Home > MYTHSOC > Mythlore > Vol. 43 > No. 1 (2024)

The Rhetoric of Temporality in C.S. Lewis’s Works: A Study of Time in Mere Christianity and The Chronicles of Narnia

Lorraine Nasser, University of CambridgeFollow

Abstract

This article explores the depiction of time in the works of C. S. Lewis, offering an analysis rooted in a reading of select passages that highlight issues of temporality in Lewis’ works. The select passages are from the following books: Mere Christianity; The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe; The Magician’s Nephew; and The Last Battle. The theoretical framework for this article is derived mainly from Aristotle’s perennial contribution to rhetoric, adopting his definition of rhetoric as: “The faculty of discovering, in the particular case, the available means of persuasion.” Moreover, this paper engages with published readership on Lewis’ relationship with rhetoric, as explored by Gary Tandy in The Rhetoric of Certitude, and Don W. King’s “The Rhetorical Similarities of C.S. Lewis and Bertrand Russel” among others. This study mainly aims to explore Lewis’ employment of Pathos, Ethos, and Logos in his writings, demonstrating how these three modes manifest differently in his nonfiction and fantasy works yet remain equally compelling. Finally, this article aims to show how Lewis utilizes literary techniques that enhance the sense of identification between his voice and that of the reader, in order to increase the receptiveness of his audience toward the following three points which he postulates: Firstly, time has clear boundaries; specifically. This implies that created time, or time on earth is finite. Secondly, time is linear. Namely, it has a continuous and sequential nature, where events follow each other in a straight line, regardless of how it is experienced on a subjective level. And thirdly, time is but a line encompassed by an infinite eternal being, the Creator of time. Meaning that as a finite being, God exists outside of time, and as thus is capable of creating time.