Lewis would take back everything he said on the subject if he were to see whatâs become of society (or at least American society) in the last 20 years, thanks to The Internet. Grown ups wanting to stay (or at least act like, dress like, talk like) kids, kids want to be grown ups and chasing after all the baggage âbeing grown upâ entails. Soccer moms dressing like their teenage daughters, teenager daughters wanting to be Pretty Little Liars, dressing like wannabe-cougars. Donât be fooled: CS Lewis (and Lewis Carroll, Edward Lear and others) may have appreciated a sense of childlike wonder, whimsey, myth, fable, fairytaleness, etc., but CS Lewis for one was also all about what becomes, and is becoming to, a man (and a Christian) or a woman (and a Christian.)
His chapter on âSexual Moralityâ (in Mere Christianity) brilliantly sums up some of his views on maturity (sexual and otherwise):
http://www.merelewis.com/CSL.mc.3-05.SexualMorality.htm
And something else: describing Ruth Grahamâs article as a âstupid, shaming, linkbaity screedâ is absoutely absurd. Disagree with it if you like, but your choice of adjectives/noun (all four of them) is/are demonstrably inaccurate (and, arguably, intentionally misleading, slanted and agenda-driven.)
I saw a commercial for Modern Family yesterday. Phil Dunphy was speaking. He said "âIâve always said that if my son thinks of me as one of his idiot friends, Iâve succeeded as a dad.â
CS Lewis would strongly disagree with such a definition of âpaternal success.â
Oh, but didnât you hear? CS Lewis has no grown-up credibility, because he was (ugh) Christian.
(Insert sarcasm mark here, please.)
Seriously, Lewis is wise as always. Heâs also effectively rebutted Grahamâs other argument, the shuddering fear of âescapismâ:
I never fully understood the label of âescapistâ till my friend Professor Tolkien asked me the very simple question, âWhat class of men would you expect to be most preoccupied with, and most hostile to, the idea of escape?â and gave the obvious answer: jailers.
(Oh someone do please bring up Moorcockâs attempted rebuttal of that, Iâve been itching to have a good argument about it.)
I dunno⌠I kind of feel like youâre raising two separate issues here. He might have very well been upset by modern society, but why would he âblame it on the internetâ vs. anything other number of things? Seems more likely heâd blame it on something like not teaching âwestern civâ, enlightenment values, or the classics, or a lack of respect for some vague idea about tradition⌠or any number of thingsâŚ
Either way, it doesnât negate his view on adults being able to enjoy childrenâs lit. I doubt heâd say that Harry Potter and the Hunger Games were the cause of the âfall of western civâ, so Iâm a little flummoxed about your digression hereâŚ
Which would be vaguely possibly true if not for the fact that a good number of YA fiction stories are of a far higher quality than a lot of novels for âadultsâ. Itâs not like Atlas Shrugged, Silmarillion, or Great Gatsby look more than cartoonish when compared to a huge number of novels targeted at young adults (Heck, Coryâs âLittle Brotherâ is steps above all of them)
And you canât talk about how civilization has fallen and ignore the fact that things have also been getting better in lots of ways. When he was around here in the US racism and marital rape were basically legal and societally acceptable.
Sure, CS Lewis wasnât exactly the sort to embrace the worldâs differences and variety, he was a die hard Christian and wanted everyone else to be one too, but I think even he would take issue with the fact that in some places weâve created an artificial gulf between literature for âchildrenâ and for âadultsâ.
Youâre arguing with some weird long-term imagined effect that has nothing to do with whatâs actually discussed in the articles.
Also, I always found his depiction of womenâs proper behavior and of what are essentially Arabs to be somewhat problematic⌠I found myself censoring myself on his descriptions of dark skinned people when I was reading the chronicles to my daughter a few years ago. I canât remember exactly chapter and verse, but it was in the last 3 books, I think. Sad really. Otherwise, they are great books.
I often wonder why the Nobel in literature is never given to childrenâs authors. E.B. White (Charlotteâs Web), C.S. Lewis (Narnia), Maurice Sendak (Where the Wild Things Are), Roald Dahl (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory),⌠There are tons of candidates. And thatâs just scratching the surface of the English-language ones. If they started digging into young adult, the Nobel committee could come up with hundred options better than Herta Muller (whoever the hell that is) or Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio (whoever the hell that is).
Iâm usually kind of all over the place with my points. Iâd be surprised if there isnât a third or fourth separate issue in there somewhere.
Iâm just glad Iâve had three responses so far that have been pleasant ones 
I donât think Lewis, or any reasonable person, would have a problem with adults enjoying kid-oriented fiction, YA, whatever. I do think heâd have a problem with adults liking it because theyâre supposed to like it, because itâs the âthing to doâ, because theyâll fit in more with the youth crowd, because it makes them feel or seem younger/cooler, etc. YA fiction is a demographic now much more than it used to be. With the movie tie-ins, the mass cultural acceptance of grown ups acting like kids, itâs understandable that thereâs some pushback from people like Ruth Graham, questioning why YA is mainstreaming with adults. I tend to try to see the big picture, connect dots where there sometimes (?) might not be connections but sometimes I get lucky. Generational (and gender) lines of interest are so blurred now that itâs hard to keep track. Bronies are a thing, fer Ghodâs sake. It all just kinda makes me feel like Iâm gonna hurl, ha ha. (irony)
A character in Gorgias (not one of the "good"ones) is talking to Socrates about adults acting like children, and he says such people deserve a whipping, ha ha. He also said that hearing a child speak as an adult makes him uncomfortable, because itâs unnatural. While I donât absolutely agree with him, I do see his point. Seeing 50+ year old skateboarders, men in shorts with their baseball caps on backwards, itâs just goofy. But whatever.
Someone brought up The Westing Game. I only just read it for the first time probably 5 years ago. And Iâm 48. I enjoyed the heck out of it. Some YA stuff holds up when one reaches maturity, some doesnât, of course. Artificial/inorganic/cloying vs. The Real. Itâs a constant battle.
Ahh, but letâs think this through a bit further, shall we?
Adults (being humans) are prone to doing things because it will âfit inâ or because itâs âwhat youâre supposed to doâ. Thatâs one of the primary reasons for the continuing presence of horrible behavior towards various minority groups worldwide (including in our own nation, I could make a list but I think you know it would be a very long one)
Thatâs not new, nor is it at all dangerous or negative in this case. This is a positive (or, at worst, neutral) expression of a human behavior thatâs often used negatively.
See, e.g., Cicero âO tempora o mores.â See also Sturgeonâs Law (âNinety percent of everything is crap.â)
Why shouldnât we be civil! Itâs not like weâre insulting each otherâs moms or something! 
Arenât you making sort of broad generalizations about why people read books they do? People can have a wide variety of reasons for liking something, not just âto fit inâ.
Go watch the documentary on Bronies⌠itâs pretty enlightening, actually.
It might not be your thing, but they arenât hurting anyone, right? So does it matter so much?
Thatâs true of nearly all culture⌠some is âauthenticâ, some, not so much. And that varies from person to person.
Itâs interesting how English speakers so often doubt that non-English authors deserve their Nobel prizes, whoever they may be, and have a list of five English-language alternatives ready.
No offense was intended. I just meant that because Iâm an English speaker my list only scratches the surface of those writers, so there must be many non-English childrenâs writers who would make better candidates as well. In fact, I would be very interested to hear your non-English nominations.
Well I for one refuse to accept the opprobrium that somebody assumes Lewis would have heaped upon me had he not died the day I was born. Heâs an enjoyable writer, and always had a few good points to make, but he was hardly a great philosopher⌠or great sociologist, or whatever job title it is that has the right to look down from on high and judge us lesser, uncultured beings.
Whether the Lewis of your imagination delights in our childlike entertainments, or tut-tuts at their decadence, might just say more about you than about Lewis. After all, the poor fellowâs dead - he canât even defend himself.
Modern Family is a fictional TV show. Itâs not like I Love Lucy was any less juvenile.
I think children and YA books should get more attention, but âwhoever the hell that isâ in regards to non-western/white authors is pretty xenophobic. It doesnât mean much that you donât know who they are. It certainly says nothing of their quality, which you are strongly implying.
What about Moorcockâs absolutely decisive rebuttal?
(please include description of rebuttal in your response)
Ummmmm⌠Actually, the Nobel selections I criticized are both western/white. (I guess you could still call me a sexist though, because one is a woman.)
The real issue is this - if the committee were to compare either of my example winners to, say, Roald Dahl in terms of literary innovation, brilliance of prose, social relevance, or almost any other criteria, they would have an awfully hard time of it. If it makes you feel better, I would be more on the fence comparing Dahl to, say, Grass (German, like Muller) or Sartre (French, like Le Clezio). But what the hell do I know?
A stupid, shaming, linkbaity screed against young adult literature in SlateâŚ
Good writing begins with paring out excessive redundancy.
Sure, nothing like before, when adults were expected to have much more mature attire and pursuits.
I am with William on this one; somehow adults simply accept things like golf and stories about vain people having shallow relationships, but really they arenât any more sensible than things people tut-tut now.
(Except I personally would never have put the Silmarillion anywhere near Atlas Shrugged, but thatâs beside the point.)
