Re-Reading Till We Have Faces- Heidi Naylor

Among the many wise pieces of advice C.S. Lewis has to offer, is his belief that the unliterary man is a man who reads books only once. As he states in “On Stories”, “There is hope for a man who has never real Malroy or Boswell or Tristram Shandy or Shakespeare’s Sonnets: but what can you do with a man who says he ‘has read’ them, meaning he has read them once, and thinks that this settles the matter?” (On Stories,16).

In my opinion, Till We Have Faces needs to be read and re-read and re-read. Aside from the fact that it has been thought to be Lewis’ masterpiece, the subject matter is worthy of close inspection. Told from the angle of Psyche’s older sister, Orual, Lewis recounts the myth Cupid and Psyche. Most fascinating within this story is the concept of love.

When Orual encourages Psyche to steal a peek of her husband, who she has been forbidden to see, Psyche responds to Orual: “Yet how- or why- you can have blackened and tormented your soul with such thoughts… but no more of that, if ever you loved me, put them away now” (160). Psyche pleads with Orual to put her suspicious thoughts away and she would do so if she ever loved her.

Later on in the same conversation, Orual questions Cupid’s love for Psyche: “Who that loved you could be angry at your breaking so unreasonable a command- and for so good a reason” (163). And eventually uses Psyche’s love for her against Psyche: “Listen. You have driven me to desperate courses. I give you your choice. Swear on this edge, with my blood still wet on it, that you will this very night do as I have commanded you; or else I’ll first kill you and then myself” (165).

The whole conversation, and the book as a whole, was one in which the reader had to figure out whose actions truly showed love. Orual seemed to use Psyche’s love as a weapon against her and Psyche began to realize that Orual was not acting out of love. Another thing to consider was the disconnect that existed between Cupid and Psyche because she had never seen his face: can you love someone if you do not truly love them? All these are questions Lewis explores and can be explored further through re-reading; “a re-reader is not looking for actual surprises (which can come only once) but for a certain surprisingness” (On Stories, 16).