty member J.R.R. Tolkien. Beebe teaches courses manuscript, of a book about language and communica- on Lewis (1898-1963) at Texas State and discovered the significance of the manu- tion.I As a professor of communication, I knew immediately script while researching the author. that these ideas about language and communication were important. What I didn’t realize at the time was that the words I was reading were the beginning of a planned collab- in Oxford University’s famed Bodleian Library. I was specif- orative book with none other than J.R.R. Tolkien. It took ically looking for clues to Lewis’ thinking in what he had another seven years, for my “Laundry Basket” epiphany: crossed out, or how he edited his own work – anything that that the manuscript I was reading was a collaboration would give me insight into his skill as a speaker and author. between Lewis and Tolkien that scholars had assumed was His popular radio broadcasts in the 1940s, later transcribed never started. and sold as , had made his voice the second most recognized voice in Britain – second to Winston Because Lewis’ handwriting is sometimes difficult to read, Churchill’s. But because Lewis wrote as Mozart composed I began doing research to see if I could find the manuscript – words simply flowed – his first drafts were almost always in print. I found that Walter Hooper, C.S. Lewis’ secretary www.txstate.edu hillviews 29 at the time of Lewis’ death, who also became Lewis’ literary ning to write with J.R.R. Tolkien!” Then I simply savored the executor, made a brief reference to the manuscript about moment. I knew something that no one else knew. All of language in his book Past Watchful Dragons; he called it a the scholars who had known of the planned Lewis-Tolkien manuscript about “English literature.” But after considerable collaboration had concluded that the book was never started searching, I could find no transcription of the manuscript. and certainly never completed. So I began the meticulous task of deciphering Lewis’ hand- writing – copying every word and punctuation mark, and Although the publisher promoted the Lewis-Tolkien noting his few edits as well. Over a three-year period, as I’d project as a forthcoming book in 1950, there is no evidence make other pilgrimages to Oxford, I’d pour over the manu- that Tolkien started work on the project. In a 1944 letter script, trying to scrupulously transcribe every word. Tolkien wrote to his son Christopher about the collaborative project, Tolkien laments that he doubts he’ll have the time As I delved into what Lewis had written, I was both to work on all of the projects he wants to write, including amazed at and impressed by the clarity of his ideas, as the planned book with C.S. Lewis. I surmise that although well as his depth of insight about language, meaning and Tolkien would have liked to have written the book, he simply was too busy working on The Lord of the Rings and other projects to work with Lewis on the book. In a 1950 letter to a friend, Lewis confides that he doesn’t think his book with I still didn’t realize that the Lewis Professor Tolkien will ever be written – and he adds a few unflattering remarks about Tolkien’s procrastinating, slug- manuscript was the beginning of a book gish writing habits. he had planned to write with Tolkien. What now? fter word got out that I’d made this discovery, news- communication. Because some of his handwriting was papers and blogs around the world began to announce tricky to decode, a few years after initially reading the manu- Athe finding. It was fun to do a couple of BBC radio inter- script, I received special permission to photocopy it. Using views when I was in Oxford this past summer. I’ve had the photocopied manuscript, Walter Hooper, who came to requests from around the globe to share the manuscript. Texas State to give a lecture, helped me figure out a few of But I can’t. Since the manuscript is copyrighted by the the more illegible words. Another friend and Lewis scholar, Lewis estate, I’m not yet permitted to quote extensively Michael Ward, who also lectured at Texas State and is the from it. The article I’ve authored about the manuscript, author of the groundbreaking book Planet Narnia, helped me decipher a few remaining scribbles I couldn’t decode. But even after meticulously transcribing the manuscript, I still didn’t realize that the Lewis manuscript was the begin- ning of a book he had planned to write with Tolkien. It took me a couple of more years to connect those dots.

Savor the moment ue and I were both reading silently as the washing machine churned and sloshed. It was only when I came toS page 146 of Diana Glyer’s summary of Lewis and Tolkien’s planned collaboration that it hit me. Like rusty tumblers of a combination lock clicking into place, I suddenly real- ized what I had discovered. I paused. I set the book down. I looked up. My eyes widened. I smiled broadly, and much too loudly blurted, “I know what it is!” My wife, used to my non sequiturs but looking slightly embarrassed for me because people aren’t usually this enthusiastic when doing laundry, deadpanned, “What what is?” To the bewilderment of my Beebe poses with his students in front of the home where Lewis lived from fellow laundry patrons who were nonchalantly folding their about 1930 until his death in 1963. Lewis wrote The Narnia Chronicles here. With Beebe, from left in back, Christian Wallace, Jason Estes and Marcial underwear, I ear-splittingly burbled: “I know what the Lewis Cavazos; in front, Rachel Whitman-Skadal, Beth Wellings and Breena Loraine. manuscript is! It’s the beginning of a book Lewis was plan-

30 hillviews fall 09/winter 10 accepted for publication next year in the journal SEVEN: some Lewis experts think there could still be an undiscov- An Anglo-American Literary Review, includes the entire ered Lewis gem tucked away in an old drawer or buried in a text of the discovered manuscript. The journal’s editorial forgotten stack of Lewis manuscripts. staff is working with the Lewis literary estate to secure permission to publish the work. At Texas State I teach an honors communication course titled “C.S. Lewis: Chronicles of a Master Communicator.” Although I can’t yet quote from the manuscript, I am The inspiration for the course was the content of the manu- permitted to paraphrase its content. Lewis opens with an script I discovered. I also teach the course during the summer overview of what the book will be about: a description of at Oxford University for Texas State students. In Oxford, I the nature and origins of language. He then develops an rarely hold class in a classroom. Instead, we use the city of Oxford as our educational canvas. We take walking tours of notable Lewis sites, including the numerous pubs he and his fellow Inklings used as locations for their literary conversa- tions. For example, the day we talk about Lewis and interper- sonal relationships, we hold class in the room in the Eastgate Hotel (now a restaurant) where Lewis first met his wife Joy – a heart-rending love story told in the movie . We visit his home, “,” see University College, the college where Lewis was a student (and where President Bill Clinton later studied), and spend an afternoon at Magdalen

In Oxford, I rarely hold class in a classroom. Instead, we use the city

Beebe stands on the top of St. Mary’s Church, the university church that 400 of Oxford as our educational canvas. years ago was the administration building and library for Oxford University. All Souls College and other Oxford colleges are in the background. Lewis gave several famous sermons in St. Mary’s Church.

College, the Oxford College where Lewis taught. A highlight interesting definition of language, a definition I’ve not seen for many students is the Bodleian Library, where they see in any of his other published works. He further presents a original Lewis manuscripts, including the manuscript Lewis thoughtful discussion of the nature of meaning, including thought would be a co-authored book with Tolkien. how we derive meaning from language. What is most inter- esting to me, as a professor of speech and communication, Lewis knew how to connect with people when both is Lewis’ focus on the oral nature of language. All of the speaking and writing. He was audience-centered; he examples and illustrations he uses are about spoken rather suggested that a good author writes for both “the eye and than written language – unusual since he specialized in the ear.” His prose had an oral quality that makes it seem as 16th-century English literature. if he is talking just to you. I think that’s why so many people wrote to him; after reading his essays and books, people felt as though they needed to join the conversation that Lewis Teaching Lewis had started, so they wrote to him, and he always wrote back. ill there be other discoveries of new Lewis manu- Through his many books and essays, Lewis still helps people scripts in the future? Although it’s unlikely, it’s make sense out of their world. Wcertainly possible. Lewis often discarded his manuscripts, especially manuscripts written early in his career. The C.S. Lewis died the same day, the same hour, as President existing manuscripts that are in the Bodleian Library in John Kennedy – Nov. 22, 1963. But he left a literary legacy Oxford and the Wade Center in Wheaton, Ill., have been that continues to inform and inspire. His readers continue cataloged and reviewed by many others. Because Lewis to discover new insights about his ideas. Some even discover was a consummate letter writer – many of his readers new things about him while doing their laundry in San wrote to him asking for advice or just to comment on his Marcos, Texas. ✯ stories, books and essays – it’s more likely that new letters may surface that include new insights or information. Yet www.txstate.edu hillviews 31