Till We Have Faces
A Myth Retold
by C. S. Lewis · first published 1956
3mentions
1recommended by
3HN commenters
2020–2025first – last mentioned
33% recommend67% neutral
C.S. Lewis once described Till We Have Faces as his best work. It is a retelling of the Psyche myth with a subtle Christian bent. One of my professors, Dr. Jim Hand, once posed the question, "Is Psyche a case of spirit becoming flesh, or flesh becoming spirit?" It is a great novel with much depth.
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…missed the trilogy's heart (and ruined some great characters). It's dense reading, but the prequel The Silmarillion is perhaps the only successful epic mythology written in modern times. C. S. Lewis' "Till We Have Faces" is a remarkable adaptation of the Cupid and Psyche myth, from the perspective of Psyche's sister. I loved Spider Robinson's Variable Star, based on an unfinished outline by Robert Heinlein.
on “Ask HN: Great fiction books that have had a positive impact on your life?” ↗This (superficially) reminds me of the stone idol "Ungit", in C.S. Lewis' "Till we have Faces" [0]. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Till_We_Have_Faces
on “Japan’s ‘killing stone’ splits in two” ↗Only in recent years have I appreciated how familiarity with such material so enriches my experience of other, later literature. To use this example, the title of C.S. Lewis’s Till We Have Faces and its eponymous sentence (paraphrased): How can we know the gods face to face, till we have faces?
on “Interactive map of Paul's first century travels in Roman world” ↗