The direction of our modern culture is to reduce every aspect of human experience, including politics, sex, the arts, and even religion, to entertainment. But this has not always been the case.
THE MOST RELUCTANT CONVERT:
The Untold Story of C.S. Lewis
Dir. Norman Stone. Cert. 12A
In cinemas 7 November and soon to be released on streaming platforms.
The word ‘entertainment’ originally denoted the frivolous passing of time between the more serious and weighty episodes of life. Thus when an aristocrat on hearing the first performance of Handel’s Messiah praised it as ‘a noble entertainment’, Handel replied, ‘My Lord, I should be sorry if I only entertained them; I wished to make them better.’ Making us better human beings, not merely entertaining us, was the assumed purpose of art. Which is why, although it may not be as entertaining as the latest blockbuster from Hollywood, I would recommend investing your energies in following the densely argued narrative arc of The Most Reluctant Convert: The Untold Story of C.S.Lewis.
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