Record Number: 32422
Reading Experience:
Evidence:
(1) ' ... I took my courage in both hands and knocked up the Master of University.... What pleased me most was the masses upon masses of books in his house: among which I saw, tho' of course I couldn't look at it properly, a volume of that glorious new Malory - the one like my "Psyche" you know.' (2) 'The story of "Cupid and Psyche", which Lewis read over Christmas, is one episode in "The Golden Ass" of Apuleius (b.c. AD 114). He read it in "The Story of Cupid and Psyche", translated by William Adlington, Temple Classics (1903)'
Century:1900-1945
Date:Between 11 Dec 1916 and 25 Jan 1917
Country:Northern Ireland
Timen/a
Place:Belfast
Co. Down
'Little Lea', 76 Circular Road
(Reader):
silent aloud unknown
solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown
(Listener):
solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown
Reader / Listener / Reading Group:
Reader: Age:Adult (18-100+)
Gender:Male
Date of Birth:29 Nov 1898
Socio-Economic Group:Professional / academic / merchant / farmer
Occupation:Student
Religion:Church of England
Country of Origin:Northern Ireland
Country of Experience:Northern Ireland
Listeners present if any:e.g family, servants, friends
n/a
Additional Comments:
n/a
Text Being Read:
Author: Title:The Story of Cupid and Psyche
Genre:Classics, Fiction, Astrology / alchemy / occult, Milesian tale, an in-set tale in 'The Golden Ass' - a precursor to the picaresque novel
Form of Text:Print: Book
Publication DetailsTranslated by William Adlington; edited by the R. J. Hughes. London: J. M. Dent, 1903 (Temple Classics Series)
Provenanceowned
Source Information:
Record ID:32422
Source:C. S. Lewis
Editor:Walter Hooper
Title:C. S. Lewis Collected Letters
Place of Publication:London
Date of Publication:2000
Vol:1
Page:268
Additional Comments:
(1) From a letter to Arthur Greeves, 28 January 1917 (2) From a footnote to this letter, by the editor Walter Hooper. The Master of University College at this time was Reginald W Macan. The College had awarded Lewis a scholarship.
Citation:
C. S. Lewis, Walter Hooper (ed.), C. S. Lewis Collected Letters, (London, 2000), 1, p. 268, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=32422, accessed: 18 July 2024
Additional Comments:
In his footnote quoted above, Hooper continues: 'The long gestation of "Till We Have Faces" (1956) probably began with this reading of the "Cupid and Psyche" story.' This may well be so: while still working on the novel, Lewis writes to his friend Christian Hardie: 'About your question: the idea of re-writing the old myth, with the palace invisible, has been in my mind ever since I was an undergraduate and it's always involved writing through the mouth of the elder sister.' (Letters, v.3, p.633) In the winter of 1916/17 Lewis was, in effect, an undergraduate, having been awarded a scholarship to University College Oxford. I have accepted Hooper's citation of the edition Lewis had bought, but I cannot find any independent evidence for it.