"Saving The Appearances" by Owen Barfield Is Our Book For July

Owen Barfield was C.S. Lewis's friend of the second kind.  He was also C.S. Lewis's soliciter and handled his financial affairs.  Lewis describes a friend of the second kind in his autobiography, "Surprised by Joy" as:

"... the Second Friend is the man who disagrees with you about everything.  He is not so much the alter ego as the antiself.  Of course he shares your interests; otherwise he would not become your friend at all.  But he has approached them all at a different angle.  He has read all the right books but has got the wrong thing out of every one.  It is as if he spoke your language but mispronounced it.  How can he be so nearly right and yet, invariably, just not right? ..."

That was the relationship that Jack Lewis had with Owen Barfield.  They went at each other hammer and tongs in what Lewis, at least, characterized as The Great War.  Lewis came out of it cleansed of his chronological snobbery while Barfield emerged largely unscathed.  We'll be exploring Barfield this month and on July 11th Elizabeth will be our discussion leader on Barfield's Saving the Appearances.

July 11th Owen Barfield's Saving the Appearances led by Elizabeth
August 8th Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility led by Cristabel
September 12th The Magician's Twin a group of essays edited by John West and our discussion leader will be Peggy (We'll also agree on the selection of essays to read from God In The Dock)
October 10th Selected Essays from God In The Dock by C.S. Lewis led by Melissa
November 8th The Literary Impact of the Authorized Version an essay by C.S. Lewis (17 pages) led by Iain 
December 12th or thereabouts The Annual C.S. Lewis Society Christmas Party where we bring a snack to share and discuss the plans for the coming year