Pursue truth, not originality

I recently acquired the newest Walter Hooper collection of C.S. Lewis essays, Image and Imagination (available for Kindle or in paperback). Some of the material, including the title essay, had never been published. Other essays were written as reviews for periodicals. This is from a review published today in the Washington Free Beacon:

.... The collection has 40 book reviews, as well as five major essays. The most anticipated essay is “Image and Imagination,” also the publisher’s title, a never-before-printed analysis of art and truth, rescued from a fire in the Lewis family home.

That Lewis paid the same attention to his critical works as his examinations of faith is no shock to his followers. His critiques are rich with insight and a sense of history, and his love of language is apparent throughout. ....

As in his other work, Lewis holds to his lifelong credo that pursuing truth leads to originality, not the other way around. His commentary addresses the nuances and balance of biblical translation, the unmentionable elements of Eros in the literature of his contemporaries, the trajectory of French politics, the transcendence of Milton, and a defense of a well-rounded liberal arts education that applies to our century. .... [more]

Among the essays are several reviewing books by other Inklings, including CSL's review of The Hobbit and of each of the three volumes of The Lord of the Rings.

Fortified | Washington Free Beacon