ASTU 400Y-001 War, Folklore, and the Mythos of the Inklings

Primary Texts: Owen Barfield, selections from Poetic Diction (PDF on Connect)

Secondary Texts:

• Michel Piret, “W. H. Auden and the Inklings,” C. S. Lewis and His Circle: Essays and Memoirs from the Oxford C.S. Lewis Society, edited by Roger White, Judith Wolfe, Brendan Wolfe (UBC Library online)
  
• Owen Barfield, “Lewis and/or Barfield,” in C. S. Lewis and His Circle: Essays and Memoirs from the Oxford C.S. Lewis Society,edited by Roger White, Judith Wolfe, Brendan Wolfe (UBC Library online) 

Discussion Questions: 

1. Think about the Inklings’ historic and literary moment, particularly as it is characterized by Nemerov in his introduction to Barfield’s work; you can also think back to our previous guest lectures, or to your own research when considering this question. Who were the Inklings, and why were they significant, particularly in their early twentieth-century contexts? How could they be defined as “Modernist” or “Late Romantic,” and what was their reason for preserving “antiquarian” ideas, or “archaisms” as Barfield would put it, in their work?
2. In his essay “Lewis and/or Barfield,” Barfield describes the “big difference” between himself and his friend was that “[Lewis] grew and I failed to grow – but, at any rate, he changed his views, whereas I didn’t.” Although we’ve read Lewis’s works non-chronologically, think about how his ideas “evolved.” Is there a difference between his “theological” versus “literary” utterances? How might his ideas compare to those of Barfield, particularly regarding historicism, different ways of reading or evaluating literature, as well as the formation of “meaning”?
3. In Piret’s article on “Auden and the Inklings,” he talks about Auden’s faith and his fascination with Tolkien’s works; for him, The Lord of the Rings revived the “Quest genre,” here defined as a multivalent “quest for meaning amidst chaos, a quest to ground moral instinct and judgement in metaphysical reality, a quest for authentic love and faith, a quest to transcend self-regard, and imprisonment within the limits of present apprehension as it can shut down around us” (9). How would you apply this definition of “quest” to the works we’ve studied, and do you agree with this definition? Going back to our first seminar, what is the difference (or relationship) between a quest and a journey? Connect your reflections back to the readings we’ve discussed.
4. Like Tolkien, Barfield felt that the innate historicity of “old” or “dead” languages rendered them archaic and arcane, yet are also vessels through which original word-meanings, timeless myths, and indeed human history can be felt, experienced, and conveyed; old words are effectively a palimpsest, in the sense that they have unstable, evolving definitions but are also telling artefacts, with value for both past and present. What is the value (or not) of “tradition,” historicism, or archaisms for Barfield, and for the other Inklings? How do these aspects of language and poetry/ prose shape meaning, or value-making when it comes to art?
5. Barfield offers several criteria for the assignment of “meaning” or “value” to poetry, contingent on both the creator and the recipient of poetic works; what are some of these criteria, and do you agree with Barfield? How might his arguments be influenced by his current historic moment, or his connection to the other Inklings? Consider his position on “civilization,” modernity, and technology, particularly its effects on language and tastes among consumers.
6. Barfield writes that “there is little doubt that nearly every poetic fashion (to use a word more in keeping with the trivial nature of the thing) begins in this way as a return to Nature, or in other words a return to the attempted expression of genuine knowledge.” In the context to Williams’s portrayal of art in All Hallow’s Eve, or some of the Marxist theory we’ve discussed, do you agree with this argument? What is the relationship between “archaism” and literary “fashions” for Barfield?

Texts: Charles Williams, All Hallow’s Eve, Chapters VIII-X “The Magical Creation,” “Telephone Conversations,” and “The Acts of the City”

Discussion Leader: Student Facilitator et all.

Discussion Questions:

1. Williams’s novel is disorienting; it oscillates between illusionary, indistinct language and the realism of everyday life in London during the 1940s. Those barriers become even less distinct towards the end of the novel, during which we see two of the narrative’s “ghosts” merge into one body and walk in the London of the living, a Foreign Office official implore Richard to persuade Father Simon in the war effort, Betty’s transformation or “unveiling,” and Sara Wallingford’s unwilling “sacrifice.” How does this novel work to create the same affective experience in the reader as say, Jonathan and Richard are experiencing within it? Is it an effective strategy, and does it change your approach to the text?
2. Pay attention to the significance of water within these chapters. How do each of the characters interact with water, and what does this reveal about their inner states of being, their substance, or their spiritual state? Can you think of other sources in which water is either an illuminating or ambivalent force, such as other texts we’ve read, Biblical passages, or medieval literature? Does this influence your reading of waterways, rivers, lakes or other aqueous bodies in this work?
3. Father Simon is able to split himself into “Types,” and it is suggested that these Types also occupy other states which are significant to the war effort. How might he be seen as emblematic of WWII leaders, or as a dangerous “cure” to a widespread cultural crisis? Are there any parallels to today’s leaders?
4. What do you make of the different “selves” we get within Father Simon, Betty, Sara and the ghosts? Think back to last day’s question on the psyche or any relevant psychoanalytic theories.
5. Consider the interplay of power, politics, deception and persuasion in this work. How does Williams depict the tenuous “dichotomy” between evil and good, devil and saint, magic and miracles, and compulsion versus compassion, or even life and death? What do you think he is revealing, or is himself struggling with, regarding the spiritual sources of power?
6. What do you make of Sara Wallingford’s “sacrifice” or her “substitution,” and does it redeem her? What about the gendered depiction of consent, penetration-as-spiritual occupation or invasion, embodiment, or “sub-creation,” particularly when it comes to Betty’s conception and Father Simon’s two clay-mould dolls? Why is it that Betty is finally able to become “herself” when she meets her nurse, the woman who “Christened” her? Think about parenthood, ownership, the power of names/ un-naming (the root for “ignoble”), and the constant interplay between creation and corruption of what has already been created.

Texts: Charles Williams, All Hallow’s Eve (Chapters IV-V “The Dream,” “The Hall by Holborn” and Chapters V-VI “The Wise Water,” “The Magical Sacrifice”)

Discussion Question Leader: Student Facilitator et all.

Discussion Questions:

1. Williams’s idea of Romantic Theology is founded on the idea that “ascent to God can be achieved in and through created things, and specifically in and through (heterosexual) love.” He also believed that it was a “flawed” conduit to the divine, obscured as it is by egoism, self-consciousness, power and sexual desire; how are these two models expressed through the relationships in All Hallow’s Eve, and what can you glean from Williams’s theology from these relationships?
2. What is Father Simon? Consider the differences and similarities between “magic,” “mysticism,” “occultism” and Christianity, or rather the “Divine Mysteries.” What does it mean to be a magician, a devil, or a holy man? How does Williams negotiate between the divine and the “blasphemous” through this duplicitous figure and his cult following?
3. Williams strongly believed in the ability of “art to communicate,” and considered himself a “poet” above all his other pursuits; this suggests that he felt the lyrical, descriptive power of expressive language held far more profundity than narrative fiction. Consider All Hallow’s Eve not just as a novel about art but as a work of art; what is Williams trying to achieve through this work, or rather how do you experience it affectively, as a reader? How are these different perspectives on art articulated within the spaces that Williams has “composed,” both narratively and “visually” through his descriptions?
4. Space has great significance in both Williams’s All Hallows Eve and Lewis’s The Great Divorce, and tells a lot more about the people who dwell within it than they understand themselves. Compare the spaces of “limbo,” the City, “Hell,” the Plains, “Heaven” and the Mountains/ Hills within these two works. How do they contribute to the narrative, and what kind of cosmology are they constructing? What are the implicit values or theological ideas underpinning these spaces, and how do they effect the people who occupy them? What do you make of this porous barrier between the “living” and the “dead” worlds?
5. When Betty goes into the other place (the “upside-down,” “limbo,” or “the City”) she sees herself in her memories; standing from the outside, she is comforted by her own objective, critical distance. However, she is also the unwitting, blind emissary to Father Simon, who is able to literally split himself into different physical forms. Think of any psychoanalytic theories you might know about “the self,” or how you perceive your “self” within your own experience. What do you make of Williams’ consistent doubling or tripling of selves within this text? Do you see these as pieces of the psyche, spiritual/ demonic sides, or an inversion of the trinity?
6. Consider the role of gender in Williams’s works, particularly as it pertains to power/ subordination and Teacher/ Pupil-Disciple relationships, as well as the “vessel” that Father Simon uses in both Lady Wallingford and Betty’s bodies. What do you make of Lady Wallingford’s rape scene, in opposition to divine conception? Why do you think it is Betty who is chosen to communicate with the dead? Consider the parallels between Betty and the “Jewish girl” or the Virgin Mary, as well as the “Wise Water” which delivered her to the “shores” of her nurse’s arms. Is she a deliverer, a redeemer, or merely a messenger?

Primary Texts:

• Charles Williams, All Hallow’s Eve, Chapters I-III “The New Life,” “The Beetles,” “Clerk Simon”

Secondary Texts: 

• Paul Fiddes, “Charles Williams and the Problem of Evil,” in C. S. Lewis and His Circle: Essays and Memoirs from the Oxford C.S. Lewis Society, edited by Roger White, Judith Wolfe, Brendan Wolfe (UBC Library online)
• Ashley Marshall, “Reframing Charles Williams: Modernist Doubt and the Crisis of World War in ‘All Hallows’ Eve,’” Journal of Modern Literature (UBC Library online)

Discussion Leaders: Kienan Burrage et all. 

Discussion Questions:

Spirituality

Please note that today is an informal discussion of Lewis’s works, as well as our three remaining Inkling Investigation project presentations. Discussion questions and facilitation will not be graded, but are here for reference. 

Texts: C. S. Lewis, The Great Divorce 

Discussion Questions: 

1. In many ways, The Great Divorce can be seen as a parable; it articulates many of Lewis’s theological beliefs in terms of a fictional “thought experiment.” Can you think of some biblical, or literary parallels to the Lewis’s texts? What do you make of these comparisons or allusions, and how does it affect your interpretation of the “plain,” or Heaven, and the narrator’s experience of it?
2. How does The Great Divorce manage the question of free will? Think about themes of Christian forgiveness, salvation, redemption, and the Miltonic phrase “better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven.” What alternatives are being presented to each of the ghosts here, and what do you make of this dilemma Lewis gives us?
3. Think about the symbols that Lewis employs, both in terms of the landscape and its Ghosts. Why do you think Lewis chose the individuals, or case studies as they could be seen, that he did? What sins or humans struggles of the intellect do they embody? What about the significance of place, as in Hell as “Grey Town” and Heaven as a hyper-real, full-colour “Plain”?
4. Where else does Lewis show us his perspective on the afterlife he presents in The Great Divorce in terms of literary manifestations of Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory in his works of Fiction?

Texts: C. S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters

Discussion Leaders: Marcy Nelson and John Wragg

Discussion Questions:

1. (Ice breaker) The Screwtape Letters can be a very personal work that probes into our souls and heart and forces us to ask difficult questions. What is a particular passage or chapter that stood out to you or made you ask some of those difficult questions to yourself and why?
2. The Screwtape Letters as the title suggests, is a series of letters. What is the purpose in using the literary form of letters? What does this format of writing convey that a more narrative typical story format could not convey?
3. What does it mean to us that Screwtape and Wormwood call human beings, patients?What would be the perfect patient for Screwtape and Wormwood to have under their care. On the other end what would be the worst patient for Screwtape and Wormwood to have under their care?
4. What are we to make of the seemingly abusive yet affectionate relationship between Screwtape and Wormwood? What does it tell us about relationships in hell, and about the mindset of demons? Furthermore, how is this relationship similar to or different than that of Melkor and Sauron as well as the other servants of his?
5. Screwtape often describes the non-believer with oversimplified characteristics such as being materialistic and unhappy; do we find that Lewis presents a rather naive view of atheism? Do you think these descriptions also express social satire?
6. How is human and divine love presented in this work? How is the conversation on love similar or different in Mere Christianity?
7. What do we make of Lewis’ understanding of human nature? How does this theme tie into the approach of free will and Divine sovereignty?

Texts: Lewis, Mere Christianity; Chapters “XIV. Checkmate” and “XV. The Beginning” in Surprised by Joy

Discussion Leaders: (no leaders for this day)

Discussion Questions:

1. Lewis writes that all fields of study are directed, supported and ultimately find their source in God. How do you see this being articulated in his own fictions, or in story-telling more generally? Where do the two types of reading, the Egoistic and Disinterested, fit into his description of the Proud/ Teleological and the Humble Christian? Think about the relationship between dogma, emotions, and experience. What role does art, and storytelling have in Lewis’s argument, if any?
2. How do you reconcile Lewis’s position on the universality of moral truths versus the relativism of each individual’s “raw materials,” or their specific frame of reference? You might want to consider some of the examples he gives from his current historical moment; the corrosive influence of power in Himmler, the (false) reverence for patriotism or a misguided (Nazi) ideology, the perpetuity of hatred in the POW and death camps during the Holocaust, and so forth. How do these effect Lewis’s argument, or indeed make his insights more significant?
3. What is “the great sin,” and what is faith in Lewis’s argument? How might these definitions fit into the ways we understand ourselves, and articulate truths about power, corruption, and strife in our origin-stories and fictions? Do you see these themes expressed in the works of Lewis and Tolkien? Think about the ways Lewis engages with the other Christian virtues as well.

Texts: 

• C.S. Lewis, “Myth Become Fact,” in God in the Dock (as well as other selections, if you are curious), and Chapter V: Myth, from An Experiment in Criticism (PDF on Connect)

Discussion Leaders: Justin Carless and Kathryn Ney

Discussion Questions:

1. Hartt describes Lewis’s works as a direct iteration (or “imitation”) of the Christian myth cycle, whereas for Tolkien, “sub-creation is refraction of the fecundity of God’s own creative endeavors” ( Hartt 27). How does Tolkien’s position on the “myth” of Christianity contrast to that of Lewis, and how do their positions relate to the work of art itself? How does this influence their writing and world-building? You might want to consider some of Tolkien’s philosophies in “On Fairy Stories” in comparison to Lewis’s conversion (in Surprised by Joy, as quoted in McGrath), as well as Tolkien’s definition of “myth” versus Lewis, who most famously described myth as “breathing a lie through silver.”
2. Lewis is very careful not to rigidly define what he is calling a ‘myth’, going so far as to say what may be a myth to one man may not be to another.  By doing so he places the emphasis of definition upon the relation that story has to the receiver.  Is there any desire for a definition planted in form?   How do we feel about Lewis’s similar thoughts directed toward religion and the faith experience?
3. Consider the dichotomy that Lewis draws between modernity (scepticism, “materialism,” obstinacy, myopia) and belief (“open-mindedness,” vision, purpose). Do you agree with his argument(s)? Some other contrasts you might want to consider include those of “magic” and “miracles,” “seeing” and “believing,” “teaching,” or “dogma” and “story.”
4. Lewis states that the words of a myth are utilitarian in nature, serving to convey the information of the myth.  In this way it is not necessary that the actual script be pleasing to the eye or ear of the reader.  Do we agree with this statement with the texts that we have read this term? Is the simplicity of Roger Lancelyn Green’s text detrimental to his adaptation of Arthurian legend?
5. This question is somewhat tangential to the readings; however, it is brought up in C.S. Lewis, Defender of the Faith that Lewis was passed up for the Merton professorship of English Literature at Oxford.  The paper then somewhat facetiously asserts “someone who writes popular books, it was whispered, couldn’t be a real academic” is there still a sense of this ‘snobbery’ in academia today? Is there a connection between works designed to appeal to the lowest common denominator (or those that serendipitously find themselves in this position) and a lack of depth worthy of academic inspection?  How does this relate to or fly in the face of our conceptions of myth and their enduring, nigh-universal quality?

Texts: Selections from Roger Lancelyn Green’s King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table

Discussion Leaders: Daphne de Grandpre and Kathryn Ney

Discussion Questions:

1. Avalone/ Avallónë: Dúnedain, Divine Right of Kings, and Proximity to the Divine

In our previous reading of Tolkien’s The Silmarillion, numerous places have been deliberately quarantined from the known world of men, and the evil threats therein: the Valar and Maiar have their stronghold in Valinor; Thingol and his Teleri subjects are sequestered in Doriath, protected by the enchanted Girdle of Melian; some of the Eldar had the island of Tol Eressë, and its city Avallónë; and in parallel, the Edain, the Three Houses of Men, become the Númenóreans (Dúnedain), hidden away on the island kingdom of Numenor.

King Arthur is also brought to an island sanctuary, which is neither within nor yet fully outside the realm of men; like the Dúnedain, he is raised in a land that is close to a Holy presence, and is there blessed. Consider the significance of place, and proximity to God, when it comes to kingship. Is Avalon merely a pagan remnant, here incorporated into a “divine right of kings” narrative, or is there a larger significance to Arthur’s pseudo-baptismal blessing by the “Dwellers in Avalon, the Land of Mystery” (Green 23)? Are there any other parallels that you can see between the Dúnedain and Arthur Pendragon?

2. Does the Sword Make the Man?

In our discussion of “Of Túrun Turambar,” in The Silmarillion, we noted that the sword appeared to have acted on its own; as those of you who are familiar with the ekphrastic reading of Beowulf’s sword hilt, and the dubious history of the sword Hrunting (Unferth’s kin-slayer), Guarthang has many precedents in Anglo Saxon and Middle English literatures. Many of theses texts emphasize the ways in which weapons carry histories and chose the fates of their masters. How do swords determine (or measure) the fate and worth of Arthur and his knights? Does the sword make the man, or does the man make the sword?

3. Chastity, Charity and the Chalice: Morality and Christian Iconography in King Arthur

Consider the role of holy (and magical) objects in Green’s retelling of King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table; you may want to take a historical, theological, or literary approach to your reading. What makes an object “magical” versus “holy,” and are they the same thing?

What is the relationship between femininity, chastity, and the deliverance of these objects, such as Excalibur delivered by the Lady of the Lake, the “Dolorous Stroke” sword drawn by Balan from the unnamed lady, or Lady Bertilak’s green girdle-lace?What is the significance of the Holy Grail to the King Arthur narrative, and how have its many significations changed over time (in popular media, propaganda, or scholarship)?

4. In “On Fairy Stories,” Tolkien wrote that of all things in a “fairy tale,” “There is one provisio: if there is any satire present in the tale, one thing must not be made fun of, the magic itself. That must in that story be taken seriously, neither laughed at nor explained away. Of this seriousness the medieval Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is an admirable example.” How do magic and humour work together in the tale of Sir Gawain?

5. Names and Identity: Names are identifiers in many texts to determine lineage and a self-made identity, why then do we have so many characters without names? For example the multiple “maidens” that we encounter in Roger Lancelyn Green’s stories of King Arthur. This also becomes important when Balyn and Balan fight each other without knowing their opponent’s names or coat of arms. Should we trust Balyn’s belief that “it is an evil sign…surely you are no true man if you will not tell us your name” (38, Coming of Arthur).

6. Wizards: Merlin arrives at seemingly random moments to provide great wisdom or prophecy. When we discussed Gandalf and the roles of wizards, the common idea seemed to be that wizards were type-casted as older men that can give ‘grandfatherly’ advice. Are there other parallels between the wizards of middle-earth and Merlin? Is it possible Tolkien was influenced by this literature to create his own wizards? Do we continue this image in popular media?

Texts:

• J. R. R. Tolkien, “Akallabêth,” and “Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age”

Discussion Leaders: Valen Tam

Discussion Questions:

1. Of Earendil’s two sons, Elrond chose elven immortality while Elros chose the mortal life of humanity. When Arwen of the House of Elrond chose to be human out of love for Aragorn, it raised the question: what is the point of choosing to be a human in the first place if as an elf, one could choose mortality whenever they pleased? Is the contrast between Elrond and Elros an expression of entropy? If so, what parallels can be drawn from our own history as supporting evidence?
2. I get the idea that Tolkien is a supporter of the mortal life, given he was apparently a devout Roman Catholic. How does he make his case against the allure of immortality and power over life (ex. Rings of power) in the final two chapters of The Silmarillion?
3. Akallabeth reveals that there was an altar of Eru Illuvatar in Numenor before its destruction, and this stands out in the Quenta Silmarillion as the only notion of an active religion in Arda. How is Tolkien’s juxtaposition of the King’s Men and the Faithful a dichotomic representation of religion in our prime universe?