Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold.

LEWIS, C.S.

Item Number: 131289

London: Geoffrey Bles, 1956.

First edition of Lewis’ final novel retelling of Cupid and Psyche, based on its telling in a chapter of The Golden Ass of Apuleius. Octavo, original cloth. Near fine in a near fine price-clipped dust jacket. Jacket art by Biggs. An exceptional example.

The first part of the book is written from the perspective of Psyche's older sister Orual, as an accusation against the gods. The story is set in the fictive kingdom of Glome, a primitive city-state whose people have occasional contact with civilized Hellenistic Greece. In the second part of the book, the narrator undergoes a change of mindset (Lewis would use the term conversion) and understands that her initial accusation was tainted by her own failings and shortcomings, and that the gods are lovingly present in humans' lives. Finally written in a "full flush of inspiration. it was certainly his most unexpected book, and his greatest tour de force; to many readers, and probably to himself, his best work of fiction (even if Perelandra remained his favourite)" (Green & Hooper, C. S. Lewis: A Biography, 1974).