Customer Reviews

THE PILGRIM'S REGRESS

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I have read almost everything C.S. Lewis wrote, including letters to the editor, all three space novels, Till We Have Faces, and many others. One thing I really enjoy is seeing how bits from one work will spill over into others, and how each writing reflects on his life. I have read the Pilgrim's Regress now 4 times, and every time I see more in it. And not just about Lewis: about the development of thought up throught the years between the wars.
Overall, this is a book that is well worth reading. It gives the best explanation I've seen (better than Surprised by Joy, IMO) of his idea of Joy, and of the "Island" (image from Regress) that drove him to finally find Christ. Passages from the "Heaven" chapter of The Problem of Pain are close, but I thought in Regress he uses the allegory of the Island most effectively to explain his concept of longing and Joy.
At first, I must admit, Regress is difficult to understand for somebody without much background in fiction or allegory such as myself, and without much background in the philosophical movements of pre-war Europe. There are, however, two things in the book that are very helpful: (1) the afterword where Lewis explains his background; and (2) the explanatory headings on the tops of the pages that track the allegory.
Lewis said he wasn't sure this was a good idea of his, but I don't agree. Now, even not being a student of allegory, I would not read the headings first, or even primarily (as a kind of Cliff's Notes of the book). Read that way, they detract from the book. Rather, I read the whole book through the first time without the headings; only then, after I finished a section, going back and reading the headings on that section. Kind of like reading the Cliff's Notes along with the book itself; very useful, but hardly anybody does it.

While I wouldn't put it quite at the top of my list of Lewis' works, this guided stroll through Lewis' psyche on its dialectic course towards Christ is a pleasant and enlightening journey, full of off-beat humor and insight. Starting from Puritanica (what modern readers might call Fundie-town) and the dread of a black pit with snakes and scorpions for those who do not obey "The Landlord," the hero sets out in the other direction in search of an island paradise. Along the way, he meets a diverse and amusingly described panoply of personalized tempters. Some of these characters are a bit hard to finger, but many still survive as philosophical specimens. Lewis has fun showing cultural Christians, Marxists, and bohemian artists in a Medieval landscape, alongside dragons and giants. Reminiscent less of Bunyan than of Journey to the West at times, Lewis engages a self-depracatory and even slapstick humor to point to serious lessons. But to me, the most poignant scene in the book was a more serious dialogue of riddles between Lady Reason and a Giant whose glance revealed the sub-human underpinnings of soul, revealing horrors in every person. I understood that scene very well. The giant of reductionistic science still walks the land and holds many captive, and may have held me had Lady Reason not come to my rescue, too, with Lewis' help.

Reason defeated the monster with a few quick jabs, which go to the heart of the matter, but if you don't like allegory, Lewis develops his arguments more fully elsewhere. Those who would like to see the story of those years in prose, should read Surprised By Joy. (Pilgrim's Regress is not meant to be entirely autobiographical, I don't think.) For a didactic version of the confrontation with the giant, see Abolition of Man; if you want it in fairy-tale form, read Puddleglum's brilliant speech in The Silver Chair. Lewis was nothing if not a versatile writer.

author, Jesus and the Religions of Man d.marshall@sun.ac.jp

C. S. Lewis says more with one letter than some people say their entire lives!

This book requires two pre-requisites: "Pilgrims Progress" by Bunyan, and "Surprised by Joy," by Lewis. You will be lost with out this background. It also helps to be a genius, but I don't believe I can be of much help in that area.

This is an allegory of Lewis eventual conversion to Anglican Christianity. It presents Lewis's own story in the story of a young boy John and his struggles with religion, and how he wanders here and there trying to find God and what He is about.

The chapters are usually short, but in typical Lewis fashion, he packs a lot of thought in a small sentence. And the surprising thing is that he is so readable. There is no academic or philosophical mumbo-jumbo. It is all to rare straight talk!

This book is not just a journey to Christianity and to Christ, but also a vary biting commentary on the worldly and secular philosophies current in the world. Pay close attention, and see how many of the pundants and professors you see pasted in the story!

This is Lewis's first book, and it his his "Q" document--the source for much of his corpulent corpus of writing. It is is a good overview to Clivian thought!

C. S. Lewis is best known for his story telling and his apologeticism of Christianity. He is truly in his element when he combines the two in the form of allegory. The Pilgim's Regress is a fine example of this and is notably cleaner in its approach than later allegories such as The Chronicles of Narnia and his science fiction trilogy. Where his science fiction gets weighted down by details and lofty text, The Pilgrim's Regress allows one's imagination to supply the details and uses simple substitution instance as language, thus more direct. The Pilgrim's Regress is also written in such a manner as to hold the interest of young and old readers alike. While some of the language and terminology may be foreign to young children, of junior high school age through adulthood will find it an absorbing and provocative read. Lewis does not take the model's (the Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan) overly optomistic or Pollyannish approach, but details in the form of myth the doubts and searching of a soul toward enlightenment. Although similar to Bunyan's work as an allegory, Lewis layers the meanings of the symbology in the book to a truly artistic form. Why, even the names of the chapters invite reflection. For example, two of the chapters are identically titled as Leah For Rachel, and yet no explanation is given for these names (which are not characters in the book) or the meaning. The meaning only becomes clear after reflecting on the premise of the biblical charachters of Leah and Rachel. Not knowing the bible story, however, would not spoil the reading of this tale. This type of layering on top of the basic allegorical plot line allows the book to be read and re-read with new insights each time. That can truly grow old with this book is, in my opinion, the hallmark of any classic. Enjoy it for the story, enjoy it for the insights and enjoy it for its timelessness. One would truly be better for the experience.

This is Lewis's first book, and in many ways, his best. This book is a blatant strutting of Lewis's fine mind, and explains how he overcame many of the popular philosophies on his journey to Christ. In the book, you follow the poor hero through encounters with Freud, Marx, Circular logicians, Tolstoyans, Hedons and even Gnostics. At each encounter the young hero confronts the philosophical issues of each character and is often captured by the philosophy. If you like allegory so blatant that a female knight named reason rides to the rescue, you will love this book. It is literally an essay masquerading as a novel... Pilgrim's Regress has had the most affect upon me. It will never be more influential than Pilgrim's progress (but it is better).

It would hardly be original to say that C.S. Lewis was perhaps the finest writer of Christian theology in the 20th century, had a brilliant command of his language, or gave more lucid insights in a few pages than most authors do in their entire life's work. Hardly original, but still true. "The Pilgrim's Regress" is a fine example, albeit a somewhat pithier and less penetrable one than, say, "the Great Divorce" or "The Screwtape Letters."

In "Regress," Lewis does a tangent on the classic Bunyan work, "Pilgrim's Progress" and uses the same dream device to present us with a soul's journey through a strange yet strangely familiar country. Lewis' pilgrim, John, encounters the demons and temptations of the early twentieth century: there are Mr. Enlightenment, Sigismund (Freud, of course), and the devotees of fascism and dada-ism, as well as the expected temptations of compromise and lust.

Much of the allegory will be obvious to the reader. There is little doubt who "Mother Kirk," "The Landlord," or "The Stewards" are. However, to "get it all" you'll either need a few Ph.D's and a good grounding in what a 1930-ish British intellectual knew, be one of those maddeningly brilliant people who "gets it," when he reads Umberto Ecco novels, or, preferably just wise enough to buy the annotated edition.

Through it all, the "Regress" reader will be moved and surprised. This is a key book for any student of Lewis, thoughtful Christian, or even a student of general philosophy. Ifv you are looking for some serious reading and deep insight into yourself, by all means go read this!

In this insightful volume, C.S. Lewis provides a semi-autobiographical chronicle of his conversion to Christianity, and the various philosophical or emotional obstacles that he faced (or thought others might face) in coming to believe in Christ. Lewis notes in the afterword of the book that he realizes in retrospect, that the path he followed was not necessarily as common as he originally thought. Also he makes it clear that every situation "John" (the main character, likened to Lewis) encounters is not a direct reflection of Lewis' own life, but may have been included to address various issues facing people in the searching stage.

For those who have not read any of Lewis' writings, this may not be the best place to start. For those who have, but aren't particularly adept at throughly analyzing and understanding allegory, like myself, it may be advantageous to read Lewis's afterword FIRST, and pay special attention to the editorial headlines across the tops of the pages. That would contribute to understanding the gist of the allegories, which in some places are clear enough of their own nature, but elsewhere are quite obscure (as Lewis notes in the afterword).

I found the sections in "Claptrap", at Wisdom's house, and the discussions with the cave-hermit particularly difficult, but elsewhere the writing is fascinating, and has brilliant insights into the problems with certain philosophies. The story itself is a little more colorful and humorous then the Pilgrims' Progress by Bunyan, which is a very clear allegory that instead follows the walk of a Christian after conversion. This is a book that could easily be read multiple times to discover more and more depth to the story.

If the first fiction by Lewis you read is the seven volume Narnian set, the rest of his works can appear rather puzzling. Lewis said to Tolkien, there wasn't anything available of the sort of thing he liked to read, so he'd have to write it himself; arguably both Tolkien and Lewis wrote for readers who liked to read what they liked to read, and in so doing struck a deep vein and a lost chord.

This book was originally published by Catholic publishers Ward and Sheed who naturally pitched it to their Catholic readers. However, that got Lewis regarded as an RC, a reputation he was anxious to live down, and he referred lightly to the publishers as "Ward and Sneed". That was only the first of many misunderstandings he'd be involved in simply because he wrote what he wanted, ignoring the dictates, as it were, of the market.

This book has been released in various versions. Some have, as Lewis intended, notes or annotations explaining the allegorical meaning, for instance the Red and Black savages are communists and fascists, respectively. Oddly enough, at one point Bantam published a pocket version leaving off these notes, which transforms the allegory to a "straight" fantasy, and leaves many readers confused.

Tolkien said he didn't write allegory, and the Narnian Chronicles, despite certain correspondences are not allegory, but this book is. The form is based on John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Regress. Ironically, Bunyan began his work with a long poem apologizing for the fact that it's an allegory. Lewis spent much of his time apologizing that his books weren't. Why we still read them is that he refused to conform to his times (and their notion of "best-sellers", and therefore has outlived them.

Between this, his first fictional work and 'Till We Have Faces, his last, Lewis output varied widely, not in quality but in style and genre. This volume, with the graphic enhancement of a well-known illustrator of Tolkien, re-introduces us to the long-forgotten genre of allegory at its most imaginative and captivating. Lewis demonstrates his unique gift of resonating with diverse readers and making a story his own.

I had read all of Lewis' other apologetics before coming to The Pilgrim's Regress. The book synthesizes most of the themes he has explored elsewhere and follows Lewis' brilliant mind through the struggles we all face reconciling faith, reason, and intellectual fashion-consciousness. I recommend it highly to any Lewis fan who enjoys a challenging read.

I recently listened to this work of Lewis' as read by Whitfield from the 3rd edition. I have no doubt that I would have enjoyed reading it, but this narration truly brought it to life in a manner that reading might have failed to do.

Having some background certainly will help the reader to understand what Lewis is doing here. Certainly, someone unfamiliar with John Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress" would stand a pretty good chance of getting lost. I'm not sure I agree that familiarity with Lewis's other, later, writings is necessary although it certainly wouldn't hurt. Aside from Bunyan, I believe this work stands well on its own.

You might want to consider as well, reading the afterword to the 3rd edition in which Lewis gives some insight to his use of the word romanticism which he believes on second thought adds to some confusion due to it's broad use. Reading that in advance may add some needed enlightenment. Reading it a second time is probably a needed investment as new applications and understandings will appear. That is the nature of well written allegory.

Allegory is often a misunderstood literary vehicle. Lewis struggled with his relationship with JRR Tolkien at some levels because Tolkien absolutely despised allegory in all its forms and was wary of any work where he detected it. No doubt Lewis was well aware of that and got an earful through his association with Tolkien as well as his other acquaintances who over the years came to be known as the "Inklings" where current writings were read, critiqued and evaluated.

Lewis dabbled in allegory in other areas although no other work truly can be called a pure allegory so much as this, his first novel as a believer. The Narnia Chronicles contain allegorical literary devices but are not purely allegory. The Space Trilogy can be said to do the same but is even less allegorical than the Narnia Chronicles.

Really good allegory, doesn't require a key to give it understanding. This work of Lewis can be said to be really good allegory but there are some elements of higher literature (to be expected in a professor of Literature) and some language elements where Latin maxims are included without the benefit of translation. If you're reading this for anything other than entertainment you'll find you probably need to do some work to understand the subtle nuances that Lewis conveys in his use of these maxims as well as some of the names which will not be so readily apparent to the casual reader. That understood, the casual reader should still be able to come away with the gist of what Lewis is illustrating and be entertained in the process.

A brief word about the narration, as I listened to this on CD rather than reading it directly. It is outstanding! The use of many distinctive voices which are memorable and consistent make this a dramatic reading that is rivaled by few others I've ever heard. In fact, I'm almost tempted to push for your first experience to be hearing it that reading it for just that reason. There is a cadence to the reading that shows Lewis had a grasp on drama and poetry that I wish he'd have continued to evidence in his later works to the degree he did here. It is breathtaking and brilliant on its own merits whether you are in sympathy with his primary message or not.

Definite 5 stars all the way around! An excellent book.