But there's a difference between literary criticism and saying "this rubs me the wrong way". Lewis was very important to my youth and adolescence, and so was Tolkien. They shaped me. But their treatment of women also gives me hives. I don't see myself in their worlds; their worlds don't have room for me. (This isn't true of late Lewis, but it's certainly true of middle Lewis -- see That Hideous Strength.)

That's fair comment, but I think the point suggesting that they should have had more modern lifestyles or views isn't fair. I agree entirely that they are who they are based on when and how they lived, and their work reflects those lives. As writers they wrote to their experiences, events which shaped them, and which took place nearly a hundred years ago.

As writers they wrote to their experiences, events which shaped them, and which took place nearly a hundred years ago.

1950 is nearly 100 years ago?

I think the point suggesting that they should have had more modern lifestyles or views isn't fair.

I don't think anyone here is saying that. I've only read acknowledgment of their lifestyles and views, not condemnation or whatever.

1950 is nearly 100 years ago?

The events which shaped Lewis and Tolkien (I was thinking in particular of Tolkien's experiences in WWI) did take place 91 years ago. I hope the nearly qualifier gets me into range.

ETA: Tolkien has been dead for 32 years and Lewis for 42 years. They've missed a lot of cultural change.

You aren't supposed to inhale the smoke from a pipe, just, like, taste it. So, better for the lungs than cigarettes, but bad for the mouth.

My dad smoked a pipe after he quit cigarettes. I remember the day he finally gave his pipe away, I was probably 5 or 6.

Surely having a bit of pipe tobacco lying around like potpourri can't be too bad for you, eh?

The events which shaped Lewis and Tolkien (I was thinking in particular of Tolkien's experiences in WWI) did take place 91 years ago.

Lewis and Tolkien lived through the suffragette movement, through the creation of women's colleges at Oxford, and through the enormous social changes of the 1920s and 1930s. They were at some pains to acknowledge none of the above.

I like thetruth.

know what really smells AWESOME - Marks-a-Lots. mmmmmmm. Give me some paint fumes, Marks-a-Lots, and some gasoline and I'm a happy braincell killing girl.

CS Lewis was almost exactly a contemporary of Edna St. Vincent Millay -- she was 5 years older or so.

That Hideous Strength, published in 1945, explicitly describes birth control as a tool of Satan.

That Hideous Strength, published in 1945, explicitly describes birth control as a tool of Satan.

And yet, for some, it is an obvious Act of God.