In "Till We Have Faces," I like the Greek emphasis Lewis has in the book. Although this book does not really talk about Christianity, it does get your mind whirling about Christiainity a bit. Since all truth is God's truth, I like the ideal of a Christian writer, writing on subject matter unrelated to Christianity. We can take Greek myths and it can help us find out more about God and the history He oversees (whether that be Greek history) or another aspect of history.
posted by Tim W. at 8:00 AM
2 Comments:
The Greek myth reinterpretation truly is one of the most enjoyable aspects of Till We Have Faces. I have always liked the story of cupid and psychie, and to see it reimagined in a slightly more feasible situation was a fascinating experience. In writing this, I believe (amongst many other worthy goals) that Lewis was trying to pull into his readers' perspective the pre-Christian acts of God in the civilizations that weren't necessarily chronicled in the Old Testament.
Yes . . . interestingly, it was the mythical content of “Till We Have Faces” which first encouraged (drove?) me to read the book. I have always had a love of all things (well . . . almost all things) ancient and historical, mythical, or just plain intriguing, so to find a book by Lewis that included such “mythical” elements within it just made the book that much more enjoyable . . . and attractive [I am a bibliophile; I think I can call a book “attractive” if I want to . . . :) {sheepish grin} . . .].
Yet it is not as if mythical elements are not included elsewhere in Lewis' writings; on the contrary, it seems as if almost every book I have read of his has had this common thread (in some form or another) contained within it.
The “Narnia” books, for example, have in abundance these characters and creatures, which, from all appearances, might have stepped straight out of Greek mythology. These include such things as the Pegasus, Centaurs (albeit, in the “Narnian” stories the Centaurs are a bit more well-mannered than their ancient counterparts . . . to put it lightly), satyrs, Bacchus, and the dryads, etc.
What I find to be most curious (and even fascinating) about Lewis' use of myth in his works is that these references to mythology do not seem to be limited to Lewis' fiction writing; even Lewis' more outright “Christian” writings appear to have many such references and allusions to ancient mythology (e.g. the mentions of the “dying god” story in “Reflections on the Psalms” and “The Four Loves,” etc. Come to think of it, both of those books are quite full of such good stuff . . .). Sadly, I do not believe I can begin to list even a fraction these references because, if I did, this comment might have some major difficulties coming to a close . . .
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