C.S. Lewis’s Perelandra: Reshaping the Image of the Cosmos explores how the novel synthesizes the three traditions of cosmology, mythology, and Christianity. The first part considers the cosmological implications of the world Lewis depicts in Perelandra; the second part examines the relationship between morality and meaning in Lewis’s created cosmology.
REVIEWS:
- This is a rich and rewarding anthology, traversing new territory for both students and admirers of C.S. Lewis’s venerable interplanetary romance, Perelandra. Fueled by fresh and invigorating scholarship by both veteran and younger Lewis researchers, this volume stands proudly within the Kent State University Press tradition of well-informed, principled prose that builds upon and illuminates Lewis’s own legacy of lucid and impassioned scholarship.
— Bruce L. Edwards
- This compelling volume is the first book-length study of Perelandra, a work Lewis said was one of his two best (the other being Till We Have Faces). It focuses upon three broad themes — cosmology, morality, and theology — and the erudite essayists offer penetrating and engaging discussions.
— Don W. King
Review in Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts
CONTENTS:
Judith Wolfe, Introduction: The Scope & Vision of this Study
Walter Hooper, C.S. Lewis and the Anthropological Approach
I. The Perelandran Cosmos
Michael Ward, Voyage to Venus: Lewis’ Imaginative Path to Perelandra
Paul S. Fiddes, ‘For the Dance all Things Were Made’: The Great Dance in C.S. Lewis’ Perelandra
Sanford Schwartz, Perelandra in its Own Time: A Modern View of the Space Trilogy
Monika B. Hilder, Surprised by the Feminine: A Re‐reading of Gender Discourse in C.S. Lewis’ Perelandra
Nikolay Epplée, The Centre and the Rim: Inversions of the System of the Heavens in Perelandra and The Discarded Image
II. Morality & Meaning in Perelandra
Tami Swenson‐van Opstal, Perelandran Diction: A Study in Meaning
Meriel Patrick, Myth, Pluralism, and Choice: Perelandra and Lewis on Religious Truth
Bruce R. Johnson, Frightful Freedom: Perelandra as Imaginative Theodicy
Michael Travers, Free to Fall: The Moral Ground of Events on Perelandra
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See also: Perelandra the Opera