by Angela Carpenter
John Hendrix’s The Mythmakers defies simple explanation. On one level, it is the true story of a friendship and a testament to the power of friendship. On another level, it is an exploration of the capacity of myths, fairy tales, and imagination to communicate deeper truths about the world than what our eyes can see. And at still another level, The Mythmakers performs the message it communicates. Through imaginative words and whimsical illustrations, you will experience joy, delight, and longing as you read this book.
The narrative heart of The Mythmakers is the story of the parallel lives of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien which intersect in a “remarkable” friendship. Both Lewis and Tolkien experienced hardship and loss as children. Both were sustained by their love of mythic stories. And both were marked, like so many of their generation, by the horror and desolation of the bloody battlefields of WWI. As Hendrix weaves their stories together, narrated by an endearing lion and wizard pair, the reader experiences the joy of Lewis’s and Tolkien’s eventual connection over myth and literature. Hendrix conveys the giftedness of their growing bond, the genuine pleasure of their shared company, and the indelible impact each has on the other. Lewis finds in Tolkien a way to bring together myth and truth, and, in the process, he finds his way into the Christian faith. In Lewis, Tolkien has a champion for his own mythmaking, a true believer without whom the world of Middle-earth might never have seen the light of day.
The friendship between Lewis and Tolkien is also illustrative of the theme of joy that runs throughout the book. For both men, the experience of joy against the backdrop of evil and suffering is the persistent riddle that grounds their intellectual and literary pursuits. The reader encounters this joy in moments of transcendence: Tolkien watching his beloved wife Edith dance among wildflowers or the shared camaraderie of conversation around the fireplace with their literary group, “the Inklings.” These moments point to a deeper truth about the universe than the abuses of British boarding schools or the horrors of war will allow. It is this truth that each explores in his own mythic writing. For Tolkien especially, a fairy tale is not simply an escape from reality. It is, instead, a path to a new and truer reality where humanity’s deepest longings are fulfilled.
Hendrix conveys all of this—the narrative of friendship, the riddle of joy, the deeper truth of myth—in a mix of engaging, accessible prose and gorgeous illustration. He reflects on the purpose of mythic tales while inviting the reader into them. The story he tells has its own share of sorrow, and Hendrix himself uses the tools of myth and imagination to take us through these sorrows, by way of longing, and back to joy once again.At a time when we are experiencing our own share of violence, hatred, and evil, when it seems like we might be teetering on the edge of something far worse, The Mythmakers feels like a necessary book. Hendrix makes a powerful case that myth and imagination are a balm for the soul, that they are necessary companions on our journey to understand and live within a world of such darkness.
6 Responses
Sounds like a great book. Thanks for the review.
For what age level is it written?
Online sources say 12+
Which, not surprisingly, is the age they give for The Lord of the Rings.
Duly ordered.
Many thanks for this excellent review. I will read it.