Till We Have Faces
Encyclopedia
Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold is a 1956
novel by C. S. Lewis
. It is a retelling of the Greek myth
of Cupid and Psyche
, which had haunted Lewis all his life, and which is itself based on a chapter of The Golden Ass
of Apuleius
. The first part of the book is written from the perspective of Psyche's older sister Orual, and is constructed as a long-withheld accusation against the gods. The book is set in the fictional kingdom of Glome. The people of Glome have occasional contacts with those of Greece
, allowing for an interplay between the Hellenistic
, rationalistic world-view and the powerful, 'irrational', and 'primitive' one.
The book is a fictional treatment of Lewis' non-fiction book The Four Loves
.
Orual begins the second part of the book by declaring that her previous argument was false, that she has no time to revise it properly, but must amend the book before she dies. After at first finishing her book, she considered it time to end her miserable life. However, she has various mysterious visions and her dreams parallel the tasks given to Psyche in the myth. In the end, she has a dream in which she is entitled to present her complaint to the gods. Re-reading her work, she realizes that her love for Psyche was unduly possessive, and that her actual motivation for urging Psyche to look at her husband was jealousy — not of Psyche, but of Cupid/the God of the Mountain, who had, in her eyes, stolen Psyche's love. This realization allows her to meet and reconcile with Psyche.
The text ends in the middle of a sentence: "Long did I hate you. Long did I fear you. I might—", and is followed by a note from another character (Arnom, priest of Ungit/Aphrodite), who describes that she had been found dead at her writing table, presumably mid-sentence as evidenced by way the words written after "might" looked on the page on which her head fell as she expired.
Gibb, however, rejected the title "Bareface" on the ground that readers would mistake it for a Western. In response to this, Lewis commented that he failed to see why people would be deterred from buying the book if they thought it was a Western, and that he thought the working title cryptic enough to be intriguing. Nevertheless, Lewis began considering an alternative title on February 29, 1956, and chose "Till We Have Faces", which references a quotation from the book by Orual, "How can [the gods] meet us face to face till we have faces?" He defended his choice of title by describing the novel's importance to the human condition in a letter to Dorothea Conybeare, explaining that the idea behind the title was that a human being must become real before it can expect to receive any message from divine beings; "that is, it must be speaking with its own voice (not one of its borrowed voices), expressing its actual desires (not what it imagines that it desires), being for good or ill itself, not any mask."
named his 1984 album after the book. Hackett was influenced by Lewis's work, also having a song about "Narnia" on his 1978 album Please Don't Touch
.
The band Over the Rhine named their first album, released in 1991, Till We Have Faces
, after the C. S. Lewis book.
The band Noise Ratchet
released their debut full-length, Till We Have Faces, in 2002 with the name of the album and a song therein named after the C. S. Lewis novel.
The band The Subtle Way has an EP and title track called "Until We Have Faces" named after the C. S. Lewis novel.
The Christian band Red
named their third album, released in 2011, Until We Have Faces
, after the C. S. Lewis book.
1956 in literature
The year 1956 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* Writing under the pseudonym of Emile Ajar, author Romain Gary becomes the only person ever to win the Prix Goncourt twice.*Iris Murdoch marries John Bayley....
novel by C. S. Lewis
C. S. Lewis
Clive Staples Lewis , commonly referred to as C. S. Lewis and known to his friends and family as "Jack", was a novelist, academic, medievalist, literary critic, essayist, lay theologian and Christian apologist from Belfast, Ireland...
. It is a retelling of the Greek myth
Greek mythology
Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece...
of Cupid and Psyche
Cupid and Psyche
Cupid and Psyche , is a legend that first appeared as a digressionary story told by an old woman in Lucius Apuleius' novel, The Golden Ass, written in the 2nd century CE. Apuleius likely used an earlier tale as the basis for his story, modifying it to suit the thematic needs of his novel.It has...
, which had haunted Lewis all his life, and which is itself based on a chapter of The Golden Ass
The Golden Ass
The Metamorphoses of Apuleius, which St. Augustine referred to as The Golden Ass , is the only Latin novel to survive in its entirety....
of Apuleius
Apuleius
Apuleius was a Latin prose writer. He was a Berber, from Madaurus . He studied Platonist philosophy in Athens; travelled to Italy, Asia Minor and Egypt; and was an initiate in several cults or mysteries. The most famous incident in his life was when he was accused of using magic to gain the...
. The first part of the book is written from the perspective of Psyche's older sister Orual, and is constructed as a long-withheld accusation against the gods. The book is set in the fictional kingdom of Glome. The people of Glome have occasional contacts with those of Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
, allowing for an interplay between the Hellenistic
Hellenistic civilization
Hellenistic civilization represents the zenith of Greek influence in the ancient world from 323 BCE to about 146 BCE...
, rationalistic world-view and the powerful, 'irrational', and 'primitive' one.
The book is a fictional treatment of Lewis' non-fiction book The Four Loves
The Four Loves
The Four Loves is a book by C. S. Lewis which explores the nature of love from a Christian perspective through thought experiments. The content of the examination is prefaced by Lewis' admission that he initially mistook St. John's words "God is Love" for a simple inroad to his topic...
.
Plot summary
The story is a re-telling of the Greek myth of Cupid and Psyche, from the point of view of Orual, Psyche's ugly sister. The first book begins as the complaint of an old woman who is bitter at the pain and injustice of the gods. Although Orual is indeed unattractive, she loves her beautiful half-sister Psyche obsessively, and when Psyche is sacrificed to the "God of the Mountain", who correlates to the Greek Cupid, she feels as if the gods have stolen her sister from her. In an attempt to rescue her sister, she fails, except for a brief moment, to recognize the beautiful castle in which her sister lives, and brushes off what she saw by claiming she could have been mistaken. She proceeds to urge her sister to look at her husband for fear that her sister had married a monster, although Cupid had specifically forbidden Psyche to do so. When Psyche obeys Orual, the God of the Mountain banishes her. After suffering for years with the knowledge that she inadvertently destroyed her sister's happiness (during which she had become a just and victorious queen — though one clinging and ravenous for affection), Orual hears a recounting of the tale which depicts her as having deliberately ruined her sister's life out of envy. In response, she writes her tale in hopes that it will be brought to Greece, where she has heard that men are willing to question even the gods.Orual begins the second part of the book by declaring that her previous argument was false, that she has no time to revise it properly, but must amend the book before she dies. After at first finishing her book, she considered it time to end her miserable life. However, she has various mysterious visions and her dreams parallel the tasks given to Psyche in the myth. In the end, she has a dream in which she is entitled to present her complaint to the gods. Re-reading her work, she realizes that her love for Psyche was unduly possessive, and that her actual motivation for urging Psyche to look at her husband was jealousy — not of Psyche, but of Cupid/the God of the Mountain, who had, in her eyes, stolen Psyche's love. This realization allows her to meet and reconcile with Psyche.
The text ends in the middle of a sentence: "Long did I hate you. Long did I fear you. I might—", and is followed by a note from another character (Arnom, priest of Ungit/Aphrodite), who describes that she had been found dead at her writing table, presumably mid-sentence as evidenced by way the words written after "might" looked on the page on which her head fell as she expired.
Conception
The idea of rewriting the myth of Cupid and Psyche, with the palace invisible, had been in C. S. Lewis's mind ever since he was an undergraduate, and the retelling, as he imagined it, involved writing through the mouth of the elder sister. He tried it in different verse-forms during the period when he still considered himself primarily a poet, so that one may say that he had been "at work on Orual for 35 years," even though the version told in the book "was very quickly written." In his pre-Christian days, Lewis would imagine the story with Orual "in the right and the gods in the wrong."Origin and evolution of the title
Lewis originally titled his working manuscripts "Bareface," most likely in an effort to bluntly suggest Orual's physical ugliness, which is a haunting and ironic contrast to the beauty of other characters in the story, namely Psyche, Cupid, and Aphrodite, who are arguably the most beautiful in all of mythology. The use of the word "face" in the title is also a reference to the original myth, in which Psyche was not allowed to see Cupid's face so that her intimate encounters with him would be veiled in the bare nakedness of darkness. The working title "Bareface" also ironically suggests the emptiness of identity.Gibb, however, rejected the title "Bareface" on the ground that readers would mistake it for a Western. In response to this, Lewis commented that he failed to see why people would be deterred from buying the book if they thought it was a Western, and that he thought the working title cryptic enough to be intriguing. Nevertheless, Lewis began considering an alternative title on February 29, 1956, and chose "Till We Have Faces", which references a quotation from the book by Orual, "How can [the gods] meet us face to face till we have faces?" He defended his choice of title by describing the novel's importance to the human condition in a letter to Dorothea Conybeare, explaining that the idea behind the title was that a human being must become real before it can expect to receive any message from divine beings; "that is, it must be speaking with its own voice (not one of its borrowed voices), expressing its actual desires (not what it imagines that it desires), being for good or ill itself, not any mask."
In popular culture
Steve HackettSteve Hackett
Stephen Richard Hackett is a British singer-songwriter and guitarist. He gained prominence as a member of the British progressive rock group Genesis, which he joined in 1970 and left in 1977 to pursue a solo career...
named his 1984 album after the book. Hackett was influenced by Lewis's work, also having a song about "Narnia" on his 1978 album Please Don't Touch
Please Don't Touch
Please Don't Touch! is the second solo album by English guitarist Steve Hackett, and his first after leaving Genesis in 1977.The album featured several guests including R&B singer Randy Crawford, American folk icon Richie Havens, the drummer and vocalist for the progressive rock band Kansas , Frank...
.
The band Over the Rhine named their first album, released in 1991, Till We Have Faces
Till We Have Faces (Over the Rhine album)
Till We Have Faces is Over the Rhine's debut album, released independently in 1991, and re-released in 1995 on I.R.S. Records.The re-release substitutes two live recordings for the original studio versions, and adds a bonus track, "Downfall."...
, after the C. S. Lewis book.
The band Noise Ratchet
Noise Ratchet
Noise Ratchet were an alternative Rock band originating from California.Noise Ratchet began as a pop punk/ska band in February 1997 in San Diego, California. In 1998, they released their first independent album, Never Going Back, at Youth Wave 1998 while opening for P.O.D. The Supertones, Stavesacre...
released their debut full-length, Till We Have Faces, in 2002 with the name of the album and a song therein named after the C. S. Lewis novel.
The band The Subtle Way has an EP and title track called "Until We Have Faces" named after the C. S. Lewis novel.
The Christian band Red
Red (band)
Red is an American rock band from Nashville, Tennessee, formed in 2004. The band's lineup consists of singer Michael Barnes, guitarist Anthony Armstrong, bassist Randy Armstrong and drummer Joe Rickard. They are known for their Christian rock music which incorporates other sounds such as...
named their third album, released in 2011, Until We Have Faces
Until We Have Faces
Until We Have Faces is the third full-length studio album from American Christian rock band Red. It was released on February 1, 2011 and is the first album the band released with four members, due to the absence of Jasen Rauch . It is named for C. S...
, after the C. S. Lewis book.