allegorical
As a literary device or artistic form, an allegory is a narrative or visual representation in which a character, place, or event can be interpreted to represent a hidden meaning with moral or political significance. Authors have used allegory th ...
fiction by
C. S. Lewis
Clive Staples Lewis (29 November 1898 – 22 November 1963) was a British writer and Anglican lay theologian. He held academic positions in English literature at both Oxford University (Magdalen College, 1925–1954) and Cambridge Univers ...
.
This 1933 novel was Lewis's first published work of prose fiction, and his third piece of work to be published and first after he converted to Christianity. It charts the progress of a fictional character named John through a philosophical landscape in search of the Island of his desire. Lewis described the novel to his publisher as "a kind of Bunyan up to date," in reference to
John Bunyan
John Bunyan (; baptised 30 November 162831 August 1688) was an English writer and Puritan preacher best remembered as the author of the Christian allegory ''The Pilgrim's Progress,'' which also became an influential literary model. In addition ...
's 1678 novel ''
The Pilgrim's Progress
''The Pilgrim's Progress from This World, to That Which Is to Come'' is a 1678 Christian allegory written by John Bunyan. It is regarded as one of the most significant works of theological fiction in English literature and a progenitor of ...
'', recast with the politics, ideologies, philosophy, and aesthetic principles of the early 20th century. As such, the character struggles with the modern phoniness, hypocrisy, and intellectual vacancy of the Christian church,
Communism
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
,
Fascism
Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy an ...
, and various philosophical and artistic movements.
Background and Context
In September 1931, Lewis,
Tolkien
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, ; 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''.
From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was the Rawlins ...
and
Dyson Dyson may refer to:
* Dyson (surname), people with the surname Dyson
* Dyson (company), a Singaporean multinational home appliances company founded by James Dyson
* Dyson (crater), a crater on the Moon
* Dyson (operating system), a Unix general-pur ...
had the famous Night of Addison’s Walk where they walked around
Magdalen College
Magdalen College (, ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by William of Waynflete. Today, it is the fourth wealthiest college, with a financial endowment of £332.1 million as of 2019 and one of the st ...
discussing myth and how Christianity is the true
myth
Myth is a folklore genre consisting of Narrative, narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or Origin myth, origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not Objectivity (philosophy), ...
.
This night served a key moment for Lewis and led to his conversion from
Theism
Theism is broadly defined as the belief in the existence of a supreme being or deities. In common parlance, or when contrasted with ''deism'', the term often describes the classical conception of God that is found in monotheism (also referred to ...
to
Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...
. A year later, Lewis wrote ''The Pilgrim’s Regress'' in August 1932 while visiting the home of his longtime friend Arthur Greeves in Northern Ireland.
During the same time he wrote ''
The Allegory of Love
''The Allegory of Love: A Study in Medieval Tradition'' (1936), by C. S. Lewis (), is an exploration of the allegorical treatment of love in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, which was published on 21 May 1936.Puritania under the stern, allusive, and seemingly tyrannical Landlord.
He discovers and has visions of an island that fills indescribable yearning. At first, he thinks this yearning is Lust, personified a brown girls but when he unmasks the mistake, he decides to flee his homeland and perceived oppressor, the Landlord, in search of the far-off island. Along the way he meets Mr. Enlightenment which is a personification of 19th century rationalism. He invites John to join him on his travels to Claptrap but John decides to continue his search for the Island.
In the cities of Thrill and Eschropolis (meaning an ugly city in Greek), he meets personifications of romantic love, the modern literary movement and
Freudianism
PsychoanalysisFrom Greek: + . is a set of theories and therapeutic techniques"What is psychoanalysis? Of course, one is supposed to answer that it is many things — a theory, a research method, a therapy, a body of knowledge. In what might be ...
. He thinks he found the island through
aesthetic experience
Aesthetics, or esthetics, is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of beauty and taste, as well as the philosophy of art (its own area of philosophy that comes out of aesthetics). It examines aesthetic values, often expressed thr ...
, but damaged by these characters and seeing his error he abandons the cities. Eventually, the Spirit of the Age captures John. The spirit is drawn as a giant whose gaze makes everything transparent. So when he looks at John, everyone including John can see his insides i.e. bowels, stomach, lungs, etc. The giant tries to convince him that that’s all he is, but Reason, personified as a gallant woman knight, comes to the rescue to slay the Spirit of the Age. She then leads him all the way to the Grand Canyon.
As he tries to figure out how to cross, the church, personified as Mother Kirk, comes by and explains to him the reason for the canyon (which is the Sin of Adam) and that she is the only one who can get him across. He says thanks but he’ll take the long way around.
As he goes North, he meets three pale men personified as Mr. Sensible, Mr. Neo-Angluar, and Mr. Humanist who are served by a creature named Drudge. These men do not help John as they talk of seeing through things they had not even seen. He goes farther north to discover a valley filled with caves and inhabited by trolls and ruled over by a near-giant named Savage. They serve as models for
Marxism
Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...
and
Fascists
Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy and th ...
, and John leaves with an ominous warning from Savage that he will destroy the three pale men. Drudge, who left the pale men to travel with John, stays with Savage.
Turning back and going South along the road, he meets Mr. Broad who represents a “modernizing religion which is friends with the World and goes on no pilgrimages.” At last, John reaches the house of Wisdom who teaches him what is lacking from notable philosophies of the 20th century which to Lewis were the
Idealist Philosophy
In philosophy, the term idealism identifies and describes metaphysical perspectives which assert that reality is indistinguishable and inseparable from perception and understanding; that reality is a mental construct closely connected to ide ...
,
Materialism
Materialism is a form of philosophical monism which holds matter to be the fundamental substance in nature, and all things, including mental states and consciousness, are results of material interactions. According to philosophical materiali ...
, and
Hegelianism
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (; ; 27 August 1770 – 14 November 1831) was a German philosopher. He is one of the most important figures in German idealism and one of the founding figures of modern Western philosophy. His influence extends a ...
.
Continuing along the canyon, he runs into a Man from whom he learns that he must accept
Grace
Grace may refer to:
Places United States
* Grace, Idaho, a city
* Grace (CTA station), Chicago Transit Authority's Howard Line, Illinois
* Little Goose Creek (Kentucky), location of Grace post office
* Grace, Carroll County, Missouri, an uninco ...
or die. He had wondered if he could live by Philosophy or
Pantheistic
Pantheism is the belief that reality, the universe and the cosmos are identical with divinity and a supreme supernatural being or entity, pointing to the universe as being an immanent creator deity still expanding and creating, which has ex ...
beliefs, but after accepting Grace he feels obligated to acknowledge the existence of the Landlord. He doesn’t want to do this though since he wants to call his soul his own, but if he does acknowledge the Landlord then he’ll have no privacy or superiority over anything.
After moving on from the Man he discovers a hermit named History. History tells John that not everyone has as clear visions of the Islands but they receive pictures that prove similar. Some don’t have the benefit of Mother Kirk but the Landlord stirs up pictures and sweet desires to lead them there.
John wants to leave but Reason will not let him and leads him to Mother Kirk. Mother Kirk instructs him to dive into a pool of water. John says that he doesn’t know how but then learns that diving is only the art of ceasing to do anything. After diving, he then finds the Island and discovers that it is only the other side of the Mountains which he has known his whole life in Puritania.
The Regress portion of the title now comes into play as John journeys back home and now sees everything in a new light and sees how the road he took is a knife’s edge between Heaven and Hell.
Reception and Criticisms
The years after publication, the book found mixed reviews.
George Sayer
George Sydney Benedict Sayer (1 June 1914 – 20 October 2005) was a teacher at Malvern College, trustee of the Lewis estate and probably best known for his biography of the author C. S. Lewis.
found it remarkable how acutely Lewis could diagnose and explain the weaknesses of contemporary doctrine.
Others, however, found difficulties, and Lewis wrote a preface in the third edition to help explain more of what he meant. He criticized himself for “needless obscurity and an uncharitable temper.” He also admits that he had a specific idea of Romanticism that was much different from the rest of the world's. He also mistook his protagonist, John, as a relatable everyman. He said he was wrong in thinking that most people came to Christ the way he did.
Philip and Carol Zaleski criticize Lewis for populating his book with straw men. They said that his characters were not personifications but pet peeves. This was Lewis at his least charitable and he made too strong a case for his conversion. They say the experience taught Lewis to wear his allegory a little more lightly.