Feelings of Reconciliation | Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold

Rich and Shadowy | Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold | C.S. Lewis

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	• Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold C.S. Lewis Harcourt Brace & Company, 1980 - 324 pages average customer review:based on 188 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Love is greater than justice

Without one mention of Christ in this book, C. S. Lewis was able to open my eyes to Christianity. In the way that Orual bears Psyche's pain because she loves her and by then equating Orual with Ungit, I was able to realize that one of the major points in Christianity is that love is greater than justice. And furthermore, as Orual bore Psyche's pain, Christ suffered to bear our pain. This book's message is an analogy for Christianity.

Feelings of Reconciliation

Till We Have Faces is a myth retold. The myth of the love affair between Cupid and Psyche is the basis of the story, which is about a young princess that is so beautiful that no man would dare pursue her, because she was thought to be a goddess. This makes the goddess Aphrodite terribly jealous and demands that Psyche be offered as a sacrifice to the god's. Aphrodite instructs her son Cupid to put a spell on her to desire the worst of mankind; however, Cupid falls madly in love with Psyche because she is so beautiful. Because Cupid is a god and Psyche is a mortal, Cupid hides himself from her even though he is her husband. Psyche's two evil sisters come and deceive Psyche into uncovering her lover, and therefore, bring the punishment of exile on her. Aphrodite is happy again.

Lewis takes this sad legend and transforms it into a story of redemption. The novel is written with the literary theory called "the broken-hearted reader" motif. This means that the narrative is written in a self-justifying prose that, in the end, exposes the brokenness and weakness of the writer. Something like Nathan's prophecy to David about the coveted lamb would be a good Hebrew example.

The story is told by one of the supposedly "evil" sisters named Orual. Orual is leads a tragic life of one love and loss after another. Her father, the king, is an abusive tyrant who despises her, not only because she is a woman, but because she is ugly. Orual's greatest love, however, is reserved for her younger sister, Psyche, who is ripped away from her by a strange sacrificial demand for her life by the goddess Ungit. Orual is devastated, yet hopes that Psyche is alive, and finds her one day in an obscure forest. Psyche is blissful and full of life. She is passionate about the love of her "husband" and refuses to return with Orual to the kingdom. Orual's jealousy corrodes her mind, and out of "love" manipulates Psyche into betraying her husband. Psyche is lost, and Orual remains bitter.

The king finally dies and Orual comes to power. She wears a veil to cover her ugliness, and becomes a legend throughout the land. She is cunning and brave as she rules her kingdom with the sword and her good counselors beside her. One of her counselor's is a man named Bardia, who is a commander of the military whom Orual is in love with. Yet, she also resents him because he is married. She despises him and makes him work long hours away from his family which in the end takes his life. Orual grieves for him and goes to comfort his wife who accuses her of murdering her husband with hard toil. Orual is disheartened.

However, the biggest blow comes when Orual is told the legend of Psyche by a temple priest. The story is told in such a way that makes Psyche the victim of her "evil sister," and Orual is outraged. She labors mightly over a book accusing the gods of injustice and defies anyone to tell her she is wrong. Orual accuses the gods of stealing Psyche from her, and pours out her complaint to them in a divine courtroom. However, as Orual is reading she realizes that she made Psyche violate the god not because Orual cared not for Psyche's life, but because she so wanted the highest place in Psyche's love.

Orual is interrupted by the judge and realizes that the gods have no need to defend themselves. Orual's protest is its own indictment. Orual then knows she has condemned herself. Her essential jealousy has been the jealousy of the godsa desire for their power, the beauty the posses, and the love they receive. Hence, Orual becomes the broken-hearted reader.

However, there is redemption. Orual is allowed to see the journeys of Psyche through her exile. Orual is humbled to see that Psyche has been bearing her grief working to restore her broken sister. Orual's story ends with an encounter. Her heart has been finally prepared for the grace she is about to receive. In her last vision she is visited by the god who is "all that is dreadful and all that is beauty" and beholds herself reflected in a pool beside her sister, both of them made beautiful!

The book ends abruptly, but that is only to show how inadequate words are to describe the feelings of reconciliation, peace, and forgiveness. Lewis writes about the book, "I ended my first book with the words no answer. I know now, Lord, why you utter no answer. You are yourself the answer. Before your face questions die away. What other answer would suffice? Only words, words; to be led out to battle against other words"

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Rich and Shadowy

C.S. Lewis is a genius; I cannot say this emphatically enough.

Till We Have Faces retells the traditional story of Cupid and Psyche. It does not mess with the storyline, but builds on it and makes it real and true, with live characters and so much detail. I would suggest being familiar with the original myth before reading it (it is written in the very back of the book) because I didn't understand just what was happening the first time I read the book through.

The story is...beautiful. Amazing. It draws you heavily into the atmosphere of the time, into Orural's obsessive love of her sister, Istra (Psyche), hatred of her father the king, learning of philosophy through Fox, the Greek prisoner, and the fear of Ungit (Venus).

Till We Have Faces offers so much insight - into holiness and love, among other subjects. It is interesting to see Lewis's work not directly relating to Christianity but through pagan mythology instead. I do not think I could compare the book to C.S. Lewis's other fiction; they are so entirely different in spirit. I will say that it is worth the read - worth many, many reads, for I notice new truths in Lewis's writing every time.

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Not the typical Lewis fare

As there exists a wealth of [mostly] helpful reviews, I will try to add to the current body rather than restate it all.

Till We Have Faces is known, by now, to be an allegory using the myth of Cupid and Psyche. For those who want a primer, Lewis has Apuleius' version of the myth summarized at the end of the work, which is helpful for keeping the allegory in mind, rather than trying to figure out what is going on with the plot.

By far, my impression is that Lewis' strength in this work is his stunning use of characterization. He makes both Orual and Psyche, as well as the King and Fox, so incredibly consistent-consistencies that required `tweaking' of the myth itself in order to implement-and consistencies that are required in order to make them seem more real. The result of such piercing characterizations is the ability to find pieces of ourselves in the characters, which adds to the meaningfulness of the allegory and the satisfaction from the story.

Here I wish to warn the reader: the climax and denouement are gentler in this story than they are in The Last Battle, The Space Trilogy-I should just say, gentler than Lewis' normal style. It is no less impacting, and no less worthy, but a careless read will cause the reader to miss it. Unfortunately, many (not all, of course) readers tend to speed up near the end, where things `get good'. I would advise against this: for those readers who know they tend toward this, tread carefully in Part Two.

I also cannot declare that it is Lewis' best fiction: maybe such a thing differs depending on which of his works personally speak to which readers. However, it is certainly worth the time and energy, and there are many benefits to the way he chooses to retell the myth. I personally do not find that it detracts from the myth in any way, but that each can be savored separately.

Enjoy!

--The Medieval Chick

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Reading through new eyes

I wanted to finish the book since so much more reading is piling up. As it is I stay up late doing my Bible reading by flashlight. So I just finished the book. I read the last half in about 2 days. I should know better than to do that. Reading deep stuff so quickly always makes me cry.

I found myself crying at the end, because it was my story, my prayer. The whole story, as I guess Lewis intended, and Orual's final prayer. "Long did I hate you, long did I fear you," she says at the very end. Oh God, that was so me! Now, 10+ years after reading this the first time, I understand. I understand so clearly. It moves me to tears. How could I have been so blind for so many years?

I had always thought of Ungit as somehow good. Gods have to be good, right? I never saw that she was a metaphor for all that was ugly and sinful in us - a profane love that was not really love.

It is odd to read this book through new eyes. We are Psyche. What that means I do not know. But reading this book a second time I see many of the layers I missed the first time. This is not like the Narnia series where the metaphors are often easy. This is a hard, deep book, meant for adults. I see many Christian metaphors I missed the first time because my head was with HER instead of Him. It's like how I used to read the Bible and it never made sense. Then, after I became a Christian, it became the most wonderful book and I began to study it with new eyes, and saw many things I'd overlooked before.

And still I feel I've missed so many nuances in the book. Many things, I think, have double meanings. Lewis was a master with words. Something will have a meaning in the book, and another, deeper, Christian meaning.

All of this went over my head the first time. I didn't understand a tenth of what Lewis was trying to convey. I guess I did not have a face then; I was not ready to listen to the truth, both the truth about me, and the truth about God (there's that double meaning again!).

I could go on forever. There's not time nor space enough to write everything Lewis wove into this story. All I know is I thank God for showing me my life in these pages. The girl who was first handed the book was Orual, not able to hear the truth, not yet ready for the answer that would unmake her, change her. I know I'm not perfect. I won't truly have a face until the day I die and stand before God. But every day I die a little and become more the woman God wants me to be. "Long did I hate you, long did I fear you." But no more. No more.

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