C.S. Lewis

Many of C.S. Lewis's views cut little ice with me, and Lewis would have hated moral scepticism, transhumanism, evolutionary psychology, and much else that I am friendly to.

But I've just read a collection of his essays, reviews, etc., and it reminded me how clearly Lewis could think about topics such as literature, science fiction, and fantasy - and the lucidity with which he expressed his thoughts. Some of his remarks about science fiction, which he defended in a sensible way against dismissive critics, are still refreshing, and he wrote admirably clean, pleasing sentences - very different from a lot of ugly, modern-day academic prose.

Finally, I do like this joke, told by Lewis in a transcribed discussion with Kingsley Amis and Brian Aldiss. It gives a slightly different view of his character:

The Bishop of Exeter was giving prizes at a girls' school. They did a performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream, and the Bishop stood up afterwards and made a speech and said [piping voice]: "I was very interested in your delightful performance, and among other things I was very interested in seeing for the first time in my life a female Bottom."