Yes yes! C.S. Lewis talks about mythological fantasy versus "reality-based" fantasies (school stories/get-rich stories/etc) in his book An Experiment in Criticism.
And maybe (more Lewis, sorry), CSL's foreword to George MacDonald's Phantastes, in which he credits that work for "baptising his imagination" and teaching him to love "goodness."
Late in replying, but one need never apologize for "more Lewis." :-)
I've read plenty of articles on the subject before, but I can never remember what or where. I know I've read the Phantastes one, but I'd forgotten! Thanks for mentioning it.
Also: have you read any stuff by John Granger? He's an Orthodox Christian scholar, and has written more about Harry Potter than anyone else to date. He's got some great stuff in his books/on his website about the compatibility of Christianity and fantasy, especially about the spiritual sides to alchemy and the differences between "incantational" and "invocational" magic. If I can find some specific links for you, I'll bring them over here.
I found myself re-reading a couple articles that my old college president wrote on Harry Potter, one 'round about PoA and one after DH. He didn't get very in-depth (it was for his radio show), but he touched on Rowling's theology as evident in the story. And then he recommended them.
This is very timely, actually. I just ran into an issue with my NaNo novel about how to have magic users in the modern world while still being Biblically faithful. While I don't have an answer yet, this article (http://www.christianfantasy.net/sdg1.html) was very helpful and had some really interesting points about Lewis and Tolkein, how they treated magic, and the "hedges" they put around it to make it work. Worth your time for this purpose, I'd say.
Wow, that was interesting. I'd twigged to the "magic users aren't human" thing, though I feel compelled to point out that Dr Cornelius did use magic (to find Queen Susan's horn, and later Caspian), and that he was half human. But I like the conclusion, that such differences don't make such magic "evil", just more enticing.
Comments 7
And maybe (more Lewis, sorry), CSL's foreword to George MacDonald's Phantastes, in which he credits that work for "baptising his imagination" and teaching him to love "goodness."
Reply
I've read plenty of articles on the subject before, but I can never remember what or where. I know I've read the Phantastes one, but I'd forgotten! Thanks for mentioning it.
Reply
Reply
I found myself re-reading a couple articles that my old college president wrote on Harry Potter, one 'round about PoA and one after DH. He didn't get very in-depth (it was for his radio show), but he touched on Rowling's theology as evident in the story. And then he recommended them.
Reply
Reply
Reply
Reply
Leave a comment