Lewis's Great Divorce

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.