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Mike Perry’s Reply to a Message on Internet

The Lewis Legacy-Issue 80, Spring 1999 The C.S. Lewis Foundation for Truth in Publishing

When I was a student in 1962, I sent CS Lewis a letter about the role of myth in scripture, and got a reply. If anyone is interested, please email me, and I will be glad to send you the text of the letter from Lewis. azwart@durham.net

Dear A. Zwart:

I hate to rain on this picnic, particularly since I live in rainy Seattle. I wish very much this was not so.

Strange as it may sound, though you own the physical letter that Lewis sent you, you do not own the right to “publish” it by making copies for others. That right remained Lewis’ and after his death passed eventually to a shadowy legal entity call the Lewis estate. Given Lewis’ generosity, I’m sure that, if he were alive today, he would be quite happy to give you permission to send copies to others or to publish it in something you might write. Unfortunately, the Lewis estate does not even come close to reflecting his open-hearted attitude.

The Lewis estate is VERY aggressive at defending the rights to his works, much more so, sad to say, that the estates of many grossly materialistic non-believers. It would be fair to say that, though the attitude probably stems at least in part from greed and perhaps paranoia (no one knows, given the estate’s shadowy existence), it actually reduces the income of the Lewis estate by discouraging research on him and by narrowing and confining the market for his material.

Jesus said, “Give and it shall be given unto you.” The Lewis estate, like the man with only one talent, is built on the motto, “Hoard and no one will take it from you.” Very unbiblical, very un-Lewis and very foolish. Even more so is their very unChristian zeal to resort to threats of legal action against believers to resolve disputes.

Ironically, it was the very unbusiness-like generosity of Lewis that lay the foundation for this problem. Lewis’ last will recently became available and, because it is a public document thus isn’t covered by copyright. I was able to create an electronic text of it and post it where you can read it in the Lewis area at www.discovery.org. It’s discouraging to read how Lewis paid more attention to the future of an old painting of his father than he did of his literary estate. Perhaps, he was modest enough to think that few people would be reading him in the future. Perhaps, distracted and in ill health, he simply got bad advice. Though they were long-term friends, his two legal/financial advisors were unbelievers and had no real interest in seeing his legacy of Christian writing kept alive. Very, very unfortunate and a warning to us all about our wills.

That said, there are numerous exceptions to copyright law. Portions can be quoted under “fair use.” Copies can be made for research purposes and, though the Lewis estate may try to claim its power is far broader than that, the basic purpose of the law is to protect an author’s income. Copies made for free of material that the Lewis estate is unaware of and not publishing, create no financial harm to the estate and hence little grounds for damages. So, whatever happens, don’t let any legal blustering get you down. An actual courtroom would yawn at this.

I would strongly suggest that you make sure that the Lewis archives at Wheaton and Oxford get a copy of both your letter and his. If you want to pay hard-ball and the letter is interesting enough, you might considering releasing copies to them ONLY under the condition that the estate relinquish its copyright and render Lewis’ letter, like a few others, public domain. Though the estate owns the words, they can never get at those words without your permission.

Best wishes in whatever you do.

Mike Perry
Assistant Editor,
C. S. Lewis Readers’ Encyclopedia

* A 17 April 1998 article in the Christian Science Monitor titled “Willkommen, Toni Morrison” describes the problems of global ownership of publishing. The results are nothing that anybody couldn’t predict with laughable ease. Australian tycoon Rupert Murdoch owns the Los Angeles Dodgers. Bruce Springsteen (“Born in the USA “) and Mariah Carey make profits for Japan’s Sony. American Toni Morrison now submits manuscripts to Guetersloh, Germany. Random House was bought by Bertelsmann. Germany’s bestseller lists are now dominated by John Grisham and Tom Clancy. Boston’s Noah Gordon has sold 10 million books east of the Rhine since 1987. Michael Jackson has a better chance of filling a stadium in India than Indiana.