Re: CS Lewis and Gerard -- Mimetic Theory and Literary Study

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Date Posted: 13:54:07 02/11/08 Mon
Author: Shannon
Subject: Re: CS Lewis and Gerard
In reply to: JPJ II 's message, "CS Lewis and Gerard" on 20:36:30 02/10/08 Sun

Thank you, James. You clarified a connection that has been driving me crazy.

This distinction between Girard and Lewis view of myth seems also connected to Lewis idea of baptizing pagan stories and even deities. It is a concept both discussed explictly within his works and which shapes much of his fiction. There is a passage in That Hideous Strength which describes this explicitly; Jane encounters a demi-Venus and finds her frightening and harsh. Ransom explains her experience thus: "You said she was a little like Mother Dimple. So she is. But Mother Dimple with something left out. Mother Dimple is friends with all that world as MErlinus is friends with the woods and rivers. But he isn't a wood or a river himself. She has not rejected it, but she ahs baptised it. She is a Christian wife. And you, you know, are not....You have place yourself where you must meet that Old Woman and you have rejected all that has happened to her since Maledil [Christ] came to Earth. So you get her raw--not stronger that Mother Dimple would find her, but untransformed, demoniac."

What would Girard's take on "baptizing" myth be? Is it merely a continuation of "cleaning up" myth as we have been discussing? And, how would Girard and Lewis's different stances shape their views of the Christian's relationship to such literature?

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Replies:

Re: CS Lewis and Gerard -- Kiernan, 10:23:57 02/13/08 Wed