C.S. Lewis Quote

[Anonymous]

“The beauty of the female is the root of joy to the female as
well as to the male, and it is no accident that the goddess of
Love is older and stronger than the god. To desire the
desiring of her own beauty is the vanity of Lilith, but to
desire the enjoying of her own beauty is the obedience of
Eve, and to both it is in the lover that the beloved tastes
her own delightfulness.”

This is a quote from a good book by Lewis called That Hideous Strength. It’s fiction -part of his Space Trilogy (which is surprisingly more about gender identity than space).

These words are hauntingly true to me.

It is possible to separate the first statement about female beauty being the root of joy to both men and women from the second statement contrasting Lilith and Eve.  Really powerful stuff, though.  Lewis actually wrote quite a bit about love and sex.  He and Freud talked a bit and shared some of their disagreements in scholarly articles and the like.

Anyway… I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Is anyone familiar with Lewis’ work?

[Michelle Liefde]

It’s been years since I have read Lewis.  And more than I care to tell on reading “That Hideous Strength”  I will say that I have much of his writings oddly comforting at times.  His “A Grief Observed” was just incredible.  Thanks for posting this and I will need to see if I still have or find a copy to reread.

Michelle

[June (Rei) Durden]

Along with the entire Wizard of Oz series, The chronicles of Narnia were the first series fantasy I ever read in grade 4-5 back in the early 80’s.

They’ve made lasting impacts on my psyche and I am going to check out the books you mentioned.

I was unaware of the Freud connection, sounds intriguing.

[Anonymous]

Thanks so much for replying.
What do you think of the quote?

[Author]

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