‘Text Corruptions’ Corruption: Restoring C.S. Lewis's Critical Satire

Abstract

This essay examines in detail a C.S. Lewis letter, published in The Times Literary Supplement that was, in fact, an example of ‘mock-criticism’ (as in ‘mock-epic’), being a satiric parody of an argument made by eminent Shakespeare scholar John Dover Wilson. Lewis published his ‘minor disagreement’ in March 1950, to which Dover Wilson responded with appreciation for Lewis's good humour but continued disagreement on the point of contention – that Shakespeare would ever include lines of verse in a section of his prose. By close analysis, the essay demonstrates how the editor of The Collected Letters inadvertently ‘corrupted’ Lewis's original by his formatting and editorial changes. Three versions of the letter are compared to show the specifics of the corruption. Further, Lewis's long critical encounter with Dover Wilson from the late 1920s onward as well as his little-known role as a textual criticism scholar at Oxford are demonstrated to provide the context for interpreting and appreciating the letter. Finally, two other Lewis letters, previously pointed out by Stephanie Derrick (neither published in The Collected Letters) are presented from the Dover Wilson archives as evidence of the cordial scholarly relationship that eventually developed between the two. The essay shows Lewis as a clever, thorough, combative, yet friendly scholar (though perhaps not always all at the same time) engaging in and, in fact, initiating important discussions with perhaps the most significant Shakespearean textual scholar of his time.