This may be explained by the stylistic distinctiveness of the book. The story for Till We Have Faces is based upon the Greek myth of Cupid and Psyche. Thus this work is, as Lewis himself noted, a “reinterpretation of an old story.” In this Conversation, Ken Myers talks with literary critic Thomas Howard, an expert on Lewis’s work and author of C. S. Lewis: Man of Letters (Ignatius, 1990), in order to learn about this text in particular and the importance of myth in Lewis’s work in general.

What results is a stimulating and informative conversation on how Lewis incorporated the characteristics of the mythic genre into his own work. For example, myth assisted Lewis in his struggle against modernism because myth, as a literary genre, assumes certain foundations of reality that many modern writers disavow. Indeed, Howard (pictured left) makes the point that without these basic foundations, modern authors find it impossible to create real heroes and consequentially write real tragedy; this is possibly the reason that Lewis chose to write in this mythic genre. Howard also uses the text to discuss the mystery of the transcendent and how actions can be embodiments of the abstract rather than just symbols. This conversation introduces a greater understanding of a text that C. S. Lewis claimed was his personal favorite out of all his own works. 50 minutes.

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This is one of a series of Conversations produced by MARS HILL AUDIO. Two other titles examine C. S. Lewis's thought and writing: The Heav'ns and All the Powers Therein: The Medieval Cosmos and the World of Narnia, a conversation with Michael Ward, and Alan Jacobs on The Narnian. We have also produced an Anthology entitled The Christian Mind of C. S. Lewis, which features interviews with Clyde Kilby, Gilbert Meilaender, Michael Aeschliman, and others. You may purchase the "C. S. Lewis Collection" of all three Conversations and the Anthology in one convenient, discounted package. To see a list of other available recordings, see our online catalog. If you like, you may download an free demonstration issue (ZIP, 33.5MB, containing MP3 files) of the MARS HILL AUDIO Journal, our bimonthly audio magazine.