In brief Did you know On screen Going further The story In the book In the books Trivia

And what if we judged books not by their content, but by the way they are read? A little gem about what it means to read well, the only book of literary criticism by Lewis translated into French.

Lewis proposes a reversal of literary criticism: instead of saying that a book is good and that those who like it have good taste, let us first define two ways of reading. There are those who read a book once to find out what happens, and those for whom a book matters, who reread it, who are changed by it. A good book is one that allows and rewards the second kind of reading. Lewis also examines myth and fantasy, realism, and defends readers of adventure novels against the snobbery of critics. He concludes with the very reason for reading: to step outside of oneself, to see with other eyes.

• Original title — An Experiment in Criticism
• First publication — 1961
• Genre — Essay on reading
• First English edition — Cambridge University Press, 1961
• Availability in bookstores — Out of print for a long time; available in libraries and secondhand.
• Reading level — Intermediate — very accessible for a work of criticism
• For whom — For all great readers. The best of Lewis for a literature teacher.
• Year — 1961

Other French titles

• Un regard neuf sur la critique (sometimes cited title, unpublished)

[{Title, Publisher, Year, Translator?, Note?, Source?}]

• An Experiment in Criticism — Gallimard — Paris — 1965 — Jean Autret — 215 p.

In brief

• Reading well: receiving rather than using.
• In defence of myth and wonder.
• Against literary snobbery.
• Reading as self-expansion.

Did you know

• An Experiment in Criticism

On screen

• An Experiment in Criticism
• Un regard neuf sur la critique (sometimes cited title, unpublished)
• Essay on reading
• Literary criticism

Trivia

• An Experiment in Criticism

In brief

• Reading well: receiving rather than using.
• In defence of myth and wonder.
• Against literary snobbery.
• Reading as self-expansion.

Critique

And what if we judged books not by their content, but by the way they are read? A little gem about what it means to read well, the only book of literary criticism by Lewis translated into French.

Quick facts

How to approach it

Reading level: Intermediate — very accessible for a work of criticism. For all great readers. The best of Lewis for a literature teacher.

In a nutshell

Lewis proposes a reversal of literary criticism: instead of saying that a book is good and that those who like it have good taste, let us first define two ways of reading. There are those who read a book once to find out what happens, and those for whom a book matters, who reread it, who are changed by it. A good book is one that allows and rewards the second kind of reading. Lewis also examines myth and fantasy, realism, and defends readers of adventure novels against the snobbery of critics. He concludes with the very reason for reading: to step outside of oneself, to see with other eyes.

In the book

Written in Cambridge, in response to F.R. Leavis’s highly selective critical methods, which divided literature into a handful of worthy works and the rest.

In brief

This is the best defence of books like Narnia.

Going further

In a world where people “consume” series and books only once, Lewis’s distinction between those who read to find out what happens and those who reread because a book changes them remains powerful. It is also a liberating book for all those who have been made to feel ashamed for loving fantasy or adventure novels.

In brief

Highly appreciated by teachers and readers. His pages on myth and fantasy are often cited in studies of imaginary literature.

In brief

• Reading well: receiving rather than using.
• In defence of myth and wonder.
• Against literary snobbery.
• Reading as self-expansion.

On screen

“In reading great literature I become a thousand men and remain myself. I take on the life of the mind of every one of them.”
— An Experiment in Criticism, epilogue — website translation

In brief

• An Experiment in Criticism, Gallimard, Paris, 1965, trans. Jean Autret — 215 p.

See also

• Of Other Worlds: Essays and Stories
• The Last of the Dinosaurs: A Medievalist in Oxford and Cambridge, and What Narnia Owes to His Library
• C.S. Lewis’s Favourite Reads

Sources

• https://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb374487194.public
• https://www.pintswithjack.com/csl-in-france/