This thesis analyzes C.S. Lewis's concepts of imagination and truth, focusing mainly on his ideas as expressed in The Abolition of Man (1944) and That Hideous Strength (1945). I argue that these works demonstrate an essential connection between imagination and truth and that this connection reveals the fundamentally sacramental nature of Lewis's imagination. Ultimately, I claim that this sacramental quality exhibits a unique fusion of romanticism and Christianity. Romanticism is relevant because of the importance of imagination to the movement of British romanticism in general and, in particular, to Coleridge's work. Examining convergences and divergences between Lewis's concept of imagination and Coleridge's serves to elucidate the point I make about Lewis's sacramental imagination and its ability to bring together the romantic primacy of imagination and the Christian veneration of truth. I begin to address these topics by tracing the development of Lewis's concept of imagination and paralleling it with his conversion to Christianity as he describes it in Surprised by Joy (1955). I then compare these developing concepts with Coleridge's theory of imagination. Moving on to incorporate the idea of truth, I enter into analysis of The Abolition of Man and That Hideous Strength, explaining Lewis's concept of truth and his argument that a proper education should include forming the imagination in a way that will enable it to illuminate this truth. Finally, I enter into specific discussion of the sacramental nature of Lewis's imagination and show how it fuses Christianity with romanticism. / A Thesis Submitted to the Department of English in Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts. / Spring Semester, 2008. / March 26, 2008. / Spiritual and Material Realities, Objective Truth, British Christian Literature, Fantasy Literature, Reason and Romanticism, The Inklings / Includes bibliographical references. / Eric Walker, Professor Directing Thesis; John Fenstermaker, Committee Member; Kristie Fleckenstein, Committee Member.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_175655 |
| Contributors | White, Marisa (authoraut), Walker, Eric (professor directing thesis), Fenstermaker, John (committee member), Fleckenstein, Kristie (committee member), Department of English (degree granting department), Florida State University (degree granting institution) |
| Publisher | Florida State University, Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, text |
| Format | 1 online resource, computer, application/pdf |
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