Kathryn Ann "Kay" Lindskoog née Stillwell was a C. S. Lewis scholar known partly for her theory that some works attributed to Lewis are forgeries, including The Dark Tower.
Work on C. S. Lewis
The main target of Lindskoog's writing was Walter Hooper, Lewis' literary co-executor who edited most of Lewis' posthumous work. Lindskoog points out that Hooper's relationship with Lewis was overstated in some of the publications that he edited, and she argues that several works published under Lewis's name were in fact by Hooper. C. S. Lewis' stepson, Douglas Gresham, denies the forgery claims, saying that "The whole controversy thing was engineered for very personal reasons ... Her fanciful theories have been pretty thoroughly discredited." It is not clear if Gresham has ever been in a position to know the details of the literary controversy or the nature of Hooper's acquaintance with Lewis during the closing months of Lewis' life. It is clear from the diaries of Warren Lewis that Lewis' brother distrusted Hooper, whom he viewed as a dishonest interloper in the 1960s. Lewis scholars are divided about the merits of Lindskoog's charges, but some of them have since been disproved by discovery of Lewis' own typescripts. Much of her perceived animosity against Hooper may have been derived from disappointment that she was not given any role in dealing with his literary legacy, though Lewis acknowledged her as knowledgeable about his bibliography. The controversy was analysed by Nicolas Barker in "Essays in Criticism", where he calls Lindskoog's work "a poisoned book".
Selected works
Related to C. S. Lewis
Lion of Judah in Never-never Land: The theology of C. S. Lewis expressed in his fantasies for children, preface by Walter Hooper – 1957 M.A. thesis, Cal State–Long Beach, as Kathryn Stillwell
C.S. Lewis, Mere Christian
Around the Year with C. S. Lewis and His Friends – by date, with blank lines for diary or journal entries
The C. S. Lewis Hoax
Light in the Shadowlands: Protecting the Real C.S. Lewis or illustrated by Patrick Wynne
Faerie Gold: treasures from the lands of enchantment, edited by Lindskoog and Ranelda Mack Hunsicker
Lindskoog also edited and abridged classic children's novels for the Multnomah Press "Young Readers Library". Seven volumes were published from 1991 to 1993 and reissued by P&R Publishing from 2001 to 2003: Alcott's Little Women, Burnett's The Little Princess, Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, Dodge's Hans Brinker, or, the Silver Skates, MacDonald's Sir Gibbie, and Sewell's Black Beauty. Lindskoog explained such "literary liposuction" in 1993. Among other things, she claimed to have answered a friendly telephone critic, "I'm as much of a purist as you. I absolutely love these authors. That's why I'm hand-polishing them for today's readers and performing what I call literary liposuction – removing flab and fat. I keep every bit of the original story, the style, and the values – even restoring parts cut out in other versions. I know my work would make the author happy; otherwise, I wouldn't do it."
Other
Up from Eden ; reissued 1977 as On My Way Up From Eden: a Christian Woman takes a whimsical but practical look at what she wants to be
How to Grow a Young Reader, as by John and Kay Lindskoog;
