From Narnia to a Space Odyssey: The War of Ideas Between Arthur C. Clarke and C. S. Lewis (Book Review)

FROM NARNIA TO A SPACE ODYSSEY: THE WAR OF IDEAS BETWEEN ARTHUR C. CLARKE AND C. S. LEWIS. Ed., and with introduction, by Ryder W. Miller. New York: ibooks, 2003. Soft-cover reprint [2005?]: ISBN 1-59687-143-1. 176 pp. $12.95. FROM NARNIA TO A SPACE ODYSSEY (a misleading title since Narnia is not important in the book) consists of three parts: several introductory essays, the sixteen- or seventeen-letter correspondence of Clarke and Lewis, and a section of stories and essays by the two authors. Several of the letters are reproduced (Lewis, 4, 44, 176; Clarke, 45). This review will take these up in this order: the letters (because this is the major interest of the book), the introductory essays, and the reprinted writings. The emphasis, of course, for this audience will be on Lewis.