PWJ: S4E4 – “After Hours” with William O’Flaherty

Today I interview a man who is well-known in the C.S. Lewis community, William O’Flaherty. William runs EssentialCSLewis.com and is the host of the All About Jack podcast. He has just launched a new YouTube cannel called 90 Seconds To Knowing C.S. Lewis. He is also the author of The Misquotable CS Lewis and the book which we will be discussing today, his guide to The Screwtape Letters called C.S. Lewis Goes To Hell.

S3E4: “After Hours” with William O’Flaherty (Download)

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The roadmap for Season 4 is available here.

Timestamps

00:00 – Entering “The Eagle & Child”…
00:13 – Welcome
00:49 – William O’Flaherty
02:02 – The Misquotable C.S. Lewis
04:20 – Quote-of-the-week
06:30 – Drink-of-the-week
06:50 – Patreon Toast
07:23 – Introduced to Lewis
08:01 – Going deeper
09:33 – Writing
10:33 – Podcasting
15:27 – YouTube
17:29 – Vocation satisfaction
18:30 – Genesis of “C.S. Lewis goes to Hell“
21:16 – How to use the book
24:00 – Would Lewis like this?
27:58 – Screwtape’s main weapon
30:41 – Screwtape Reading Tips
32:01 – Contact Information
33:46 – “Last Call” Bell and Closing Remarks

YouTube Verison

After Show Skype Session

Following on from Tuesday’s episode, Andrew sits down to share with you all of his different versions of “The Screwtape Letters” and to talk about some of the more obscure Prefaces out there:

Show Notes

Opening

• I shared some biographical information about William:

William is the host of EssentialCSLewis.com. He has his own podcast, “All About Jack” and he is also the author of both “Misquotable C.S. Lewis” and, for particular relevance this season, he is also the author of “C.S. Lewis goes to Hell” which is his analysis of “The Screwtape Letters”

Biographical information about William O’Flaherty

• I explained that William’s podcast was my main introduction to the wider C.S. Lewis and that William and I got to meet in Montreat at the end of last year.
• We chatted about his book The Misquotable C.S. Lewis which helps folks identify quotations misattributed to Lewis. For the quote-of-the-week I chose all incorrect quotations:

“Getting over a painful experience is much like crossing monkey bars—let go to move forward.”

“Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it’s thinking of yourself less.”

“Integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one is watching.”

“Experience that most brutal of teachers. But you learn, my God, do you learn.”

Not C.S. Lewis

“There are far, far better things ahead than any we leave behind.”

C.S. Lewis…but requires some tweaking and some context

• The drink-of-the-week was chrysanthemum tea. William was drinking a protein shake.

Discussion

• William spoke about his introduction to Lewis and how his interest in him grew deeper.
• We talked about his early versions of his website EssentialCSLewis.com, as well as podcasting at All About Jack. William told us about his new YouTube channel called 90 Seconds To Knowing C.S. Lewis. We discussed what he’s enjoyed most about doing all of this work.
• We discussed his book C.S. Lewis goes to Hell. I asked him how the book could be used.
• I mentioned that in 1947 Lewis refused permission for a scholar to create an index for TSL, saying:

“…part of the success of that book depends on luring the ordinary reader into a serious self-knowledge under pretense of being a kind of joke… Of course, this would not deter readers like you…but it is the worldly reader that I specifically want to catch”

January 1947 (Collected Letters II)

• William explained what Screwtape’s main weapon is, keeping things out of the mind of the patient. I commented on the irony that, when Lewis appeared on the cover of time, he had a devil whispering into his ear…

• If you would like to contact William, he has a Twitter account, @EssentialLewis. If you come across a quotation and would like to know whether or not it’s real, you can ask about it on William’s Facebook Group.
• Don’t forget to check out EssentialCSLewis.com and subscribe to his YouTube channel, 90 Seconds To Knowing C.S. Lewis.
• Both of William’s books, C.S. Lewis goes to Hell and The Misquotable C.S. Lewis are available on Amazon.