Event Title
C.S. Lewis’s The Silver Chair: Descent, Destiny, and Discipleship in the Deep Realm and Beyond
Event Website
https://www.mythsoc.org/oms/oms-2023.htm
Start Date
8-5-2023 6:30 PM
End Date
8-5-2023 7:20 PM
Description
This paper will explore the descent and underworld journey of Eustace Scrubb, Jill Pole, and Puddleglum the Marsh-wiggle in C.S. Lewis’s The Silver Chair, amplifying themes which indicate that Lewis’s The Silver Chair distills Bonhoeffer’s The Cost of Discipleship for young readers. I use a Campbellian lens to discuss why Lewis set the climax of his adventure in the profane underworld ruled by the Queen of the Deep Realm. Through Bonhoeffer’s notion of “cheap grace,” Biblical parallels, connections to Paradise Lost, and contrasts with Dante’s Inferno, we will explore the journey to the underworld and the descent into it. We will also consider what the metanoias experienced by Eustace, Jill, and Puddleglum could teach Lewis’s young readers about faith, discipleship, and temptation.
Included in
Children's and Young Adult Literature Commons, Comparative Literature Commons, Digital Humanities Commons, European Languages and Societies Commons, Literature in English, Anglophone outside British Isles and North America Commons, Literature in English, British Isles Commons, Literature in English, North America, Ethnic and Cultural Minority Commons, Medieval Studies Commons, Modern Languages Commons, Modern Literature Commons, Other English Language and Literature Commons
C.S. Lewis’s The Silver Chair: Descent, Destiny, and Discipleship in the Deep Realm and Beyond
This paper will explore the descent and underworld journey of Eustace Scrubb, Jill Pole, and Puddleglum the Marsh-wiggle in C.S. Lewis’s The Silver Chair, amplifying themes which indicate that Lewis’s The Silver Chair distills Bonhoeffer’s The Cost of Discipleship for young readers. I use a Campbellian lens to discuss why Lewis set the climax of his adventure in the profane underworld ruled by the Queen of the Deep Realm. Through Bonhoeffer’s notion of “cheap grace,” Biblical parallels, connections to Paradise Lost, and contrasts with Dante’s Inferno, we will explore the journey to the underworld and the descent into it. We will also consider what the metanoias experienced by Eustace, Jill, and Puddleglum could teach Lewis’s young readers about faith, discipleship, and temptation.
Comments
SESSION VII
6:30 PM—7:20 Eastern
5:30 PM—6:20 Central
4:30 PM—5:20 Mountain
3:30 PM—4:20 Pacific
10:30 PM—11:20 GMT