A Disclaimer to Disclaim

In August 1998 James Prothero, editor of The Lamp-Post, wrote to certainother authors of entries in the C. S. Lewis Reader’s Encyclopedia. He called the book shockingly “Lindskoogian,” and said Walter Hooper had warned him that Lindskoog can now imply to the innocent public that all the contributors agree with her opinions. Therefore Prothero decided to write a formal disclaimer. He assured potential signatories that the disclaimer was carefully worded concerning Lindskoog so they would all be safe from legal action. He said he planned to publish his disclaimer in The Lamp-Post, The Canadian C. S. Lewis Journal, The New York Bulletin, and the Irish Lewis Newsletter.

In September Prothero’s disclaimer appeared in the summer issue of The Lamp-Post, signed by him and by Jerry Root: “We, the undersigned, declare that we contributed to the recently published volume, The CS Lewis Reader’s Encyclopedia, [sic] without knowledge of the extent of editorial influence exercised on that volume by Ms Kathryn Lindskoog. We do not agree with the allegations Ms Lindskoog has made against Walter Hooper and desire in no way to be mistaken for believing their authenticity.”

In fact, Lindskoog wielded no “editorial influence” at all and saw no entries except her own before publication. (She wrote only 15 of the 400 entries because she was too swamped with work on her Divine Comedy volumes.) And her only mention of Walter Hooper as editor was at the end of her 263-word entry “The Man Born Blind.” Her only influence on other contributors’ entries came through their reading her books and/or The Lewis Legacy.

Does Walter Hooper possibly have a “histrionic personality”? He flatters Lindskoog with his extremely inflated idea of her power, and flatters himself with his perennial claim that she is obsessed with him.