Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold [Paperback]

C.S. Lewis (Author), Fritz Eichenberg (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 9, 1980

“I saw well why the gods do not speak to us openly, nor let us answer . . . Why should they hear the babble that we think we mean? How can they meet us face to face till we have faces?”

Haunted by the myth of Cupid and Psyche throughout his life, C.S. Lewis wrote this, his last, extraordinary novel, to retell their story through the gaze of Psyche’s sister, Orual. Disfigured and embittered, Orual loves her younger sister to a fault and suffers deeply when she is sent away to Cupid, the God of the Mountain. Psyche is forbidden to look upon the god’s face, but is persuaded by her sister to do so; she is banished for her betrayal. Orual is left alone to grow in power but never in love, to wonder at the silence of the gods. Only at the end of her life, in visions of her lost beloved sister, will she hear an answer.

"Till We Have Faces succeeds in presenting with imaginative directness what its author has described elsewhere as ‘the divine, magical, terrifying and ecstatic reality in which we all live’ . . . [It] deepens for adults that sense of wonder and strange truth which delights children in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Prince Caspian, and other legends of Narnia." —New York Times

"The most significant and triumphant work that Lewis has . . . produced." —New York Herald Tribune

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

At once more human and more mythic than his Perelandra trilogy, Lewis's short novel of love, faith, and transformation (both good and ill) offers the reader much food for thought in a compact, impressively rich story. Less heavy-handedly Christian-allegorical than Narnia, Till We Have Faces gives us characters who remind us of people we know facing choices and difficulties we recognize. This deceptively simple book takes on new depth with each rereading. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

'He always tells a good story, and this is a splendid, vehement one, full of stone and wind and spears in an old country, wet mist on the hills. ...seems to sum up most of what Dr Lewis has been telling us for years.' The Tablet 'One of the most eminently readable pieces of fiction that has come my way for a long time.' Yorkshire Post --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 324 pages
• Publisher: Harcourt Brace & Company; First Harvest/HBJ Edition edition (July 9, 1980)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0156904365
• ISBN-13: 978-0156904360
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.8 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (287 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,291 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #8 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Mythology & Folk Tales > Fairy Tales

More About the Author

Clive Staples Lewis (1898-1963) was one of the intellectual giants of the twentieth century and arguably one of the most influential writers of his day. He was a Fellow and Tutor in English Literature at Oxford University until 1954, when he was unanimously elected to the Chair of Medieval and Renaissance Literature at Cambridge University, a position he held until his retirement. He wrote more than thirty books, allowing him to reach a vast audience, and his works continue to attract thousands of new readers every year. His most distinguished and popular accomplishments include Mere Christianity, Out of the Silent Planet, The Great Divorce, The Screwtape Letters, and the universally acknowledged classics The Chronicles of Narnia. To date, the Narnia books have sold over 100 million copies and been transformed into three major motion pictures.

Amazon Author Rankbeta 

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#5 in Books > Religion & Spirituality

#10 in Kindle eBooks > Religion & Spirituality

#12 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Classics

#60 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction

#96 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction

#5 in Books > Religion & Spirituality

#10 in Kindle eBooks > Religion & Spirituality

#12 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Classics

#60 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction

#96 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

392 of 403 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars C.S. Lewis' best work of fiction November 4, 2000

By Snickerdoodle

Format:Paperback

C.S. Lewis used fiction to lay bare the soul in ways his more apologetic work could not. The cast of characters in The Great Divorce, for example, or in the "Space Trilogy" invariably remind us of people we know - and give us insights into what makes them tick. Nowhere in Lewis' works is the soul explored better than in Till We Have Faces, Lewis' masterwork of fiction and a stunning psychological and spiritual odyssey.

TWHF retells and enriches the myth of Cupid and Psyche, although a lack of familiarity with the myth in no way diminishes from the enjoyment of the book. In Lewis' hands, the story sorts through issues of family, jealousy, gender, faith, and ultimate meaning, culminating with a frightening and yet wonderful 'face to face' scene that gives rise to, and explains, the book's title.

Readers who are looking for the kind of in-your-face Christian symbolism that characterized the Chronicles of Narnia will be disappointed with TWHF. Although I appreciate and am nourished by Lewis' Christian parables and apologetics, the theology in TWHF is pagan, at least on its surface. Underneath the surface, however, Lewis does a masterful job of intertwining the traditional beliefs of the main characters - including a stand-in for Greek rationalism - with rumors of a much more intimate and beautiful way of knowing the gods. The climactic scene itself plays off the biblical phrase, "Now we see in a glass dimly, but then face to face" - a phrase that comes, in fact, from I Corinthians 13, the famous chapter on Love in the New Testament. So Lewis does indeed lead the reader toward the One who is love, but he uses the carrot of intrigue and spiritual longing rather than the steamroller (if you will pardon the mixed metaphor) of too-obvious symbolism.

This is my favorite of Lewis' works of fiction and was, reportedly, Lewis' favorite as well. Few books can nourish the soul the way Till We Have Faces can. Just one caveat: you really will need to read it twice ... and you will understand why once you have read it through the first time.

218 of 226 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars a good slap across the face May 9, 2002

By NotATameLion

Format:Paperback

Besides containing one of the greatest lines about being an author ever written: "I was with book, as a woman is with child", C.S. Lewis's "Till We Have Faces" also did me the service of giving me a good slap across my metaphorical face. How wrapped up we all become in our own little lives. How one-sided and self-favoring is our vision.

Though a book about many things--holiness, love, and philosophy to name a few--"Till We Have Faces" is mainly about how our perceptions can fail us. How in the name of doing what we think is right, we can do horrible things.

Orual, the protagonist of the story, spends an entire life learning what the apostle Paul meant when he said "Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known." The real twist in "Till We Have Faces" is that the reader, more likely than not, learns the same lesson (I know I did).

C.S. Lewis is one of my favorite authors for many reasons. This book is definitely one of them. Lewis considered "Till We Have Faces" to be his best book. I do not know if I agree, but it is certainly a great story.

I give "Till We Have Faces" a very high recommendation.

136 of 143 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Till We Have Faces is a psychological masterpiece November 2, 1999

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

C.S. Lewis's novel Till We Have Faces is based on the classical myth of Cupid and Psyche, however Lewis chooses to tel the story through Orual, Psyche's older sister. While Lewis does retell the well-known story of Psyche and Cupid, that is only a tiny piece of the story he creates. Till We Have Faces is actually the story of Orual's struggle to find love, and to discover her own identity. The actual setting of the story is unclear-it takes place in a country north of Greece, in a time long past, but Lewis does not choose to elaborate on that. In fact throughout the entire book, he focuses very little on sensory details; it is a story of emotion and psychology rather than action and physical description. Orual writes her own story, beginning at her childhood in her father's castle. There she leads an isolated life, surrounded only by her fathers servants, advisors, and her sisters, Redival and Psyche. Redival, with her golden curls and curvy figure, is superficially pretty, but Psyche is the embodiment of perfect and natural beauty. She is not only outwardly beautiful, she is also pure, unselfish, and loving. Orual, though, is neither pretty nor beautiful. She is, as she is constantly reminded by her father (the king), indescribably ugly. Orual never feels that she is loved by anyone, that is, until Psyche enters her life. Psyche's mother dies giving birth to her, and Orual takes it upon herself to become Psyche's guardian and to raise her. Orual loves Psyche more than anything else, but her love is selfishly and fiercely possessive. Orual is tormented by the thought of having to release Psyche from her suffocating grasp, and she does everything in her power to prevent it. After being separated from Psyche, Orual gradually comes to the realization that she (Psyche) is like the goddess Ungit-greedy, jealous, blood-gorged, and ugly of soul as well as body. She also compares herself to her father, the violent, selfish, cowardly, and dishonest king. Orual recoils from this realization, and as queen, she tries to be everything that her father, and Ungit, are not. While she is described by her subjects as "the most wise, just, valiant, fortunate and merciful" of all rulers, Orual feels that her actions are only a mask of her inner ugliness. She despairs of ever overcoming her hideousness inside. She says, "I would set out boldly each morning to be just and calm and wise in all my thoughts and acts, but before they had finished dressing me I would find that I was back in some old rage, resentment, gnawing fantasy, or sullen bitterness. I could not hold out half an hour . . . I could mend my soul no more than my face." Like the veil she wears to hide her ugly face, she feels that her good actions only conceal the hideousness of her true self. C.S. Lewis felt that we, as humans, are like rough blocks of marble. He said that suffering is the tool God uses to carve away our rough edges and to refine our souls. As Orual experiences suffering, she doesn't realize it, but she is actually coming closer and closer to becoming the perfected statue. Each trial chips away another piece of the marble that conceals the perfect form within. The title, Till We Have Faces, may refer to the process of refinement and self-realization. Till We Have Faces is a captivating book from beginning to end. As the reader, I could not only identify with Orual's struggles, I felt as though I was Orual, going through the same turmoil and inner-conflict. It is a book that I can read over and over again, each time experiencing new epiphanies and gaining deeper insight. It is impossible to adequately describe, even to a small degree, this fascinating and complex novel; it must be read and read again.