Till We Have Faces -- Mimetic Theory and Literary Study

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Date Posted: 18:36:07 01/29/08 Tue
Author: Erin Risch
Subject: Till We Have Faces

I was thinking about the book Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis, which is a Christianized retelling of the Cupid and Psyche myth. That alone suggests to me that there might be Girardian wealth to be unearthed in the novel. The Cupid and Psyche myth contains mimetic rivalry between Venus and Psyche, rivalry between Psyche and her sisters, and some monster/hero confusion that would be interesting to look into in the future.

However, the moment in the text that came to mind today is not a part of the classical myth. In second part of the book, Orual (Psyche's hideously ugly sister, who has become a just and successful queen in Psyche's absence) is rather in love with a captain of the soldiers, but of course she's so ugly that he doesn't even think of her as a woman. There's a brief encounter between Orual and the captain's wife in which Orual realizes that although she had always been jealous of the wife for having the love of the captain, the wife has always been jealous of Orual for having the loyalty and duty of the captain. There is a brief moment during which Orual and the wife recognize in each other this similar jealousy and rivalry and experience the briefest glance of friendship before they turn again to hatred.

This interaction reminded me of the tendency of the mediators and subjects to oscillate and exchange places, and also of the similar structures of love and hatred. I think it would be fascinating to explore how Lewis's "Christianizing" of the myth influences it, in light of Girardian's belief that Christianity asks us to reject mimetic violence. If someone remembers the text more clearly than I do, I would appreciate additional thoughts.

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Replies:

Re: Till We Have Faces -- Betsy Peters, 06:12:12 01/31/08 Thu
Re: Till We Have Faces -- Erin Risch, 14:51:39 01/31/08 Thu
Re: Till We Have Faces -- JPJ II, 19:52:47 02/03/08 Sun