At only 170 pages, I thought I might get through this fairly quickly, even if it is non-fiction. I was wrong, it took me nearly two months! I think really it was just a bit too clever for me.
Lewis discusses the difference between need-pleasures and appreciative pleasures, between need-love and gift-love, before getting to the main content of the book – the four types of love: Affection (storge), Friendship (philia), Eros (romantic) and Charity (agape).
From the chapter on friendship: “Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art, like the universe itself (for God did not need to create). It has no survival value; rather, it is one of those things which give value to survival.”
Eros he says is about the Beloved, not necessarily the sexual connotation we tend to give the word – he separates this part out and names it “Venus”. (They can come together, but there can also be “Venus, uncontaminated by Eros”). All this makes the following quote less weird: “Affection is taken as the image when God is represented as our Father; Eros, when Christ is represented as the Bridegroom of the Church.”
The book doesn’t have the best attitude towards women, at one point considering them unable to join men’s conversations as they would need the discussion explained to them. But I think we just have to put this down to the time the book was written, and move on.
There was an interesting section at the end about whether we’ll recognised loved ones in heaven, but I genuinely couldn’t tell you what his stance was on it. Probably a book for people more studious than myself – I’m very much ready to dive back into some chick-lit now.
ineke.co.uk 