Monday 2 December 2013

The Pilgrim's Regress by C.S. Lewis

"I dreamed of a boy who was born in the land of Puritania and his name was John."

In The Pilgrim's Regress, John is a boy who lives in Puritania and is given a rather legalistic view of the Landlord of his country by the overseer or Steward.  When he sees a shimmering Island in a vision through a crack in a wall, he experiences such an intense longing that he leaves Puritania, setting out on a journey to discover its location.  With this incredible longing (Sehensucht) throbbing inside him, he tries to assuage it by a number of worldly means.  The basic gist of the story is that John starts out, running from something he doesn't truly understand and running to something he doesn't truly understand.  Through his numerous adventures, many with his friend Vertue, he discovers that he has run right back to where he had begun, Puritania, but thanks to the enlightenment he has received on his travels from Mr. Halfway & son, the Clevers, Mr. Mammon, the Giant, Reason, Mother Kirk, Three Pale Men, Mr. Savage, Mr. Broad, Wisdom, Contemplation, the Hermit, and Silkisteinsauga, he finds the answers to his questions and is able to pass over the brook and into the light.

One of the many strengths of this book lies in the fact that John didn't simply learn from the "good" people he met along his journey.  Each of his encounters taught him something about life and his beliefs, which helped him to grow into the person he became at the end of the story.

This was one of the hardest reviews I have written so far.  You begin with what appears to be a simple allegory of C.S. Lewis' own journey to faith, yet the reader is soon made aware that embedded in this simple story is a plethora of incredibly complex material and ideas.  Lewis incorporated numerous ideologies such as Romanticism, Neo-Romanticism, Communism, Freudianism, Facism, etc. along with imagery, metaphors, and a host of allusions and quotes that is mind-boggling.  The fact that he wrote this book while on vacation at his friend Arthur Greeves' house in a mere two weeks, and was able to incorporate the wide-ranging scope of material that he did, is astounding!



In talking about his book years later, Lewis appeared almost embarrassed by it:  "On re-reading this book ten years after I wrote it, I find its chief faults to be those two which I myself least easily forgive in the books of other men: needless obscurity, and an uncharitable temper."  He blames his youthful idealism on failing to give the reader the guidance to understand his personal journey.  I, for one, can forgive him this minor fault.  To mine The Pilgrim's Regress of its treasures is a difficult task, but one that is well worth the effort.

6 comments:

  1. This is just such an interesting book--kind of weird but with so much to think about. Thanks for the great review.

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  2. Thanks for the compliment! It was a hard review to do; I still feel there is so much more I could have said but I didn't want to overwhelm anyone.

    To help me navigate my way through it, I used this site: http://www.lewisiana.nl/regressquotes/ It was invaluable for getting a basic understanding of some of the allusions Lewis used, and I will know for next time certain topics I might want to explore before I give it a second attempt.

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    1. I wonder if there is an Annotated Pilgrim's Regress edition somewhere, like the Annotated Alice. That would be good.

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    2. I did find this book on Amazon but I haven't actually seen it: http://www.amazon.ca/Finding-Landlord-Guidebook-Pilgrims-Regress/dp/0940895358 It looks interesting but, if you read some of the reviews, it appears to show a bias in a certain area. If the author allows her personal bias to show through in this type of book, I'm a little leery as to how well she will portray Lewis' meaning in the novel. Still, it would be interesting to give it a try.

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  3. I'd heard of this but didn't know much about it. It certainly sounds interesting! It's good to know there's a resource for understanding the allusions; I'll have to remember that if I ever read this.

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  4. It's based on the style of The Pilgrim's Progress, so thankfully there is something familiar about it. I find, with Lewis, it is prudent to read something about him, his life and beliefs; then when you read his books the light goes on and you understand more clearly what he is trying to communicate. Alternatively, you can just read his books …….. they are stand-alone great reads without having to delve into the deeper concepts!

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