Unveiling Of Tension And Fusion In C.S.Lewis’s Till We Have Faces

Clive Staples Lewis(1898-1963)was one of the intellectual giants of the Twentieth century and one of the most influential British writers of his day.He was recognized as “triple C.S.Lewis”.Firstly,he was an outstanding British scholar and critic.He was a fellow and tutor in English Literature at Oxford University From 1925 to 1954.Then he was elected as the Chair of Medieval and Renaissance Literature at Cambridge University,a position he held until his retirement;Secondly,he was a popular fantasy fiction writer.The Chronicles of Narnia was the most famous one and universally acknowledged as classics.Thirdly,he was featured as a Christian scholar.The most distinguished and popular accomplishments included Mere Christianity,Four Loves and The Screwtape Letters.He wrote more than thirty books,allowing him to reach a vast audience.Today,his works have been continuing to attract thousands of readers every year.Till We Have Faces is the last fiction of C.S.Lewis.After published in 1956,this work has been described as the best one of C.S.Lewis.It is a retold story of Cupid and Psyche which is one story in The Golden Ass of Apuleius.This story had haunted Lewis for most of his life time.Because he realized that some plots were illogical,his retelling of the story is characterized by the narrator who suffers from mental confusion and false identity.The book is written from the perspective of Psyche’s older sister Orual.The first part is her accusation against deity.In the second part of the book,Orual realizes that her accusation is tainted by her own shortcomings and undergoes conversion.In Till We Have Faces,Lewis exhibits his excellent skills in narration and language.This work is also a subtle combination of tension and fusion.This thesis conveys Lewis’ s concept of “bareface” by unveiling the independent and interlocked relations between tension and fusion.This thesis analyzes tension and fusion in Till We Have Faces from three perspectives: narrator,work and author’s intention.This thesis includes three parts: the introduction,the body and the conclusion.And the body includes three chapters.The introduction is mainly about C.S.Lewis’ s life,career,achievements and the main content of Till We Have Faces.This part also provides the research status of the novel at home and abroad.The first chapter is an analysis of the narrator Orual from psychological point of view.It revolves around the narrator’s identity and emotion.This chapter presents the tension between her fake face(a veiled queen)and her quest for true identity(a beautiful soul).Combined with Lewis’ s theory of four kinds of love,we can have a clear view that Orual’s disordered loves should be fused with superior charitable love.As a vital image,veil has a profound and lasting influence on Orual’s life.And her veil will eventually be cast away in the process of acquiring her self-knowledge.The second chapter deals with unveiling of tension and fusion on textual level.By unveiling the tension between reason and faith,Lewis exhibits his understanding of faith.Faith can only be accepted by sensibility instead of being explained by rational knowledge.As the subtitle of Till We Have Faces,A Retold Myth illuminates the close relation of this work with myth.The mythological archetypal characters carry the qualities of biblical archetypal characters.And the fusion of mythological and biblical archetypes is applied to convey Lewis’ s thoughts upon fantasy literature.The third chapter focuses on unveiling of tension and fusion of author’s intention.As a fantasy writer in the Twentieth century,Lewis concerns human’s inner world instead of material reality.Although imagination plays a vital role in his fantasy fiction,his attitude towards imagination and rationalism is serious and critical.The rewriting process of Till We Have Faces is a mirror to his conversion.This work can be regarded as his spiritual autobiography.Lewis believes that the spiritual dilemma of people attributes to their inability to face God.So he needs to convince his readers the importance of bareface.The conclusion is the summary of tension and fusion in Till We Have Faces.Tension mainly lies between Orual’s fake face and true identity,reason and faith,imagination and rationalism.Tension reflects humanity’s confusion of facing faith.Fusion of four kinds of love,of mythological and biblical archetypes,and of the Lewis’ s and Orual’s experiences of conversion show Lewis’ s solution about those confusions.