Thursday, November 15, 2007

The "Real" Weston

For dyed-in-the-wool C.S. Lewis fans, here's a link to an article on Cambridge science professor J.B.S. Haldane, whose views on interplanetary colonization as a means of ensuring the survival of the human race (though apparently at the expense of much of what makes us human, according to Lewis) served as an inspiration for the character of Dr. Weston in Lewis' space trilogy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._B._S._Haldane Haldane wrote a review of the space trilogy titled "Auld Hornie, FRS". (Auld Hornie is an old Scottish name for the devil, and F.R.S. stands for "Fellow of the Royal Society".) Haldane's review can be read at http://www.solcon.nl/arendsmilde/cslewis/reflections/e-haldane.htm . Lewis' fascinating and enlightening "Reply to Professor Haldane", published after his death, can be read in Of This and Other Worlds, a collection of Lewis' shorter essays and literary criticism.

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