This past weekend, Douglas Gresham was in Longwood, which is about a half an hour from Orlando. He was at Northland Church, along with William Paul Young, the writer of The Shack, Sara Groves, a Christian singer, Jill Briscoe, author of 40 books, and Tony Lawton, an actor who did a dramatic adaptation of The Great Divorce a fictional tale about heaven and hell written by C.S. Lewis.
Insights into Lewis
Mr. Gresham who is C.S. Lewis's stepson, told about Lewis and his mother's relationship. He told how they were both highly intellectual and that was a big part of their attraction to each other. He even told a story about how Lewis and his mother Joy liked to play Scrabble. They would use every language known, fictional or real, and as long as they could find the word in a book in the house it was legit. Sometimes they would even challenge each other on it. Mr. Gresham also told the story about how Lewis had his book A Grief Observed originally published under a pen name, his friends read it, thought it would be a good book for him, and they probably had one copy for every bookshelf in the house. Mr. Gresham also told attendees that Lewis's biggest influence was George McDonald and that he also loved The Lord of the Rings even though J.R.R. Tolkien disliked 'Narnia.' Attendees also learned that Lewis simply lived the Christian life.
Mr. Gresham's work on the 'Narnia' movies and hopes for other movie adaptations
Mr. Gresham came to Longwood from working on The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. They have only recently started. The actors who played Lucy and Edmund will be back and he said that the boy who will be playing Eustace is wonderful for the part. He also mentioned that he one day hopes to make movies of the Cosmic Trilogy, also known as The Space Trilogy. He says making those into movies will take a lot of money, but he still hopes he can make it work.
The other speakers and guests
Sara Groves gave three performances, two half-hour performances, and one one hour performance. She also told some stories of how specifically The Voyage of the Dawn Treader has had influence on her life and music. She especially found influence from the story of Eustace when he became a dragon and how Aslan was the only one who could turn him back to a person. Jill Briscoe told the story of how part of her conversion to Christ and some of her early growth in Christ were highly influenced by reading C.S. Lewis books such as The Screwtape Letters and The Weight of Glory. Tony Lawton gave a wonderful dramatic rendition of The Great Divorce. It was a one man show, he played over a half dozen characters. William Paul Young, writer of The Shack told of his story and some of the symbolism in The Shack and how it relates to his life.
Overall it was an insightful event to learn about the life of one of the most popular Christian fiction and nonfiction writers out there, C.S. Lewis. Most famous for 'Narnia', but a writer of many other rich books C.S. Lewis has given Christians a look into the nature of God that very few others have been able to do. You can learn more about C.S. Lewis the writer of Christian fiction books such as 'Narnia', The Space Trilogy, and The Great Divorce, from Douglas Gresham's book Jack's Life:The Life Story of C.S. Lewis which you can find on amazon.
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