C. S. Lewis and Myth 2020

I will readily admit that I may have procrastinated a bit much in regards to working on my blog posts, waiting for that perfect moment of inspiration to strike, when I should have been working to flesh out my own ideas rather than just letting them come to me. However, with that concession in mind, I am glad to say that something exactly like I had hoped for happened while reading the discussion between Ransom and Hyoi in Chapter 12 of Out of the Silent Planet . The discussion revolves largely around the concept and experience of love and appreciation among the hrossa, and sees Ransom struggling to understand how they can content themselves with valuing the memories rather than replicating the actions, as well as questioning why that can be the way it is with such dangers as the hnakra dwelling in the local waters. Though he does struggle to comprehend them, Hyoi has an answer every step of the way, culminating with the line, "...And I say also this, I do not think the forest woul...

    While reading Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia, I wanted to make connections between Lewis' story and truth I had read from the Bible.  A few of the connections that I made included: Aslan being murdered on the stone table --> Jesus being crucified on the cross (Matthew 27:32-56) Aslan's resurrection --> Jesus' resurrection (Matthew 28)  Lucy being the only one to see Aslan at first in Prince Caspian --> Jesus saying that those who become like children will enter the Kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 18:1-4)  Aslan separating the animals in The Last Battle to his right and to his left --> Jesus separating the sheep and the goats on the day of final judgment (Matthew 25:31-46) Eustace trying to take off his dragon skin and Aslan having to do it for him and Eustace transformed into a new person --> When people become believers, we leave behind our old lives in pursuit of a holy life that reflect Christ  (2 Corinthians 5:1-5, 17)  Once everyone...

In “Ethics of Elfland,” Chesterton opens with a reflection on pragmatics and idealism (81).  He recounts his experience of being told that with age he would have to abandon his idealism in favor of the practical and how in actuality, he has done nothing of the sort, instead choosing to hold fast to the ideals he sees as much more reliable and lasting than the “reality” of the practical (Chesterton 81-82).  Chesterton’s reflection here provides two alternative dispositions for adults: one which is focused on the practical and one which holds fast to ideals.  These two kinds of adults are aptly visible in C. S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia. In The Magician’s Nephew , Lewis describes Uncle Andrew as “dreadfully practical” (136).  This description coincides with Uncle Andrew’s encounter with the Talking Beasts (Lewis, Magician’s Nephew 136).  Instead of marveling at the wonder of these Beasts and the way they were selected, Uncle Andrew was interested “only in seein...

In class this week, we discussed Lewis’s “On Three Ways of Writing for Children,” and hearing a particular quote from the essay reminded me of a thought I had while reading “On Stories.”  The quote reads: “He does not despise real woods because he has read of enchanted woods: the reading makes all real woods a little enchanted” (Lewis, “Writing for Children” 38).  This idea of bringing a sense of wonder from a fantastical story back into the real world of ordinary things is one I find particularly appealing, and this is not the only instance in which Lewis makes note of this experience.  In “On Stories,” Lewis wrote, “...the whole story, paradoxically enough, strengthens our relish for real life.  This excursion into the preposterous sends us back with renewed pleasure to the actual” (14).  This further compliments Chesterton’s testimony that “fairy-tale sentiment also sank into [him] and became [his] sentiment towards the whole world” (101).  When I fi...

               When reading Tolkien’s “On Fairy-Stories” several weeks ago, a snippet right at the beginning of the essay struck me: “In that land [of the fairy-story] a man may (perhaps) count himself fortunate to have wandered, but its richness and strangeness make dumb the traveller who would report it.  And while he is there it is dangerous for him to ask too many questions” (38).  What fascinated me so much about  this sentiment of Tolkien’s was its relevance to a recent book series I’ve enjoyed.  The series, Melissa Albert’s The Hazel Wood, currently includes two novels, The Hazel Wood and The Night Country , as well as the short story “The Boy Who Didn’t Come Home” with Tales from the Hinterland scheduled for release next year and it largely stems from ideas about the nature of fairy tales and this danger that Tolkien describes.                  The Night Coun...