C S Lewis is, to many people, a children’s author; he wrote the Chronicles of Narnia tales, which includes The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. Aslan is a powerful king; a wise lion who features heavily in the books – representing goodness, justice and sacrifice. Folklore has it that C S Lewis based his depiction of Aslan on the Godstow Heraldic Lion – and I could certainly believe this to be true. I think this because, not only was C S Lewis a children’s author, but he was also a distinguished literary heavyweight.
Before publishing The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe in 1950, Lewis had been a Fellow and Tutor in English Literature at Oxford University – the sort of person that Miss Mawer would have been aware of, as one of her passions was literature. The fact that Lewis was at Oxford is significant, as the stone lion is also near Oxford. In fact, the lion is near to a pub in Oxford, one frequented by distinguished literary heavyweights of that time! (The frequenting authors also included J R R Tolkien, who wrote Lord of the Rings, and Lewis Carrol who wrote Alice in Wonderland.)
Miss Mawer had connections with Oxford. As a school girl, she had expected to go to university. At the last moment, she was not able to go. However, I have a feeling it may have been Oxford that she had been aiming for. Instead, in 1910, she was allowed to take, and passed, the Oxford Senior Local Certificate.
Later, in 1919, she was involved with Sybil Thorndike & Lewis Casson’s production of Trojan Women. They had an initial one-off ‘test’ performance in Oxford, which Miss Mawer enjoyed so much she said it was even better than the actual London run of the play.
The lion photo was probably taken in the mid-1930s – did she frequent the pub with the literary leanings and after a glass or two of beverage, posed atop a large lion?
On her retirement, she moved to Blewbury, which is just half an hour’s drive from where the lion is situated.
I am hoping, one day, to go and visit the lion. If you would also like to see him, I will post the location links in next week’s blog post.