C. S. Lewis and the Craft of Communication
Steven A. Beebe
C. S. Lewis, based on the popularity of his books and essays, is one of the best communicators of the twentieth century. During his lifetime he was hailed for his talents as author, speaker, educator, and broadcaster; he continues to be a best-selling author more than a half-century after his death.
C. S. Lewis and the Craft of Communication analyzes Lewis’s communication skill. A comprehensive review of Lewis’s work reveals five communication principles that explain his success as a communicator. Based on Lewis’s own advice about communication in his books, essays, and letters, as well as his communication practice, being a skilled communicator is to be holistic, intentional, transpositional, evocative, and audience-centered. These five principles are memorably summarized by the acronym HI TEA. Dr. Steven Beebe, past president of the National Communication Association and an internationally-recognized communication author and educator, uses Lewis’s own words to examine these five principles in a most engaging style.
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- New York, Bern, Berlin, Bruxelles, Oxford, Wien, 2020. XXXII, 304 pp.
- Cover
- Title
- Copyright
- About the author
- About the book
- This eBook can be cited
- Contents
- Foreword
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- 1 The Case for C. S. Lewis as Master Communicator
- A Popular Communicator
- A Professional Communicator
- A Professor of Communication
- HI TEA: A Preview of Lewis’s Communication Lessons
- 2 The Making of a Master Communicator
- His Family: Flora, Albert, and Warnie
- The Education of a Master Communicator
- The Great War
- Mrs. Moore and Lewis’s Audience
- J. R. R. Tolkien: Oxford Friend and Colleague
- A Most Reluctant Conversion
- Surprised by Marriage: Finding Joy and Observing Grief
- A Well-Read Mind Awake
- 3 C. S. Lewis’s Big Ideas
- Longing: The Quest to Find Home
- The Tao: Universal Truth
- Christianity: Lewis’s Primary Sense-Making Lens
- Language: Metaphorical Shaper of Thought and Meaning
- Summary: Lewis’s Big Ideas
- 4 Holistic
- Principle One: Effective Communicators Are Holistic
- One Style: Communicating for Both the Eye and the Ear
- Two Lewises: The Integration of Reason and Imagination
- Three Methods: The Integration of Rhetoric, Dialectic, and the Poetic
- Summary: The “H” of HI TEA: The Principle of Being Holistic
- 5 Intentional
- Principle Two: Effective Communicators Are Intentional
- The Meaning of Meaning
- Master of Invention
- Clarity
- Style
- Summary: The “I” of “HI TEA”: The Principle of Being Intentional
- 6 Transpositional
- Principle Three: Effective Communicators Are Transpositional
- Translation: A Prelude to Transposition
- Transposition: Communicating from Higher to Lower, Richer to Poorer
- Visual Metaphor: The Technique of Transposition
- Summary: The “T” of “HI TEA”: The Principle of Transposition
- 7 Evocative
- Principle Four: Effective Communicators Evoke Emotions
- Evoke by Selecting the Right Word
- Evoke by Using Comparison
- Evoke by Placing Us in the Middle of Things
- Evoke by Telling Stories
- Evoke by Using Myth
- Summary: The “E” of “HI TEA”: The Principle of Evoking Emotions
- 8 Audience Centered
- Principle Five: Effective Communicators Are Audience Centered
- Misanalysing His Audience: Learning from Communication Failures
- Editing for the Audience
- Relating to the Audience
- Speaking to an Audience
- Being a Good Audience Member
- Summary: The “A” of “HI TEA”: The Principle of Being Audience Centered
- 9 How to Communicate Like C. S. Lewis
- How to Be Holistic
- How to Be Intentional
- How to Be Transpositional
- How to Be Evocative
- How to Be an Audience-Centered Communicator
- Remember HI TEA
- Index
3 C. S. Lewis’s Big Ideas
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Extract
“Somehow what Lewis thought about everything was secretly present in what he said about anything.”1
- Owen Barfield
“You’ll never get to the bottom of him.”2
- J. R. R. Tolkien
In a 1931 letter to Arthur Greeves, Lewis confessed that he did not always like his students. He admitted, “In every given year the pupils I really like are in a minority.” But he also added, “… but there is hardly a year in which I do not make some real friend. I am glad that people become more and more one of the sources of pleasure as I grow older.”3 For Lewis, “older” meant 33. One of his students who was to become a “real friend” was George Sayer.
Sayer, whose biography of Lewis is considered among the best because he knew Lewis over a span of many years as both teacher and friend, writes of his first experience in meeting Lewis, as well as a chance encounter with one of Lewis’s life-long friends, J. R. R. Tolkien. Sayer relates arriving at Magdalen College and searching for Lewis’s room in New Building (built in 1734—new for Oxford).4 ←71 | 72→He first sees “Tollers” whom Sayer describes as “a neat, gray-haired man with a pipe in his mouth and a puckish face.” Tollers asks, “Are you a pupil come for a tutorial?”
“No,” replies Sayer. “But Mr. Lewis is going to be my...
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Or login to access all content.- Cover
- Title
- Copyright
- About the author
- About the book
- This eBook can be cited
- Contents
- Foreword
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- 1 The Case for C. S. Lewis as Master Communicator
- A Popular Communicator
- A Professional Communicator
- A Professor of Communication
- HI TEA: A Preview of Lewis’s Communication Lessons
- 2 The Making of a Master Communicator
- His Family: Flora, Albert, and Warnie
- The Education of a Master Communicator
- The Great War
- Mrs. Moore and Lewis’s Audience
- J. R. R. Tolkien: Oxford Friend and Colleague
- A Most Reluctant Conversion
- Surprised by Marriage: Finding Joy and Observing Grief
- A Well-Read Mind Awake
- 3 C. S. Lewis’s Big Ideas
- Longing: The Quest to Find Home
- The Tao: Universal Truth
- Christianity: Lewis’s Primary Sense-Making Lens
- Language: Metaphorical Shaper of Thought and Meaning
- Summary: Lewis’s Big Ideas
- 4 Holistic
- Principle One: Effective Communicators Are Holistic
- One Style: Communicating for Both the Eye and the Ear
- Two Lewises: The Integration of Reason and Imagination
- Three Methods: The Integration of Rhetoric, Dialectic, and the Poetic
- Summary: The “H” of HI TEA: The Principle of Being Holistic
- 5 Intentional
- Principle Two: Effective Communicators Are Intentional
- The Meaning of Meaning
- Master of Invention
- Clarity
- Style
- Summary: The “I” of “HI TEA”: The Principle of Being Intentional
- 6 Transpositional
- Principle Three: Effective Communicators Are Transpositional
- Translation: A Prelude to Transposition
- Transposition: Communicating from Higher to Lower, Richer to Poorer
- Visual Metaphor: The Technique of Transposition
- Summary: The “T” of “HI TEA”: The Principle of Transposition
- 7 Evocative
- Principle Four: Effective Communicators Evoke Emotions
- Evoke by Selecting the Right Word
- Evoke by Using Comparison
- Evoke by Placing Us in the Middle of Things
- Evoke by Telling Stories
- Evoke by Using Myth
- Summary: The “E” of “HI TEA”: The Principle of Evoking Emotions
- 8 Audience Centered
- Principle Five: Effective Communicators Are Audience Centered
- Misanalysing His Audience: Learning from Communication Failures
- Editing for the Audience
- Relating to the Audience
- Speaking to an Audience
- Being a Good Audience Member
- Summary: The “A” of “HI TEA”: The Principle of Being Audience Centered
- 9 How to Communicate Like C. S. Lewis
- How to Be Holistic
- How to Be Intentional
- How to Be Transpositional
- How to Be Evocative
- How to Be an Audience-Centered Communicator
- Remember HI TEA
- Index