Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Publication
Publisher Unknown (1969)
Description
This tale of two princesses - one beautiful and one unattractive - and of the struggle between sacred and profane love is Lewis's reworking of the myth of Cupid and Psyche and one of his most enduring works.
User reviews
LibraryThing member richardderus
I read "The Chronicles of Narnia" when a child, which I believe was a statutory requirement for American children born between 1958 and 1970. I went on to read Lewis's Martian books, eg "Perelandra", and suddenly *smack* the Jesus factor hit me and I lost my taste for Lewis. No chance of that here,
Aphrodite, for reasons of her own, gets wildly jealous of a mortal beauty, and demands of her local enforcer/priest that he sacrifice Psyche to appease her wrath; her son goes to collect the sacrifice, and instead falls in love with her; he spirits (pardon pun) Psyche off to his Palace of Luuuv; and then all Hades breaks loose.
In Lewis's skillful hands, the retelling of the tale becomes a cautionary tale of political/religious power concentrating in one set of hands and the cruelties and idiocies that follow inevitably therefrom; and the horrid cruelty of the beautiful to each other, the nature of sibling rivalry, and why sisters should always be kept apart, preferably in tiger cages, until breeding age is attained. (Okay, I added that last part.)
It's a marvelous story, fraught with conflicts among a powerful family of women, and almost unbearably sad in many places. It speaks loudly of Lewis's undeniable abilities as a storyteller. It makes all the sense in the world that this should rank in his canon with "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe", and yet somehow it doesn't. I suspect the lack of Christian symbolism hurts the book in his fans' eyes. But I am here to say that, for the non-Christian looking for an entree into world of Lewis, this is the place to go. What a delight to discover this book at last!
Recommended, with a shooing motion towards the bookery of your choice and a firm admonishment to buy it soon.
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since this is a retelling of the classical myth of Cupid and Psyche.Aphrodite, for reasons of her own, gets wildly jealous of a mortal beauty, and demands of her local enforcer/priest that he sacrifice Psyche to appease her wrath; her son goes to collect the sacrifice, and instead falls in love with her; he spirits (pardon pun) Psyche off to his Palace of Luuuv; and then all Hades breaks loose.
In Lewis's skillful hands, the retelling of the tale becomes a cautionary tale of political/religious power concentrating in one set of hands and the cruelties and idiocies that follow inevitably therefrom; and the horrid cruelty of the beautiful to each other, the nature of sibling rivalry, and why sisters should always be kept apart, preferably in tiger cages, until breeding age is attained. (Okay, I added that last part.)
It's a marvelous story, fraught with conflicts among a powerful family of women, and almost unbearably sad in many places. It speaks loudly of Lewis's undeniable abilities as a storyteller. It makes all the sense in the world that this should rank in his canon with "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe", and yet somehow it doesn't. I suspect the lack of Christian symbolism hurts the book in his fans' eyes. But I am here to say that, for the non-Christian looking for an entree into world of Lewis, this is the place to go. What a delight to discover this book at last!
Recommended, with a shooing motion towards the bookery of your choice and a firm admonishment to buy it soon.
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LibraryThing member lossealasse
A few months ago I was, through no fault of my own, made to read Christa Wolf's retelling of the Trojan War, "Cassandra". A feminist view of life with a much-wronged and angry heroine, it was mind-numbingly awful all the way through.
Things were not made better by the fact that right through it, I
The crowning achievement of Lewis's career, it is the story of the ugly sister, Orual, whose beautiful and much-loved sister is taken from her by the gods as a sacrifice, and her struggles to come to terms with this act of seemingly insane cruelty.
Things were not made better by the fact that right through it, I
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was reminded of how much better Till We Have Faces is. Till We Have Faces is a never-failingly deep book; I've read it a number of times and still haven't reached the bottom of it. It is another retelling of Greek myth, this time that of Cupid and Psyche, and again it has an angry, much-wronged heroine. Lewis captures the inside of a woman's head ten times better than any other male author I have ever come across. The crowning achievement of Lewis's career, it is the story of the ugly sister, Orual, whose beautiful and much-loved sister is taken from her by the gods as a sacrifice, and her struggles to come to terms with this act of seemingly insane cruelty.
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LibraryThing member bell7
The oldest daughter of the King of Glome, Orual, writes her complaint against the gods. She loves the youngest, Psyche, almost as a daughter, especially since Psyche's mother (Orual's stepmother) died in childbirth. Orual's world begins to crumble when Glome is threatened by famine and the
While writing her complaints, Orual says the gods hate her. She demands and justifies herself and ultimately reveals herself more honesty that even she expected when she first began. Retelling the myth of Cupid and Psyche, Lewis weaves a tale similar in theme to The Chronicles of Narnia, but more mature both in terms of audience and writing style. Having read many of C.S. Lewis' fiction and nonfiction, I'm surprised it's taken so long for me to read this one. It was definitely worthwhile and I'm sure I'll read it again.
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possibility of war - the priest of the goddess Ungit tells the King that the only way to prevent both is for Psyche to be sacrificed to the goddess.While writing her complaints, Orual says the gods hate her. She demands and justifies herself and ultimately reveals herself more honesty that even she expected when she first began. Retelling the myth of Cupid and Psyche, Lewis weaves a tale similar in theme to The Chronicles of Narnia, but more mature both in terms of audience and writing style. Having read many of C.S. Lewis' fiction and nonfiction, I'm surprised it's taken so long for me to read this one. It was definitely worthwhile and I'm sure I'll read it again.
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LibraryThing member atimco
The title of Till We Have Faces has always intrigued me, and I will say here and now that it has to be one of the best titles I have ever seen. I went into the book not really sure what to expect, and Lewis surprised me greatly with the story he chose to tell. Who would have thought he had such
Till We Have Faces is an imaginative retelling of the myth of Psyche, who was married to a god but was not allowed to see her husband who came to her in the night. According to the myth, Psyche's jealous sisters convinced her to take a lamp and look upon her husband to know what he really was. When Psyche does this, the god's jealous mother gets power over her and sends her to wander the earth and perform impossible tasks, until the day when she accomplishes them all and becomes a goddess herself. Psyche is then reunited with her husband and the story ends happily. Lewis chose to tell this story from the perspective of one of Psyche's sisters, Orual. This choice breathes new life into an old myth and allows Lewis to explore what must have been for him a very different landscape: the heart and mind of a woman.
Orual is ugly. Not just plain, not just mildly unattractive; ugly. She is three years older than her pretty sister Redival, and they live with their father the King in the poor country of Glome. The country is in decline and the King is unable to get heirs. When he marries a young princess from a neighboring country, she dies in childbed bearing him another daughter. This daughter is Psyche. From the first, Orual loves Psyche more than any other and cares for her like a mother. And Psyche grows into a perfectly beautiful and loving girl. She is the darling of the kingdom, until one day the Priest of Ungit comes to tell the King that his perfect daughter must be sacrificed to turn the fortunes of the land. Psyche will be given to the son of Ungit, a Shadowbrute who will take her as his wife — a sort of death in itself, and certainly thought to entail physical death as well.
Orual is enraged by her father's selfish acquiescence to the people's demands, and he beats her for her attempts to stop the sacrifice. Psyche is carried away up the Mountain while Orual lies wounded and ill, and it is many days before Orual is strong enough to attempt the journey up the Mountain to gather whatever is left of her sister and give it burial. But when Orual makes the journey (in company with Bardia, the captain of the King's guard), she is amazed to find her sister not only alive, but glowing with health and happiness. Orual cannot see the glittering castle that Psyche says is her home with the god her husband, and is terrified that her sister is being duped by an outlaw or some such villain, or a monstrous god. For Psyche may never see her husband when he comes to her in the night.
Orual is faced with a choice. Either she must leave her sister in what she thinks is deluded happiness, or she must convince or force Psyche to leave her husband. Orual tells Psyche that she will kill herself unless Psyche agrees to look upon her husband (thinking that the sight of his monstrosity will convince Psyche to return to Orual). When Psyche lights the lamp and looks upon her husband, a curse falls on her from Ungit, the god's jealous mother, and both she and Orual are condemned to an anguish scarcely imaginable for the rest of their lives.
Orual starts the book in great anger against the gods. Far from not believing in them, she sees them as malevolent and selfish beings who sadistically enjoy the struggles of humanity. The book begins with Orual's tired anger:
I am old now and have not much to fear from the anger of the gods. I have no husband or child, nor hardly a friend, through whom they can hurt me. My body, this lean carrion that still has to be washed and fed and have clothes hung about it daily with so many changes, they may kill as soon as they please. The succession is provided for. My crown passes to my nephew.
Being, for all these reasons, free from fear, I will write in this book what no one who has happiness would dare to write. I will accuse the gods, especially the god who lives on the Grey Mountain.
Most of the book is written in this attitude, like an accusation in a courtroom against the gods. At the end, Orual is brought before the gods to make her case. She speaks her anger and her hurt and her pain to the assembly, and stops when she realizes she is repeating herself again and again. She sees what she has done and what she is, how she has pushed the Orual part of her down and allowed the cold Queen part of her to dominate. She sees how her manipulation of Psyche has led to the agony both have suffered, and learns that she too "has been Psyche" and has borne most of the suffering for her sister in her dreams and visions. One of Psyche's tasks was to separate a huge mound of different kinds of seeds, and not make one mistake. Orual sees the scene and notices the ants helping Psyche — and remembers a terrible dream in which she was an ant carrying seeds on her back for an eternity. Orual has been allowed to carry much of Psyche's pain. There is mercy mixed with judgment.
Orual sees her own awfulness and the ugly, blood-gorged state of her soul. For when her father died she succeeded him as Queen, and used her faithful servants Bardia and the Fox (her Greek teacher/slave) to the point where they were sucked dry. Bardia's wife Ansit finally brings that point home to the Queen, and Orual is miserable when she sees what she is. This is what was meant when Orual realizes the gods are silent because, all her life, she has lacked the ability to hear them. She has worn a veil ever since becoming Queen because of her ugliness, and it is a metaphor for her inner ugliness as well. Orual writes,
When the time comes to you at which you will be forced to utter the speech which has lain at the center of your soul for years, which you have, all that time, idiot-like, been saying over and over, you'll not talk about joy of words. I saw well why the gods do not speak to us openly, nor let us answer. Till that word can be dug out of us, why should they hear the babble that we think we mean? How can they meet us face to face till we have faces?
Faces — not veils.
There is so much in this book I feel I am only swirling the deeper waters with a hesitant toe. The characters are amazingly drawn. I cannot say enough about Orual's narration and clean spare beauty of the prose. And the philosophy underneath is just staggering. Lewis has so much to say about the relationships between deity and humanity, and the way our human-ness both impedes and helps us. The book reminded me somewhat of Ursula K. Le Guin's The Tombs of Atuan with its descriptions of the terribleness of Ungit and how holiness is always found in dark places reeking of sacrifice and blood. I was also reminded of a more recent book, Jo Graham's Black Ships, although the underpinning philosophy in that book is pretty much non-existent compared to this one, and it's much more of an adventure story.
In other ways the book reminded me of Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter. The stories are very different, but there is a kinship of excellent writing and powerful insight into the human heart. Hawthorne's graceful renderings of human experience and pain finds an echo, likely unintentional, in Till We Have Faces. There were also echoes of Lewis' Perelandra, especially with the Lady whose joy in her Lord is so much like Psyche's adoration of her husband. But Till We Have Faces cannot be judged solely by comparison to other works. It is one of the most unique stories I have ever read.
Lewis dedicated this book to his wife, Joy Davidman, and I don't think her influence over him and over this particular work can be overestimated. There is no way that a man could write like this about the feelings and thoughts of a woman without intimate knowledge of a most exceptional woman. Lewis' versatility as a writer is astounding.
I read this book in one sitting and I came away with a sort of gasp at the beautiful complexities of it. I am still pondering it and I know the themes of this story will stay with me. I highly recommend it.
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sensitivity, to write from the perspective of a female character with almost frightening insight? Till We Have Faces is an imaginative retelling of the myth of Psyche, who was married to a god but was not allowed to see her husband who came to her in the night. According to the myth, Psyche's jealous sisters convinced her to take a lamp and look upon her husband to know what he really was. When Psyche does this, the god's jealous mother gets power over her and sends her to wander the earth and perform impossible tasks, until the day when she accomplishes them all and becomes a goddess herself. Psyche is then reunited with her husband and the story ends happily. Lewis chose to tell this story from the perspective of one of Psyche's sisters, Orual. This choice breathes new life into an old myth and allows Lewis to explore what must have been for him a very different landscape: the heart and mind of a woman.
Orual is ugly. Not just plain, not just mildly unattractive; ugly. She is three years older than her pretty sister Redival, and they live with their father the King in the poor country of Glome. The country is in decline and the King is unable to get heirs. When he marries a young princess from a neighboring country, she dies in childbed bearing him another daughter. This daughter is Psyche. From the first, Orual loves Psyche more than any other and cares for her like a mother. And Psyche grows into a perfectly beautiful and loving girl. She is the darling of the kingdom, until one day the Priest of Ungit comes to tell the King that his perfect daughter must be sacrificed to turn the fortunes of the land. Psyche will be given to the son of Ungit, a Shadowbrute who will take her as his wife — a sort of death in itself, and certainly thought to entail physical death as well.
Orual is enraged by her father's selfish acquiescence to the people's demands, and he beats her for her attempts to stop the sacrifice. Psyche is carried away up the Mountain while Orual lies wounded and ill, and it is many days before Orual is strong enough to attempt the journey up the Mountain to gather whatever is left of her sister and give it burial. But when Orual makes the journey (in company with Bardia, the captain of the King's guard), she is amazed to find her sister not only alive, but glowing with health and happiness. Orual cannot see the glittering castle that Psyche says is her home with the god her husband, and is terrified that her sister is being duped by an outlaw or some such villain, or a monstrous god. For Psyche may never see her husband when he comes to her in the night.
Orual is faced with a choice. Either she must leave her sister in what she thinks is deluded happiness, or she must convince or force Psyche to leave her husband. Orual tells Psyche that she will kill herself unless Psyche agrees to look upon her husband (thinking that the sight of his monstrosity will convince Psyche to return to Orual). When Psyche lights the lamp and looks upon her husband, a curse falls on her from Ungit, the god's jealous mother, and both she and Orual are condemned to an anguish scarcely imaginable for the rest of their lives.
Orual starts the book in great anger against the gods. Far from not believing in them, she sees them as malevolent and selfish beings who sadistically enjoy the struggles of humanity. The book begins with Orual's tired anger:
I am old now and have not much to fear from the anger of the gods. I have no husband or child, nor hardly a friend, through whom they can hurt me. My body, this lean carrion that still has to be washed and fed and have clothes hung about it daily with so many changes, they may kill as soon as they please. The succession is provided for. My crown passes to my nephew.
Being, for all these reasons, free from fear, I will write in this book what no one who has happiness would dare to write. I will accuse the gods, especially the god who lives on the Grey Mountain.
Most of the book is written in this attitude, like an accusation in a courtroom against the gods. At the end, Orual is brought before the gods to make her case. She speaks her anger and her hurt and her pain to the assembly, and stops when she realizes she is repeating herself again and again. She sees what she has done and what she is, how she has pushed the Orual part of her down and allowed the cold Queen part of her to dominate. She sees how her manipulation of Psyche has led to the agony both have suffered, and learns that she too "has been Psyche" and has borne most of the suffering for her sister in her dreams and visions. One of Psyche's tasks was to separate a huge mound of different kinds of seeds, and not make one mistake. Orual sees the scene and notices the ants helping Psyche — and remembers a terrible dream in which she was an ant carrying seeds on her back for an eternity. Orual has been allowed to carry much of Psyche's pain. There is mercy mixed with judgment.
Orual sees her own awfulness and the ugly, blood-gorged state of her soul. For when her father died she succeeded him as Queen, and used her faithful servants Bardia and the Fox (her Greek teacher/slave) to the point where they were sucked dry. Bardia's wife Ansit finally brings that point home to the Queen, and Orual is miserable when she sees what she is. This is what was meant when Orual realizes the gods are silent because, all her life, she has lacked the ability to hear them. She has worn a veil ever since becoming Queen because of her ugliness, and it is a metaphor for her inner ugliness as well. Orual writes,
When the time comes to you at which you will be forced to utter the speech which has lain at the center of your soul for years, which you have, all that time, idiot-like, been saying over and over, you'll not talk about joy of words. I saw well why the gods do not speak to us openly, nor let us answer. Till that word can be dug out of us, why should they hear the babble that we think we mean? How can they meet us face to face till we have faces?
Faces — not veils.
There is so much in this book I feel I am only swirling the deeper waters with a hesitant toe. The characters are amazingly drawn. I cannot say enough about Orual's narration and clean spare beauty of the prose. And the philosophy underneath is just staggering. Lewis has so much to say about the relationships between deity and humanity, and the way our human-ness both impedes and helps us. The book reminded me somewhat of Ursula K. Le Guin's The Tombs of Atuan with its descriptions of the terribleness of Ungit and how holiness is always found in dark places reeking of sacrifice and blood. I was also reminded of a more recent book, Jo Graham's Black Ships, although the underpinning philosophy in that book is pretty much non-existent compared to this one, and it's much more of an adventure story.
In other ways the book reminded me of Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter. The stories are very different, but there is a kinship of excellent writing and powerful insight into the human heart. Hawthorne's graceful renderings of human experience and pain finds an echo, likely unintentional, in Till We Have Faces. There were also echoes of Lewis' Perelandra, especially with the Lady whose joy in her Lord is so much like Psyche's adoration of her husband. But Till We Have Faces cannot be judged solely by comparison to other works. It is one of the most unique stories I have ever read.
Lewis dedicated this book to his wife, Joy Davidman, and I don't think her influence over him and over this particular work can be overestimated. There is no way that a man could write like this about the feelings and thoughts of a woman without intimate knowledge of a most exceptional woman. Lewis' versatility as a writer is astounding.
I read this book in one sitting and I came away with a sort of gasp at the beautiful complexities of it. I am still pondering it and I know the themes of this story will stay with me. I highly recommend it.
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LibraryThing member foggidawn
Istra is the most beautiful child you can possibly imagine -- sweet and wholesome as a summer's day. You would think that her older half-sister Orual would hate her, but quite the opposite is true. Since Istra's mother died in childbirth and their father the king cares little for his female
This is the book I like to recommend to people who think they know C.S. Lewis. It's much more nuanced and subtle than the Narnia stories (though, don't get me wrong, I am an avid fan of those as well), and I would contest that this book is his strongest literary work, and Orual his best female character by far. She's both a nurturer and a warrior, both strong and flawed. She's clever and bitter and not afraid to speak her mind. If you haven't read this book, either because you haven't heard of it, or because you wrote off C.S. Lewis for one reason or another, I urge you to go find this book and read it. Highly recommended.
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offspring, Orual is free to mother and care for Istra. Along with their tutor, a Greek slave known as the Fox, they wander the hillsides surrounding the city, happy and free. But all is not well in the kingdom: there are rumors of war with surrounding nations, wild animals ravaging the countryside, and now a plague in the city. The priest of the goddess Ungit casts the lots, and they fall to the king's household. Istra must be sacrificed, left on the holy mountain for the Shadowbeast. Orual is devastated to the point of sickness herself. When she is able to leave her bed, she resolves to go to the mountain and care for her sister's remains. What she finds there, however, is Istra alive and healthy. Istra has been living in a small valley high in the hills, but she claims that it is a castle, though Orual sees only rocks and bushes. Istra claims that she dwells in her husband's house -- the house of the god of the mountain. He comes to her at night, and she is forbidden to see his face. Orual tries to persuade Istra to come home, or to go into hiding with her, but Istra will not leave her mysterious lover. Orual eventually convinces Istra to at least light a lamp and see what sort of creature she has married -- surely, Orual thinks, either some monstrous beast or else a vagabond living wild in the hills, who has preyed on Istra's mind, weakened from the trauma of being sacrificed. Orual is sure that, once Istra sees her bridegroom, she will return to her sister's care. She waits at a distance, watching in the night for Istra's light to appear . . .This is the book I like to recommend to people who think they know C.S. Lewis. It's much more nuanced and subtle than the Narnia stories (though, don't get me wrong, I am an avid fan of those as well), and I would contest that this book is his strongest literary work, and Orual his best female character by far. She's both a nurturer and a warrior, both strong and flawed. She's clever and bitter and not afraid to speak her mind. If you haven't read this book, either because you haven't heard of it, or because you wrote off C.S. Lewis for one reason or another, I urge you to go find this book and read it. Highly recommended.
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LibraryThing member wewerefiction
I picked this book for the Once Upon a Time challenge for very simple reasons. First, it came up when I searched for “mythology” at my bookstore’s website. Second, it was written by C.S. Lewis. Third, it is “a myth retold,” as the cover says, and I quite find myself enjoying these sorts
Before I finished the first part of the book (there are two) I was telling Richard how this was not at all what I expected from this book. I expected it to simply be a retelling of the myth but from another’s perspective (as I said above); and although this would require some changes (whether because of faulty memory or differing opinions), I didn’t expect the entire myth to be turned into something quite different. However, by the time the first part of the book ends, this is explained and with such fluidity that I wondered why I didn’t pick up on it before. Of course when retelling a story like this and creating a world around it, one will change bits and make up parts to satisfy the listener. If the story had been told as it really happened (according to the narrator of this book), it wouldn’t touch on the human motifs that the myth itself touches on – jealousy, greed, anger, and so on. Those elements which are in all the stories of the gods.
My first reaction was wondering why the Queen (or Orual as she emerged from that persona) took the myth such to heart. I understand that it was almost completely false and didn’t illustrate properly her struggle with what was true and what was hidden – it merely made her a jealous sister who wish to destroy Psyche’s life, instead of a concerned and truly loving being who wanted only to save Psyche from what could possibly be a very elaborate lie. However, she was familiar with those sorts of exaggeration. As the Queen, she wore a veil to hide her ugliness, but eventually ceased to reveal that was the reason why the veil was there. So, over time, no one remembered her face, and various tales sprung up to explain the veil – a pale face full of nothing; such stunning beauty to make Aphrodite jealous, et cetera. She didn’t deny these tales, and indeed, almost encouraged them; in any case, the fact that these were false stories of her true self didn’t bother her.
So why is it that this story put her in such a rage? I wondered, before starting the second part, why it was necessary to write a book against the gods who lied about her, but not against the people who lied against her? I supposed it was just another thing to set her apart from the gods who she hated so much. Her liking for the people seemed to recover so quickly after they had condemned Psyche, but her liking for the gods couldn’t recover as they condemned herself as well. Perhaps what angered her so much was that it angered her that she really was at fault for Psyche’s downfall, so she deserved that punishment. She questioned their motives – hiding things from her and causing her to make a decision – and ultimately decided that they were at fault for the choice she made. Maybe it’s odd to think of that now, as a large part of us living today live under a god who emphasizes that a choice is your own.
But then in the second part, Ansit (Bardia’s wife) asks the Queen if she loves as the gods do, and I took it to mean that the gods love is full of selfishness and pain; they lie to themselves that this solution is better for the person beloved. Orual believed that risking being banished from the gods’ sight and living in torment for however many years, just to find out the truth, would be better than living blindly next to an unknown being. She convinced Psyche as much, and then convinced herself it was the gods’ fault that Psyche was sent away. It’s very human, as the gods are, but she perceives herself higher than a god. And, indeed, becomes a god in her own mind toward the end, which all too much proves her humanness.
But then the title line, which is necessary to explain it: “How can they meet us face to face till we have faces?” How can we confront the gods, as she so wished to do, until she knew herself? There were no more pointing fingers or denying what she had made of herself. She could not face Psyche as a goddess until she had seen her own wrongs and forgiven herself.
This book made me think more about the nature of things than any book has since I was in university – it reminded me of all the things my professors told me to watch out for when writing a paper, and how to look at a book by just picking out one of the things that interested me. I think some day I would like to read this book again to see what other thing I notice better than the rest. As for the reader of this journal, it was an excellently written tale of struggle and acceptance, and I recommend it beyond the analyzation of literature. It is not a new tale that when one focuses on the ugliness without, one surely must accept the ugliness within, but C.S. Lewis has such strong storytelling that I would be wrong to say this version isn’t any better.
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of things – where an author takes a well-known (or sometimes not well-known, depending who you are and your history in this field of study) myth or folktale and either rewrites it from the perspective of someone else in the story, or rewrites it as if it were happening in present time to fit up with present politics and habits. Sometimes I fancy I’d make a study of such books and on more than a few occasions I considered getting a degree in analyzing such literature. But when it comes down to it, all I really enjoy is reading it and reflecting on the differences afterwards.Before I finished the first part of the book (there are two) I was telling Richard how this was not at all what I expected from this book. I expected it to simply be a retelling of the myth but from another’s perspective (as I said above); and although this would require some changes (whether because of faulty memory or differing opinions), I didn’t expect the entire myth to be turned into something quite different. However, by the time the first part of the book ends, this is explained and with such fluidity that I wondered why I didn’t pick up on it before. Of course when retelling a story like this and creating a world around it, one will change bits and make up parts to satisfy the listener. If the story had been told as it really happened (according to the narrator of this book), it wouldn’t touch on the human motifs that the myth itself touches on – jealousy, greed, anger, and so on. Those elements which are in all the stories of the gods.
My first reaction was wondering why the Queen (or Orual as she emerged from that persona) took the myth such to heart. I understand that it was almost completely false and didn’t illustrate properly her struggle with what was true and what was hidden – it merely made her a jealous sister who wish to destroy Psyche’s life, instead of a concerned and truly loving being who wanted only to save Psyche from what could possibly be a very elaborate lie. However, she was familiar with those sorts of exaggeration. As the Queen, she wore a veil to hide her ugliness, but eventually ceased to reveal that was the reason why the veil was there. So, over time, no one remembered her face, and various tales sprung up to explain the veil – a pale face full of nothing; such stunning beauty to make Aphrodite jealous, et cetera. She didn’t deny these tales, and indeed, almost encouraged them; in any case, the fact that these were false stories of her true self didn’t bother her.
So why is it that this story put her in such a rage? I wondered, before starting the second part, why it was necessary to write a book against the gods who lied about her, but not against the people who lied against her? I supposed it was just another thing to set her apart from the gods who she hated so much. Her liking for the people seemed to recover so quickly after they had condemned Psyche, but her liking for the gods couldn’t recover as they condemned herself as well. Perhaps what angered her so much was that it angered her that she really was at fault for Psyche’s downfall, so she deserved that punishment. She questioned their motives – hiding things from her and causing her to make a decision – and ultimately decided that they were at fault for the choice she made. Maybe it’s odd to think of that now, as a large part of us living today live under a god who emphasizes that a choice is your own.
But then in the second part, Ansit (Bardia’s wife) asks the Queen if she loves as the gods do, and I took it to mean that the gods love is full of selfishness and pain; they lie to themselves that this solution is better for the person beloved. Orual believed that risking being banished from the gods’ sight and living in torment for however many years, just to find out the truth, would be better than living blindly next to an unknown being. She convinced Psyche as much, and then convinced herself it was the gods’ fault that Psyche was sent away. It’s very human, as the gods are, but she perceives herself higher than a god. And, indeed, becomes a god in her own mind toward the end, which all too much proves her humanness.
But then the title line, which is necessary to explain it: “How can they meet us face to face till we have faces?” How can we confront the gods, as she so wished to do, until she knew herself? There were no more pointing fingers or denying what she had made of herself. She could not face Psyche as a goddess until she had seen her own wrongs and forgiven herself.
This book made me think more about the nature of things than any book has since I was in university – it reminded me of all the things my professors told me to watch out for when writing a paper, and how to look at a book by just picking out one of the things that interested me. I think some day I would like to read this book again to see what other thing I notice better than the rest. As for the reader of this journal, it was an excellently written tale of struggle and acceptance, and I recommend it beyond the analyzation of literature. It is not a new tale that when one focuses on the ugliness without, one surely must accept the ugliness within, but C.S. Lewis has such strong storytelling that I would be wrong to say this version isn’t any better.
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LibraryThing member Mialro
This is my attempt at the book's theme: the kind of face we have (that is, who we really are) determines the kind of love we have for others. We must know what our 'face' really is before we can truly know love.
This book takes the myth of Cupid and Psyche and in it deals with the love, jealousy,
This book takes the myth of Cupid and Psyche and in it deals with the love, jealousy,
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self-deceit and -blindness, selfishess, struggle with control and with the Divine that is present in every human being. Highly recommended. Show Less
LibraryThing member the_awesome_opossum
I feel like no words I write will do justice to the beauty and depth of Till We Have Faces. It is a retelling of the myth of Cupid and Psyche, a woman who has never seen her husband's face since he only visits her in the dark of night. Yet the novel is actually about a third character: Orual, the
It seems an unbreachable chasm between them, the way Orual and Psyche understand her marriage. Orual is well-trained in Greek philosophy, pleading with Psyche that her marriage can't be good, for "nothing that's beautiful hides its face. Nothing that's honest hides its name." In her skepticism she can't even see Cupid's palace, but only a dense and rainy forest. Psyche seems to be living not just with a different perspective, but on another plane of existence altogether.
And despite Psyche's insistence that she loves Orual just as much, if not more, because of her marriage, Orual can only interpret Psyche's newfound life without her in jealousy. As she grows old, she rages against the gods for "stealing her love from me." It is a twisted application of "If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal." Orual loves Psyche, undoubtedly, but not enough to be able to let her go. But divine love is transcendent and redefines every other love consequently. If I may quote more of 1 Corinthians 13: "love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth." And as Orual confronts the love of the gods, she must learn to parse the paradox of loving the divine with one's whole heart and exclusively and also loving all of humanity as a means for divine love.
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loving but jealous older sister of Psyche, concerned and put out by this matrimony. Her intentions aren't good, however, and she and Psyche become estranged as they live out their respective ideas of what it means to love.It seems an unbreachable chasm between them, the way Orual and Psyche understand her marriage. Orual is well-trained in Greek philosophy, pleading with Psyche that her marriage can't be good, for "nothing that's beautiful hides its face. Nothing that's honest hides its name." In her skepticism she can't even see Cupid's palace, but only a dense and rainy forest. Psyche seems to be living not just with a different perspective, but on another plane of existence altogether.
And despite Psyche's insistence that she loves Orual just as much, if not more, because of her marriage, Orual can only interpret Psyche's newfound life without her in jealousy. As she grows old, she rages against the gods for "stealing her love from me." It is a twisted application of "If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal." Orual loves Psyche, undoubtedly, but not enough to be able to let her go. But divine love is transcendent and redefines every other love consequently. If I may quote more of 1 Corinthians 13: "love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth." And as Orual confronts the love of the gods, she must learn to parse the paradox of loving the divine with one's whole heart and exclusively and also loving all of humanity as a means for divine love.
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LibraryThing member Shortride
A retelling of the Roman myth of Cupid and Psyche, Lewis approaches his subjects with an understanding of how humans operate, and our tendency to exaggerate. The tale focuses of Oural, the sister of Psyche, and her reasons for convincing Psyche to go against her husband's desires. Love is
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beautifully examined through this fine work, and the reader comes away from it with a new view of the power of love in our lives. Show Less
LibraryThing member Victorya
Wow, this book strongly affect me in a positive way. The first 50 pages were okay. Period pieces are not always my favorite. I kept reading since CS Lewis is my favorite author, then I got hooked. The last 50 pages I finally understood what the book was REALLY about and finished the book sobbing at
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4 in the morning. It's been over ten years since I read it and I think of it often. It makes you think about your own life and if you are having an impact on those around you for good. Show Less
LibraryThing member LisaMaria_C
I love this novel, perhaps more than I can express--although I'll try. And that despite that I'm an unbeliever, and Lewis famously a Christian apologist who weaves Christian themes into his fiction. He's such an elegant, thoughtful writer though that I always find him at least interesting, and in
I was determined to give Till We Have Faces a reread after reading some remarks of Dorsett, who edited The Essential C.S. Lewis, gifted me by a friend. Dorsett admits Lewis thought Till We Have Faces his best work. And I'd agree. I had assumed Dorsett hadn't included it for reasons of length, then I found this comment by Dorsett introducing the (complete!) text of Lewis' novel Perelandra. "Because this later novel [Till We Have Faces], a retelling of the myth of Psyche and Cupid is often difficult for the beginning reader to understand the unabridged Perelandra is reprinted here." Huh???? I hadn't remembered Till We Have Faces as difficult; I also didn't find it heavy handed in the way I'd later find some of Narnia. My reread confirms my impression; in fact I fell in love with it all over again--despite that now being more familiar with Lewis I could certainly see the Christian themes throughout.
But I love the voice and character of Orual, Psyche's older sister. There have been times I've found in Lewis what a friend calls "gender fail," even if it impressed me that the girls of Narnia are every bit as important, intelligent and brave as the boys. Perelandra I found somewhat misogynistic, but that wasn't too hard to forgive given it's basically Paradise Lost fanfic, and the sexism is mild compared to that of Milton--it wasn't till That Hideous Strength that I wanted to hurl one of Lewis' books against the wall. Given those experiences, Orual seems a marvel. But I've read Lewis credited his wife, Joy Davidson, with contributing a lot to this book--which is dedicated to her. Certainly his marriage may have enriched his views of women. All I can say is there wasn't a moment I didn't believe in and care about Orual. Lewis paints a wonderful psychological portrait of her--that always rang true, even if for me the metaphysics do not. What can I say? I'm more in synch with the rationalist character of Fox. But for all her flaws, Orual is a heroine to root for. A moving story, quickly over--too quickly if anything. The kind of book that although it is NOT DIFFICULT you find more on repeated reads. This is indeed in my opinion the perfect introduction to Lewis for an adult. Beautiful.
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the case of Narnia, usually charming. This was my first Lewis work, and still my favorite even after reading much of his non-fiction, Narnia, The Screwtape Letters and the Space Trilogy up to the middle of the last book. (I found the views on gender in That Hideous Strength far too exasperating and abandoned it.)I was determined to give Till We Have Faces a reread after reading some remarks of Dorsett, who edited The Essential C.S. Lewis, gifted me by a friend. Dorsett admits Lewis thought Till We Have Faces his best work. And I'd agree. I had assumed Dorsett hadn't included it for reasons of length, then I found this comment by Dorsett introducing the (complete!) text of Lewis' novel Perelandra. "Because this later novel [Till We Have Faces], a retelling of the myth of Psyche and Cupid is often difficult for the beginning reader to understand the unabridged Perelandra is reprinted here." Huh???? I hadn't remembered Till We Have Faces as difficult; I also didn't find it heavy handed in the way I'd later find some of Narnia. My reread confirms my impression; in fact I fell in love with it all over again--despite that now being more familiar with Lewis I could certainly see the Christian themes throughout.
But I love the voice and character of Orual, Psyche's older sister. There have been times I've found in Lewis what a friend calls "gender fail," even if it impressed me that the girls of Narnia are every bit as important, intelligent and brave as the boys. Perelandra I found somewhat misogynistic, but that wasn't too hard to forgive given it's basically Paradise Lost fanfic, and the sexism is mild compared to that of Milton--it wasn't till That Hideous Strength that I wanted to hurl one of Lewis' books against the wall. Given those experiences, Orual seems a marvel. But I've read Lewis credited his wife, Joy Davidson, with contributing a lot to this book--which is dedicated to her. Certainly his marriage may have enriched his views of women. All I can say is there wasn't a moment I didn't believe in and care about Orual. Lewis paints a wonderful psychological portrait of her--that always rang true, even if for me the metaphysics do not. What can I say? I'm more in synch with the rationalist character of Fox. But for all her flaws, Orual is a heroine to root for. A moving story, quickly over--too quickly if anything. The kind of book that although it is NOT DIFFICULT you find more on repeated reads. This is indeed in my opinion the perfect introduction to Lewis for an adult. Beautiful.
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LibraryThing member guynameddave
We want God to be just. By “just” we mean that we desire that God rule in our favor. But we don’t think enough what might result should God heed the council of our minds and hearts. Would we have God make us what we wish to be, or make us what God knows we are meant to be? And what of others?
Till We Have Faces by C. S. Lewis is about accusing God for the unjust ways in which he treats mortals. And also the book is about God’s answer to that charge.
“Are the gods not just?”
“Oh no, child. What would become of us if they were? But come and see”...
“I ended my first book with the words no answer. I know now, Lord, why you utter no answer. You are yourself the answer. Before your face questions die away.”
Till We Have Faces is not an easy book. It takes some skill to read, and probably does not do all its work until the third or more reading. Those who like their discussions of God neat and tidy will likely misunderstand the book or even be repulsed by it. The pagan priest has what might be the best lines, “Holy places are dark places. It is life and strength, not knowledge and words, that we get in them. Holy wisdom is not clear and thin like water, but thick and dark like blood.”
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How would even our loved ones fair if God treated them as we thought God should? So many want their redress from God and yet curse God for the outcome.Till We Have Faces by C. S. Lewis is about accusing God for the unjust ways in which he treats mortals. And also the book is about God’s answer to that charge.
“Are the gods not just?”
“Oh no, child. What would become of us if they were? But come and see”...
“I ended my first book with the words no answer. I know now, Lord, why you utter no answer. You are yourself the answer. Before your face questions die away.”
Till We Have Faces is not an easy book. It takes some skill to read, and probably does not do all its work until the third or more reading. Those who like their discussions of God neat and tidy will likely misunderstand the book or even be repulsed by it. The pagan priest has what might be the best lines, “Holy places are dark places. It is life and strength, not knowledge and words, that we get in them. Holy wisdom is not clear and thin like water, but thick and dark like blood.”
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LibraryThing member tloeffler
A compelling re-telling of the myth of Cupid and Psyche. For the first 3/4 of the book, I couldn't put it down. I'm a big fan of C. S. Lewis' writings. Lewis has a way with a story, and he certainly had his way with this one! However, I would have preferred a book that ended after Part One. I found
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Part Two confusing and uninteresting. Show Less
LibraryThing member atreic
This is Lewis's retelling of Cupid and Psyche, or at least it takes the tale of Cupid and Psyche as a springing off point for the story of Orual, Psyche's eldest sister.
It is told in the first person. I found the tale engaging and hard to put down - from Orual's growing up in her father's court, to
I think one of the main ideas in the book is how we lie to ourselves, and do things for deep bad reasons that we justify to ourselves, and how in the light of the Gods this will all come to be understood. Lewis draws Orual sympathetically - reading her story, it is easy to imagine making the decisions she makes, and easy to share her frustration at ambiguous Gods. But at the same time the reader can see how wrapped up in self she is, how she does not even consider the Fox's longing to return home, or see Bardia's overwork, how she would prefer Psyche dead but hers than happy with another.
It's an awesome story. How she becomes a great and wise warrior Queen, taking her country from the brink of ruin to success once more. Yet all told in Lewis's 'these worldly things are not the important things, it is what we learn of ourselves and the Gods that is the true story here' style.
The powerful scenes where Psyche knows she is living with her God and husband, and Orual can see only the wilderness and the mountain, and how Orual wrestles with that are exceptional. That fear of losing someone you love to something you think is not even real and yet are not quite sure is drawn perfectly.
And it is full of bits of writing which made me go 'oh yes! That feeling! That is a true thing expressed well!' I wish I'd written them all down as quotes.
It is told in the first person. I found the tale engaging and hard to put down - from Orual's growing up in her father's court, to
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the sacrifice of Psyche, their meeting again on the mountain, to the death of her father and her reign as Queen, and the final resolution. I think one of the main ideas in the book is how we lie to ourselves, and do things for deep bad reasons that we justify to ourselves, and how in the light of the Gods this will all come to be understood. Lewis draws Orual sympathetically - reading her story, it is easy to imagine making the decisions she makes, and easy to share her frustration at ambiguous Gods. But at the same time the reader can see how wrapped up in self she is, how she does not even consider the Fox's longing to return home, or see Bardia's overwork, how she would prefer Psyche dead but hers than happy with another.
It's an awesome story. How she becomes a great and wise warrior Queen, taking her country from the brink of ruin to success once more. Yet all told in Lewis's 'these worldly things are not the important things, it is what we learn of ourselves and the Gods that is the true story here' style.
The powerful scenes where Psyche knows she is living with her God and husband, and Orual can see only the wilderness and the mountain, and how Orual wrestles with that are exceptional. That fear of losing someone you love to something you think is not even real and yet are not quite sure is drawn perfectly.
And it is full of bits of writing which made me go 'oh yes! That feeling! That is a true thing expressed well!' I wish I'd written them all down as quotes.
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LibraryThing member BraveNewBks
This is possibly my favorite book of all time (definitely top five). I'm not generally one for re-reading books, but every time I read this book, I feel like I find another layer of meaning or something to think about that I've never thought about before. Put simply, I love this book -- it's a
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fairly simple story, but there's so much complexity to be found! Show Less
LibraryThing member wirkman
This is the best book C. S. Lewis ever wrote. Far and away his best novel. It is a clever, moving, perceptive, challenging retelling of the Cupid and Psyche myth. But it is told so as to be, in effect, an Answer to Job. An amazing thing, that.
I do not "buy" the answer, but it is, as near as I can
I do not "buy" the answer, but it is, as near as I can
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make out, about as good as such answers can be. It's about what gods demand. And it is about vicarious suffering. And, well, you must read the book. No literate person who tries to make sense of Christianity can avoid this book. It is unique, beautiful, and well told. Show Less
LibraryThing member vernazzablue
This is Lewis at his best. The literary quality to his prose exceeds his other fiction. The space trilogy takes on issues, but always a bit at arms length. The first person telling of this tale draws us in. We can feel Orual's bitterness, the wound in her soul. We are drawn in to her complaint
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against the gods. We want to see her vindicated. And so when her journey ends, I feel as if I have been challenged in my own being as I see how I have my own litany of complaints against God. This is piercing stuff. Show Less
LibraryThing member XedAlas
TILL WE HAVE FACES is Lewis at his ultimate finest. This is a different facet of writing that we haven't seen in any of his previous fiction, a side that is terribly full of raw emotion. We are plunged deep into the consciousness of Orual, who is the narrator of the book, and are able to share her
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triumphs and heart-wrenching anguish all throughout. Recommended for any fan of Lewis, or mythology. Show Less
LibraryThing member dschander
Technically, I first read "Till We Have Faces" by C.S. Lewis years ago, but I have to be honest -- a lot of skimming went on that time, and I never really counted it as "read"; at the time, I was wanting a story about Cupid and Psyche, not a story about Psyche's sister. So after enough time had
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passed, I decided to read the book again, this time for itself. And in the end, I found the story of Orual, Psyche's elder sister a fascinating one -- and, ironically, most appreciated the bits of the story in which Psyche didn't feature. It is not a lovely fairy tale of a god loving a mortal like the original story, but Lewis's examination of the many kinds of love , what it can lead us to do, and how we can be blinded to what others see as true because of our own views is compelling and painful and excellent. Show Less
LibraryThing member Spirit_Filled
Amazing. This book was truly a priority until I finished it. I read this book during a hectic time in my life (work related), but I made sure to spend time during my day to be taken away while reading. It was beautifully written and has become one of my favorite.
LibraryThing member EsotericMoment
This is my favorite book. It follows the story of two seemingly different sisters and their relationships with the Gods. One sister is sacrificed to the Gods while the other must toil away on earth. It has a great twisted ending compared to the original myth.
LibraryThing member davegregg
Wow. My favorite Lewis book, along with 'Perelandra'! Wow. In this book he comes closest to his "master", George MacDonald.
LibraryThing member nesum
It is one of those rare novels that draw me into a sense of wonder, and the finest piece of fiction I have read from Lewis. I was simply mesmerized by the world he had created, and how he turned the myth around on itself so that we saw it from the sister's point of view.
But a distinction here (and
Quite beautiful.
But a distinction here (and
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let me warn you of a slight spoiler here). Before Lewis was a Christian, he wrote a play called LOKI BOUND, in which the hero is Loki, who is normally the villain in Norse Mythology. But now, as a Christian, Lewis does not let the sister quite off the hook. We see her point of view, yes, and we sympathize with her, but we must ultimately see it as a dark thing that must be thrown off. Psyche is not brought down to the sister's level, but the sister raised to something greater.Quite beautiful.
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LibraryThing member inklingsfan47
The going got a lot slower towards the end of this, but only because my perpetual weeping would have ruined the pages if I had kept it open.
This is one of the best books I have ever read. Truly. As Orual retells her story one gets the feeling that had she not been the teller, one would not have
Throughout the story, the ugly princess Orual tells of her love for Psyche, her younger and beautiful sister, without realizing that her love is selfish and harmful. Orual has taken care of Psyche since she was a baby; Psyche leans on Orual as if she were her mother. After a chain of unfortunate events, Psyche is condemned as an Offering to the goddess Ungit, but is saved by Ungit's son, a god who falls in love with Psyche and takes her to his palace only godly eyes can see. Orual, embittered and furious, goes to Psyche in an attempt to take back whom she believes is 'her own', but is unsuccessful and in the end, utterly ruins both her sister's and her own chance for happiness.
For many years Orual writes her 'complaint' to the gods, which is the book itself, detailing the many unfairnesses they have dealt her. She grows cold and keeps her ugly face veiled at all times. Finally, as the dying Queen of Glome, Orual at last realizes that in order to understand the will of the gods, we must first understand ourselves -- and what a heartbreaking revelation it is!
'Till We Have Faces' is, in my opinion, the best of all of Mr. Lewis' books ( though that counts for little as I haven't read them all ), and I am shocked it's gotten as little attention as it has. This is good literature, people! *pokes*
This is one of the best books I have ever read. Truly. As Orual retells her story one gets the feeling that had she not been the teller, one would not have
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liked her at all. As it was, I pitied her immensely; probably more than the Fox or Psyche or even the beloved Bardia. Throughout the story, the ugly princess Orual tells of her love for Psyche, her younger and beautiful sister, without realizing that her love is selfish and harmful. Orual has taken care of Psyche since she was a baby; Psyche leans on Orual as if she were her mother. After a chain of unfortunate events, Psyche is condemned as an Offering to the goddess Ungit, but is saved by Ungit's son, a god who falls in love with Psyche and takes her to his palace only godly eyes can see. Orual, embittered and furious, goes to Psyche in an attempt to take back whom she believes is 'her own', but is unsuccessful and in the end, utterly ruins both her sister's and her own chance for happiness.
For many years Orual writes her 'complaint' to the gods, which is the book itself, detailing the many unfairnesses they have dealt her. She grows cold and keeps her ugly face veiled at all times. Finally, as the dying Queen of Glome, Orual at last realizes that in order to understand the will of the gods, we must first understand ourselves -- and what a heartbreaking revelation it is!
'Till We Have Faces' is, in my opinion, the best of all of Mr. Lewis' books ( though that counts for little as I haven't read them all ), and I am shocked it's gotten as little attention as it has. This is good literature, people! *pokes*
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LibraryThing member markmobley
Breath-taking.
I am a serious fan of Mr. Lewis. I have read basically everything that he ever wrote. But I bought this one and kept it on the shelf for years without touching it. maybe I was put off by the "re-telling" business. Imagine my disappointment when I found out that this was my favorite
Lewis' strength is his ability to search the human heart for its motives. He stuns me with his insight to our emotions, our little lies that we tell ourselves, the secrets that we hide from even ourselves. And this is a masterpiece.
Screwtape, another creation of Lewis, declared that "no man is ever very near the truth". In typical Screwtape fashion, the statement is bith true and appallingly false. We spend our entire lives hiding from the truth, running from the truth, reworking the truth, re-telling th truth. But then we come across a work like this one, and all of our lies are stripped away, our self-deception that was so cleverly constructed is toppled with one big bang. And we are humbled.
The thing that stuns me about Lewis is his insights. I am amazed at them when I read them. I later realize that, given one hundred years of thought, I would never have come up with them myself. And I am thoroughly humbled. This book does it to me time and again. I am exposed, shamed, overjoyed, convicted and forgiven in one fell swoop. My pragmatism is swept away and I long to be an artist, one who can reveal beauty and truth without didactics. Thank you, Mr. Lewis.
I am a serious fan of Mr. Lewis. I have read basically everything that he ever wrote. But I bought this one and kept it on the shelf for years without touching it. maybe I was put off by the "re-telling" business. Imagine my disappointment when I found out that this was my favorite
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Lewis book by far.Lewis' strength is his ability to search the human heart for its motives. He stuns me with his insight to our emotions, our little lies that we tell ourselves, the secrets that we hide from even ourselves. And this is a masterpiece.
Screwtape, another creation of Lewis, declared that "no man is ever very near the truth". In typical Screwtape fashion, the statement is bith true and appallingly false. We spend our entire lives hiding from the truth, running from the truth, reworking the truth, re-telling th truth. But then we come across a work like this one, and all of our lies are stripped away, our self-deception that was so cleverly constructed is toppled with one big bang. And we are humbled.
The thing that stuns me about Lewis is his insights. I am amazed at them when I read them. I later realize that, given one hundred years of thought, I would never have come up with them myself. And I am thoroughly humbled. This book does it to me time and again. I am exposed, shamed, overjoyed, convicted and forgiven in one fell swoop. My pragmatism is swept away and I long to be an artist, one who can reveal beauty and truth without didactics. Thank you, Mr. Lewis.
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Subjects
Awards
IBBY Honour Book (1980)
The New York Times Notable Books of the Year (Fiction — 1957)
Original publication date
1956
Other editions
Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold by C.S. Lewis (Paperback)