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Reason and Imagination in C. S. Lewis: A Study of Till We Have Faces
The first study of C.S. Lewis to offer a detailed examination of "Till We Have Faces," Peter J. Schakel's book is also the first to explore the tension between reason and imagination that significantly shaped Lewis' thinking and writing. Schakel begins with a close analysis of "Till We Have Faces" which leads the readers through the plot, clarifying its themes and it discusses structure, symbols and allusions. The second part of the book surveys Lewis' works, tracing the tension between reason and imagination. In the works of the thirties and forties reason is in the ascendant; from the early fifties on, in works such as the Chronicles of Narnia, there is an increased emphasis on imagination - which culminates in the fine "myth retold," "Till We Have Faces." Imagination and reason are reconciled, finally in the works of the early sixties such as "A Grief Observed" and "Letters to Malcolm." PETER J. SCHAKEL is Professor of English at Hope College, Holland, MI. "This book is what Lewis scholarship ought to be. It is the most thoughtful, careful Lewis study yet." - Peter Kreeft "Reason and Imagination" is a remarkable achievement, literary criticism that is both wise and moving." - Margaret Hannay "Peter Schakel brings to C. S. Lewis scholarship what has often been lacking, namely rigorous scholarly method and real critical detachment. His study of "Till We Have Faces" is a major contribution to Lewis studies." - Thomas Howard
220 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1984
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
March 23, 2020
After finding, then losing, this book to my CUI college library only half-read, I was delighted to rediscover it in UNC's library years later. I quickly pulled it off the shelf and took the opportunity to finish this book. Despite being from 1984, which I think is before the recent renaissance in Lewis studies, Schakel's study does not feel its age. It remains an insightful and worthy addition to Lewis scholarship.
The first half covers chunks of the story of Till We Have Faces, with Schakel offering commentary and analysis, drawing out themes and connecting threads along the way. The second half of this book serves as a mini-biography of Lewis through his writings, focusing on the tension between reason and imagination in his works, decade by decade from the 1930s through the 1960s. Schakel attempts to show the development of Lewis's use of reason and imagination, with a primary preference for reason in his early years, and later the two working in concord together, in Lewis's later works.
This study is much richer than Schakel's Is Your Lord Large Enough?: How C. S. Lewis Expands Our View of God. And it's slightly more scholarly than The Way into Narnia: A Reader's Guide.
I still want to read some of Schakel's other Lewis works, including:
Reading with the Heart: The Way Into Narnia
Word and Story in C.S. Lewis
The Longing for a Form
The first half covers chunks of the story of Till We Have Faces, with Schakel offering commentary and analysis, drawing out themes and connecting threads along the way. The second half of this book serves as a mini-biography of Lewis through his writings, focusing on the tension between reason and imagination in his works, decade by decade from the 1930s through the 1960s. Schakel attempts to show the development of Lewis's use of reason and imagination, with a primary preference for reason in his early years, and later the two working in concord together, in Lewis's later works.
This study is much richer than Schakel's Is Your Lord Large Enough?: How C. S. Lewis Expands Our View of God. And it's slightly more scholarly than The Way into Narnia: A Reader's Guide.
I still want to read some of Schakel's other Lewis works, including:
Reading with the Heart: The Way Into Narnia
Word and Story in C.S. Lewis
The Longing for a Form
March 1, 2020
Really good, if rather academic, discussion of Till We Have Faces in the first half. It highlighted key themes and ideas I’d missed, even after 3 readings. The second half of the book I enjoyed even more, however, since it provides an excellent and persuasive overview, broken down by decade and citing Lewis’s writing and life events as evidence, of his gradually changing views on imagination and reason—at first trusting the latter to a fault and distrusting the former but eventually seeing both as necessary and harmonious aspects of human thought and understanding. Both culminate, Schakel argues, in Till We Have Faces.
This would be a very helpful, and mercifully brief, reference book for anyone embarking on a study of CS Lewis’s ideas and writings.
This would be a very helpful, and mercifully brief, reference book for anyone embarking on a study of CS Lewis’s ideas and writings.
April 26, 2009
Part I:
Gives and overview and analysis of C.S. Lewis book "Till We Have Faces". It offered a lot of insights and connections I had not observed upon my first reading. I found it a wonderful guide to help appreciate the great depth of Lewis's work.
Part 2:
A study of "Till We Have Faces" in the context of C.S. Lewis's other works. The premise is that reason and imagination are two entities that Lewis adored, but struggled throughout his life to combine. Though the second part of the book is much more difficult reading, (since it is tracing Lewis's heady intellectual and spiritual growth over time), it has the end effect of demonstrating that Till We Have Faces is in fact the first book where Lewis fully succeeds in bringing reason and imagination into a resolved wholeness.
Gives and overview and analysis of C.S. Lewis book "Till We Have Faces". It offered a lot of insights and connections I had not observed upon my first reading. I found it a wonderful guide to help appreciate the great depth of Lewis's work.
Part 2:
A study of "Till We Have Faces" in the context of C.S. Lewis's other works. The premise is that reason and imagination are two entities that Lewis adored, but struggled throughout his life to combine. Though the second part of the book is much more difficult reading, (since it is tracing Lewis's heady intellectual and spiritual growth over time), it has the end effect of demonstrating that Till We Have Faces is in fact the first book where Lewis fully succeeds in bringing reason and imagination into a resolved wholeness.
July 18, 2018
I greatly appreciated Schakel’s analysis of Till We Have Faces in Part I. Such commentaries of genuine scholarly value are few and far between. Part II, an overview of Lewis’ life as a writer, was also valuable, but made of denser stuff than the first part. Some of Schakel’s theories seemed unfounded or generalized, but overall, this is an excellent book for any serious Lewis scholar and any close reader of Till We Have Faces.
January 31, 2009
This book helped me to see the Christian symbolism in Until We Have Faces.
Want to read
July 9, 2013Despite the dreadful dreadful cover, this looks splendid. I only had to wrangle with UPS on THREE SEPARATE OCCASIONS to finally get it.
April 7, 2025
I would rate it a 3.5.
A lot of good insights, though a rather dry, academic writing style. The first half I found most interesting, a commentary on Till We Have Faces chapter by chapter. I would have liked to see even more commentary here.
The second half looks at Lewis' writing and thoughts from the 1920s till the end of his life, showing Lewis' views of the rational/logic, versus the mythical / imaginative, and how in Lewis' mind these were separated, with the rational dominant, until later in his life. Then, through a few key events in his life in the late 1940s to 1950, Lewis reached a point of embracing the full imaginative, mythical approach. This point is made well, though in a rather dry style with a lot of extra words and pages, but certain great points along the way.
A lot of good insights, though a rather dry, academic writing style. The first half I found most interesting, a commentary on Till We Have Faces chapter by chapter. I would have liked to see even more commentary here.
The second half looks at Lewis' writing and thoughts from the 1920s till the end of his life, showing Lewis' views of the rational/logic, versus the mythical / imaginative, and how in Lewis' mind these were separated, with the rational dominant, until later in his life. Then, through a few key events in his life in the late 1940s to 1950, Lewis reached a point of embracing the full imaginative, mythical approach. This point is made well, though in a rather dry style with a lot of extra words and pages, but certain great points along the way.
June 21, 2020
Peter Schakel reads C. S. Lewis's novel Till We Have Faces through the lens of reason and imagination. Lewis himself, however, thought there was a more obvious focus. He once wrote, "I'm surprised that people don't see that it is about jealousy and possessive love." Schakel acknowledges this remark (p. 27) and then devotes 7 pages to "love and longing" in the novel as well as in Lewis's other works. This disappointed me. Sure, reason and imagination are at play in Till We Have Faces, but it's the various loves and not-loves that give this book its hold on me.
February 15, 2021
The first half of this book is a guide to Lewis's "Till We Have Faces." That book badly needs a guide, and this is an excellent one.
The second half of this book is a general overview of Lewis's life and work, intended to cast further light on "Till We Have Faces." I didn't get quite as much out of this part.
Three and a half stars, really.
The second half of this book is a general overview of Lewis's life and work, intended to cast further light on "Till We Have Faces." I didn't get quite as much out of this part.
Three and a half stars, really.
November 10, 2022
A really helpful book for understanding much of what escaped my attention in earlier readings of Till We Have Faces. I've grown to love Lewis's book so much more through Peter Schakel's guidance and insight. What a great teacher!
June 25, 2024
Excellent commentary on Till We Have Faces. But the real selling point is the latter half of the book which convincingly argues for a development in Lewis relating to the role of the subjective in objective knowledge.
June 16, 2025
Rich with insight, not only into the mind of Lewis himself, but into our own struggles with balancing reason and imagination — a balance critical to the Christian faith. This work awakened a fresh craving in me for Lewis’s later, more mature literary work.
April 9, 2009
So far, this book is extremely helpful and interesting. The preface explains this:
"One cannot fully understand or appreciate Lewis's thought and work as a whole without a sound understanding of TILL WE HAVE FACES. But TILL WE HAVE FACES is also the most difficult of Lewis's works, one which constantly gives the sense that 'something more is going on here than I am comprehending fully.'"
Technically, TILL WE HAVE FACES is a very straightforward book, as far as the storytelling goes, but that is a perfect description of how I felt reading it--wondering what the heck is really going on here?
Shakel's book takes Lewis's book one section at a time and explains what Lewis is doing with it. He also does an excellent job of explaining the Greek traditions that inform the work without bogging down in all the details of Greek philosophy.
Sidenote: it is extremely entertaining to Jonathan that I am reading a book ABOUT another book! Unheard of!
"One cannot fully understand or appreciate Lewis's thought and work as a whole without a sound understanding of TILL WE HAVE FACES. But TILL WE HAVE FACES is also the most difficult of Lewis's works, one which constantly gives the sense that 'something more is going on here than I am comprehending fully.'"
Technically, TILL WE HAVE FACES is a very straightforward book, as far as the storytelling goes, but that is a perfect description of how I felt reading it--wondering what the heck is really going on here?
Shakel's book takes Lewis's book one section at a time and explains what Lewis is doing with it. He also does an excellent job of explaining the Greek traditions that inform the work without bogging down in all the details of Greek philosophy.
Sidenote: it is extremely entertaining to Jonathan that I am reading a book ABOUT another book! Unheard of!
February 22, 2010
I picked up this book to read an analysis of Till We Have Faces. The first part of the book was quite good and is an actual analysis of the book itself. The analysis was good, but a little simplistic. I enjoyed reading some new insights and now need to read Till We Have Faces again to get the full meaning. Till We Have Faces is one of those books you can get something new from every time you read it.
The second part of the book is a look at the evolution of C.S. Lewis's writings with regard to his conversion to Christianity and movement away from reason. I couldn't even get through the first 10 pages of the second part. It was very dry, but I could appreciate what the author was trying to do. The second half read like an academic paper.
The second part of the book is a look at the evolution of C.S. Lewis's writings with regard to his conversion to Christianity and movement away from reason. I couldn't even get through the first 10 pages of the second part. It was very dry, but I could appreciate what the author was trying to do. The second half read like an academic paper.
February 14, 2010
"The first half of this book is a close analysis of C. S. Lewis’s most difficult work of fiction, Till We Haves Faces (1956). It leads the reader through the plot, clarifying themes as it discusses structure, symbols, and allusions. The second half places TWHF in context by surveying Lewis’s works, tracing the tension between reason and imagination. Awarded the 1985 Scholarship Award in Inklings Studies by the Mythopoeic Society"
Schakel is a fine Lewis scholar and this book affirms not only his scholarship but understanding of Lewis, the man.
Schakel is a fine Lewis scholar and this book affirms not only his scholarship but understanding of Lewis, the man.
June 21, 2011
A great guide (intense as it might be) to Lewis' masterpiece of "Till We Have Faces". It brings out the archetypes and motifs in the book and highlights Lewis' thoughts and views expressed in the book. A little intense to enjoy for Summer Reading, but great ideas.
October 15, 2015
An in-depth look not only at Till We Have Faces, but at the evolution of Lewis's philosophies of reason and imagination over the course of his life. This book shows what a complex and utterly human man Lewis was, and is a wonderful example of the riches available in serious Lewis scholarship.
Want to read
February 3, 2009This is the book mom was reading from at book club and it is a must read for me.
March 23, 2020
Anyone read this?
Want to read
October 3, 2009I will buy almost anything at the library book sale. Next time I will just bring a limited amount of cash and only buy as much as I can walk home with.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews