- In full:
- Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold
Till We Have Faces
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Who wrote the novel 'Till We Have Faces'?
Till We Have Faces, a novel published in 1956, that retells the myth of Cupid and Psyche, was written by C.S. Lewis. Lewis considered Till We Have Faces his best work, though it was not as commercially successful as his other books such as The Chronicles of Narnia and The Screwtape Letters. The novel tells the story from the perspective of Orual, one of Psycheâs sisters, who recounts her life and anger at the gods for taking Psyche.
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What is 'Till We Have Faces' about in general?
Till We Have Faces, published in 1956, is C.S. Lewis's retelling of the myth of Cupid and Psyche, set in a pre-Christian era. The novel tells the story from the perspective of Orual, one of Psycheâs sisters, who is depicted as an unreliable narrator. Part 1 consists of Orual's defense of her life, her anger at the gods for taking Psyche, and her time as a wise ruler. Part 2 reveals Orual's self-deceptions and how she devoured those closest to her through jealousy. Through visions, Orual learns to sacrifice and love unselfishly, leading to her salvation.
Christian themes are subtly present in its emphasis on love, sacrifice, and self-sacrifice. Orual mirrors Lewis himself, who lacked self-knowledge and was self-deceived. Many critics consider Till We Have Faces as Lewis's best work.
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Which myth does 'Till We Have Faces' retell or reimagine?
Till We Have Faces, published in 1956, is C.S. Lewis's novel that retells the myth of Cupid and Psyche. Lewis considered it his best book because he successfully depicted the ancient setting with realistic detail and psychological depth. The story is told from the perspective of Orual, one of Psycheâs sisters, who is presented as an unreliable narrator.
In Apuleius' version of the myth, Venus commands Cupid to make Psyche fall in love with a terrible man, but instead, Cupid secretly marries her and hides her away. Psyche betrays Cupidâs trust, and, after many trials, they are reunited, and she becomes immortal.
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Who are the main characters in 'Till We Have Faces'?
Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis retells the myth of Cupid and Psyche, told from the perspective of Orual, one of Psyche's sisters, who is also the novelâs unreliable narrator.
Main characters:
- Orual: The protagonist and narrator, she is a wise ruler who accuses the gods of injustice but eventually realizes her own self-deceptions and possessiveness.
- Psyche: A princess loved by Cupid, and Orual's sister.
- Ungit: A goddess to whom sacrifices are made.
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From whose point of view is 'Till We Have Faces' told?
Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis is told from the perspective of Orual, one of Psyche's sisters, who is also the novel's unreliable narrator. Part 1 is written by Orual as a defense of her life, voicing her anger at the gods for taking Psyche from her. Orual believes she is giving an objectively true and accurate record of her life, but readers are challenged to realize that the characters and events are described entirely from her perspective. In Part 2, Orual understands the self-deceptions that have plagued her and how she has taken advantage of those who loved her.
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What are some important themes explored in 'Till We Have Faces'?
Till We Have Faces explores themes of love, sacrifice, and self-sacrifice within the context of the myth of Cupid and Psyche. Told from the perspective of Orual, Psyche's sister and an unreliable narrator, the novel delves into self-deception and the nature of love, contrasting selfless love with possessiveness. Orual's journey involves recognizing her own flaws and the ways she has hurt those closest to her, mirroring C.S. Lewis's own reflections on his past. Through Orual's transformation, the novel subtly incorporates Christian themes, emphasizing the importance of unselfish love and personal sacrifice.
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Till We Have Faces, novel by C.S. Lewis, published in 1956, that retells the ancient myth of Cupid and Psyche. It was Lewisâs last fictional work. Reviews and sales were disappointing, probably because it was different from and more complex than the works that made him famous. But in a letter Lewis called it âfar and away my best book.â He liked it best in part because, after several earlier attempts to retell the myth, he had at last succeeded by depicting the ancient setting of the story in realistic detail, by giving the characters psychological depth and consistency, and by telling the story from the perspective of one of Psycheâs sisters, Orual, who is the novelâs unreliable narrator.
Part 1 of Till We Have Faces, which consists of 21 chapters, is written by Orual as a defense of her life. She voices her anger at the gods for taking her beloved Psyche from her and claims that her use of psychological manipulation to force Psyche to look at her sleeping husband, in disobedience to his direct command, was justified because she did it for Psycheâs own good. Much of Part 1 is an account of Orualâs many decades as a wise and good ruler over her people, assisted by faithful friends whom she takes for granted until shortly before her death. Orual gives what she believes is an objectively true and accurate record of her life. Readers are thus challenged to realize that the characters and events are being described entirely from her perspective and that they look quite different from other perspectives.
In the much-shorter Part 2, which consists of four chapters, Orual comes to understand, partly as a result of writing Part 1, the self-deceptions that have plagued her for most of her life. She also realizes how she has taken advantage of the people who loved her deeply and supported her loyally throughout her reign. Orual had accused the goddess Ungit of devouring offerings made to her, which were the best things that Orualâs realm, Glome, had to offer. Now Orual comes to realize that she herself has devoured those closest and dearest to her through her jealousy and possessiveness. As the old Priest of Ungit puts it, âSome say the loving and the devouring are all the same thing.â Orual experiences a series of visions in which she assists Psyche in carrying out tasks imposed by Ungit that should have been impossible. In doing so, Orual learns to sacrifice and to put others ahead of herself; as she learns to love unselfishly, she finds salvation and dies.
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The book is set in an era before Christianity and cannot develop Christian themes in the direct, often explicit ways found in Lewisâs Ransom trilogy (Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, and That Hideous Strength) and the Chronicles of Narnia. But Christian themes are present more subtly in Till We Have Faces, in its emphasis on love, sacrifice, and self-sacrifice and in lines such as âI wonder do the gods know what it feels like to be a manâ and âI was being unmadeâŠ. I loved her [Psyche] as I would once have thought it impossible to love, would have died any death for her. And yet, it was not, not now, she that really counted.â Till We Have Faces echoes many of the themes Lewis developed in his autobiography Surprised by Joy (1955). To some extent Orual is Lewis himselfâLewis as he later looks back on the way he was in his teens and 20s, lacking self-knowledge, self-deceived, and committed to reason though filled with longings for imagination, myth, and the divine. Many contemporary critics concur with Lewis in regarding Till We Have Faces as his best work, because of the scope of its imaginative achievement and because he put so much of his own self and life into it.