Product Description

C.S. Lewis' The Discarded Image paints a lucid picture of the medieval world view, as historical and cultural background to the literature of the Middle Ages and Renaissance. It describes the "image" discarded by later ages as "the medieval synthesis itself, the whole organization of their theology, science and history into a single, complex, harmonious mental model of the universe." This, Lewis' last book, was hailed as "the final memorial to the work of a great scholar and teacher and a wise and noble mind."

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #87602 in Books
• Published on: 1994-08-26
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 242 pages

Review
'Wise, illuminating, companionable, it may well come to be seen as Lewis' s best book.' The Observer

'... erudite and graceful, filled with anecdote and analogy, illuminating the images of the past.' Los Angeles Times

'... his wonderful gusto, the clarity of his style, the wit of his comments and analogies, the range of his learning and the liveliness of his mind are displayed to the full, warmed by a prevailing good humour.' Helen Gardner, The Listener

Customer Reviews

The Space Trilogy decoded
It is difficult to praise "The Discarded Image" too highly. It can be read with profit many times. Other reviewers have told you why.

That said, I would like to say something to those who have read and enjoyed the Space Trilogy, especially "Out of the Silent Planet" and "Perelandra." In writing those excellent stories, Lewis decided that the medieval outlook on cosmology, however incorrect from the scientific standpoint, would provide a marvelous-and to most of us-unfamiliar backdrop for tales of imaginative fiction. I promise you that once you have finished "The Discarded Image," you will reread the fictional works pleasantly fascinated by how the medieval image informs the novels.

Not So Dark an Age
To begin with, it must be acknowledged that the subtitle of this work is apt to be misinterpreted. Lewis's last book of his own initiative, which but for some late corrections would have been published in the final months of his life, might be better understood as a 'preface' to mediaeval and Renaissance literature than as what is now most often meant by an 'introduction'. For his stated purpose is not one of identifying, summarizing, and expounding major works, but of explaining the world-view or Model of the universe which informed any educated writer or reader of the time.

Lewis is concerned that a student may succeed in achieving a semblance of comprehension yet be wholly mistaken in his or her grasp of mediaeval literature through projecting onto it either very modern ideas or, perhaps worse, modern misconceptions of what our ancestors believed. While he does touch on authors and writings familiar from the average undergraduate survey course, he dwells far more on, and digs more deeply into, somewhat obscure examples which he feels better represent the mindset of the era. Boethius and his THE CONSOLATION OF PHILOSOPHY get particular attention and are alluded to repeatedly throughout. Lewis then proceeds to outline the mediaeval picture of the universe's structure; of the inhabitants it held; and of the psychological, philosophical, and metaphysical aspects which integrated the whole system.

All of this gradually reveals a cosmology far more sophisticated and a civilisation rather better informed than they are often credited with being. Understanding of the nature of the universe was not so erroneous as is now generally supposed; and where it was indeed wrong, it was nonetheless remarkably insightful as well as internally consistent. The mediaeval era emerges as the vital and extraordinary world it was, and as a fertile ground in which the so-called 'Renaissance' took root and flourished.

Lewis concludes with a cautionary reminder that our own notions of the universe and of 'Reality' itself remain comparatively incomplete and are certain to be superseded one day, not merely by new discoveries but by the ever-shifting philosophies and tastes which determine what questions are asked and thus what answers are found.

This is a book I genuinely hope to read again. Parts of it, I confess, were a bit beyond me, if chiefly because I had too little acquaintance with what was under discussion. Even so, Lewis's characteristic wit, conversational style, and contagious enthusiasm succeeded in making me wish to improve my familiarity with his subject. And to inspire such interest is surely a teacher's purpose even more than the mere passing on of information.

The Discarded Image:
This book explained and gave amazing and insightful information about the development of the medieval worldview and mindset.