By: Amy Stello
Understanding the mechanics behind the experiential knowledge of reading a good story is just as important as reading the story itself. This is a main subject within Lewis's essay "Myth Became Fact." Though we are analyzing the Narnia series, the space trilogy and Till We Have Faces, I think another story to consider is Lewis's The Great Divorce.
It seems as though The Great Divorce is the "most literal" of all Lewis's stories in reference to the "sehnsucht" or "nostalgia" which Lewis says the best fantasy writers put into their myths. This story seems to point to exactly what longing Lewis believes we have. The interesting thing about The Great Divorce IS the picture it portrays of heaven. The idea that humans are not quite suited to enjoy heaven is a radical thought. Lewis does make the disclaimer that he is not making a legalistic, formal theological case, but that it is an idea that he wishes to present.
Heaven is what everyone longs for, but Lewis shows that without the right frame of mind, one cannot be satisfied and enjoy heaven. One of my favorite parts in the book is when the protagonist finds the grass unbearably sharp and all around him he is becoming bruised and broken by the intense "hardness" of heaven.
In contrast to heaven, the idea of hell itself is a frightening one. People are not punished, insofar as the typical view of punishment. The punishment is the punishment of being trapped within their own minds. Lewis's depiction of hell may be similar to lack of community which can be found in Narnia's antagonists. The White Witch destroys community by causing paranoia and isolation among the creatures.
Overall, heaven- or being with God- is what Lewis essentially seems to be saying is the key to sehnsecht and in The Great Divorce, he puts his own views clearly out in the open.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Screwtape Letters and Lewis
By: Amy Stello
Lewis's stories have always been a part of my "literary" life. Since I was young, my parents always read the Narnia stories to me and my siblings right before bedtime. I always appreciated them, and a certain part of them stayed with me even while I read onto other novels a pre-teen girl reads.
During class, Dr. Redick mentioned Lewis's book The Screwtape Letters. After rereading so many of the Narnia books, I realized that I had forgotten all about this little gem of a book. After reviewing it a bit, I remembered how this book was a work of genius. I can see how The Screwtape Letters takes Lewis's philosophy to a whole new level.
The Narnia series are books filled with little truths on life. If you read quickly over the books, you may not experience the beautiful simplicity and ease with which Lewis presents truth to his readers, young and old. I feel that The Screwtape Letters takes these truths and adds into the story the complexity of human nature and how it relates to the spiritual realm. I do not think that I would have been able to understand the significance of such a book as a young child, only because the experiences which I held were so limited that they could not fully relate to the protagonist's life struggles.
That is the beauty within The Screwtape Letters. These show us the internal battles that each person confronts in day-to-day life. I would personally say that it is one of Lewis's best novels.
Lewis's stories have always been a part of my "literary" life. Since I was young, my parents always read the Narnia stories to me and my siblings right before bedtime. I always appreciated them, and a certain part of them stayed with me even while I read onto other novels a pre-teen girl reads.
During class, Dr. Redick mentioned Lewis's book The Screwtape Letters. After rereading so many of the Narnia books, I realized that I had forgotten all about this little gem of a book. After reviewing it a bit, I remembered how this book was a work of genius. I can see how The Screwtape Letters takes Lewis's philosophy to a whole new level.
The Narnia series are books filled with little truths on life. If you read quickly over the books, you may not experience the beautiful simplicity and ease with which Lewis presents truth to his readers, young and old. I feel that The Screwtape Letters takes these truths and adds into the story the complexity of human nature and how it relates to the spiritual realm. I do not think that I would have been able to understand the significance of such a book as a young child, only because the experiences which I held were so limited that they could not fully relate to the protagonist's life struggles.
That is the beauty within The Screwtape Letters. These show us the internal battles that each person confronts in day-to-day life. I would personally say that it is one of Lewis's best novels.
Friday, February 12, 2010
Wilderness and Deities
We were talking about the Greek myth of Demeter and Persephone last class. It was probably the first time that I ever really thought about why that myth is able to exist. I've always thought that someone thousands of years ago simply came up with a story about mother-daughter relationships and applied it to the deities they worshipped. It wasn't until I saw the huge rocky hill in the slide show pertaining to Greece that the wheels began to turn in my head. The hill or plateau (whatever it is, its impressive) looks so foreboding it just begs to be turned into a setting for something ominous. What could be more ominous than the God of the dead kidnapping (possibly violating) the maiden of Spring and plunging the Earth into eternal winter? My initial response was that of many people in that I simply thought, "Hmm, well I guess people back then needed an explanation as to why we have seasons, so they created a story to make themselves feel that there was some sense of order in the world."
The book, Landscapes of the Sacred, talks about how places are not chosen to be sacred by the people around it but are discovered as sacred. Its like the stories are already bound to the land through our unconscious dreams. We hold things to be sacred not through our logical processes, but through our souls' innate desires. When we find sacred places, we don't dissect why they are sacred. They seem to have a way of telling us their stories. We personify them, give them histories beyond what we can trace in the archives of human progress, and make them seem almost...like ourselves. When a tree falls in the middle of a place we hold as sacred, even if it is only due to a naturally brutal wind, its as if we mourn the death of a pet or maybe even a friend. I remember a huge willow tree that grew in the sand beside my old beach house. It had been planted when I was born and so I always felt this special connection to it. It was beautiful and bigger than anything my child's head could conceive of. It survived many storms and two hurricanes by the time I was 10. Every time a branch would fall off or the trunk was slashed by a storm, my dad would always wrap the bark in thick white "bandages". I saw the tree as a sort of silent family member that we were all obligated to care for and protect. Years later, my family hit hard financial times and we had to sell the beach house. I didn't really feel anything too painful. I was 17 and even though I liked the beach house, I didn't exactly mourn the loss of the beach house that had turned into a timshare. It had been shared between us and 20 relatives by the time we sold it. The next day, literally as soon as the ink dried, Hurricane Isabel tore through Plum Point (where our beach house stood) and ripped out the huge willow by its roots. It was washed away with the surge. I came back to see my Aunt Annie who now owns the property. To my surprise, my eyes didn't search for the house, the porch, or even our prized kayaks. My eyes searched for the willow I had assumed would always be there. In that moment, I knew that I had held that tree to be more than just a place for shade. I knew that it had been my own personal touchstone. I had not named it or made sacrifices to it at its roots, but to me, it was a sort of childhood deity. I had deemed its immortality before I had even known what 'immortal' meant. This is just my personal experience, but I imagine the creation of deities and their stories come from a similar place of familiarity and affection.
The book, Landscapes of the Sacred, talks about how places are not chosen to be sacred by the people around it but are discovered as sacred. Its like the stories are already bound to the land through our unconscious dreams. We hold things to be sacred not through our logical processes, but through our souls' innate desires. When we find sacred places, we don't dissect why they are sacred. They seem to have a way of telling us their stories. We personify them, give them histories beyond what we can trace in the archives of human progress, and make them seem almost...like ourselves. When a tree falls in the middle of a place we hold as sacred, even if it is only due to a naturally brutal wind, its as if we mourn the death of a pet or maybe even a friend. I remember a huge willow tree that grew in the sand beside my old beach house. It had been planted when I was born and so I always felt this special connection to it. It was beautiful and bigger than anything my child's head could conceive of. It survived many storms and two hurricanes by the time I was 10. Every time a branch would fall off or the trunk was slashed by a storm, my dad would always wrap the bark in thick white "bandages". I saw the tree as a sort of silent family member that we were all obligated to care for and protect. Years later, my family hit hard financial times and we had to sell the beach house. I didn't really feel anything too painful. I was 17 and even though I liked the beach house, I didn't exactly mourn the loss of the beach house that had turned into a timshare. It had been shared between us and 20 relatives by the time we sold it. The next day, literally as soon as the ink dried, Hurricane Isabel tore through Plum Point (where our beach house stood) and ripped out the huge willow by its roots. It was washed away with the surge. I came back to see my Aunt Annie who now owns the property. To my surprise, my eyes didn't search for the house, the porch, or even our prized kayaks. My eyes searched for the willow I had assumed would always be there. In that moment, I knew that I had held that tree to be more than just a place for shade. I knew that it had been my own personal touchstone. I had not named it or made sacrifices to it at its roots, but to me, it was a sort of childhood deity. I had deemed its immortality before I had even known what 'immortal' meant. This is just my personal experience, but I imagine the creation of deities and their stories come from a similar place of familiarity and affection.
The Whole World
Catherine Porter
C.S Lewis On Stories and The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe
During a conversation Lewis had with an American student which he describes in his work entitled On Stories, the student tells Lewis that he finds his enjoyment in the excitement and thrill of a story. Lewis argues that it cannot be mere excitability that draws the reader to a story, but the "whole world to which it belonged" (pg 4). As I read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, I noticed how true this when reading a fairy story. While I was certainly interested in the supenseful plot, I also became emersed in the world Lewis creates in the novel. The world of Narnia itself is what not only allows for the plot to have a 'space' to exist, but it also adds to the overall plot. For instance, in Chapter 6 it's a robin who leads all of the children to the Beavers. In a world where birds do not aid human beings in finding their way, the interaction between animals and humans allow the reader to become a part of the world the story describes. Another example occurs when the Witch's curse begins to fade. Aslan's presence in the land results in the melting of snow and the new growth of spring. While this is also a reason for excitement, the description of the change occuring allows the reader to find themselves in the middle of Narnia for themselves; smelling the flowers and seeing the stream flow. By enjoying the world in which the suspense takes place allows the reader to experience the novel in a freshing way.
C.S Lewis On Stories and The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe
During a conversation Lewis had with an American student which he describes in his work entitled On Stories, the student tells Lewis that he finds his enjoyment in the excitement and thrill of a story. Lewis argues that it cannot be mere excitability that draws the reader to a story, but the "whole world to which it belonged" (pg 4). As I read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, I noticed how true this when reading a fairy story. While I was certainly interested in the supenseful plot, I also became emersed in the world Lewis creates in the novel. The world of Narnia itself is what not only allows for the plot to have a 'space' to exist, but it also adds to the overall plot. For instance, in Chapter 6 it's a robin who leads all of the children to the Beavers. In a world where birds do not aid human beings in finding their way, the interaction between animals and humans allow the reader to become a part of the world the story describes. Another example occurs when the Witch's curse begins to fade. Aslan's presence in the land results in the melting of snow and the new growth of spring. While this is also a reason for excitement, the description of the change occuring allows the reader to find themselves in the middle of Narnia for themselves; smelling the flowers and seeing the stream flow. By enjoying the world in which the suspense takes place allows the reader to experience the novel in a freshing way.
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