Abstract
According to Peter J. Schakel, C. S. Lewis achieved ‘personal wholeness’ through the resolution of the tension between reason and imagination in his final novel Till We Have Faces (182). Schakel’s study provides valuable insights into Lewis’s most difficult work, but I think his conclusion is quite wrong. There is no sense of wholeness to be found in Lewis’s fiction; what achievement is celebrated in Till We Have Faces is sadly undermined by the pessimistic ending, and more violently overturned by the two short stories which appeared after the final novel was published.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 1993 Kath Filmer
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Filmer, K. (1993). So Who Was C. S. Lewis?. In: The Fiction of C. S. Lewis. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-22535-4_10
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-22535-4_10
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-22537-8
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-22535-4
eBook Packages: Palgrave Literature & Performing Arts CollectionLiterature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)