Pilgrim's Regress Books 1-3
I just got through Book III, so here are my notes so far. I will break up my comments by Books.
SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS ALERT
In "The Rules" (Book 1, Ch 1) there seemed to be a severe disconnect between the Steward as a person and the Steward as a representative of the Landlord. That made me sad; I liked him as a person, but his explanation of how the system worked was pretty opaque, and the card of rules seemed pretty negative and vague (Ch 2). I suppose that was religion as a system rather than a vibrant relationship with the Landlord, which simply mystified and put off John rather than leading him to truth.
(One of the things I most appreciate about my husband who retired from the ministry after 38 years is that his private face and public face are one and the same. His private walk with God is consistently solid, and even though he is retired now, he rises before anyone else to have extended time with the Lord.)
The description of the Island was beautiful (Ch2) and Lewis did a great job of describing John's longing; it really resonated with Lewis' descriptions of his encounters with Joy in Surprised by Joy. In contrast, when John's family encountered death (Ch2), there was no comfort or perspective or peace; no wonder John chose to seek the Island instead. Unfortunately he settled for an easy satisfaction fix in the arms of the brown girl. Getting distracted from his quest deadened his senses for joy until the window and the forest beyond where he first experienced the vision was like a graveyard to him. (Ch 4-6) In a way this reminds me of how Rilian first got mixed up with the Green Witch when he was seeking the serpent that killed his mother in the Silver Chair...
One part that I do not understand in this section before he decides to go on a quest for the island, is John's children by the brown girl. What did they represent, and why do they just fade from the story when he leaves Puritania?
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Book II Thrill
Dante's introductory quote regarding false copies is a succinct summary for this book in which John seeks thrills and romanticized desire (disguised lust) rather than following his quest for the truth, beauty and purity of the Island.
It begins with false enlightenment: "Dixit Insipiens" means "the Fool says" which is a reference to Psalm 14:1, "The fool says in his heart, 'There is no God.' Foolishly John accepts what others tell him, and his quest is waylaid by the false teachings that
1. There is no Landlord
2. There is no Island other than physical romantic pleasures of the Halfways' and he pursues their enticing company rather than sticking with Vertue. By exchanging the truth for unsatisfactory substitutes, he gets farther and farther off course, and ends up with a mechanistic reaction to the fading pleasures of romanticism, and Zeitgeistheim ("habitat of the Spirit of the Age").
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Book III Eschropolis (Greek for "city of filth and obscenity")
[In my Wade Center annotated version of Pilgrim's Regress, CSL had made marginal notes for an edition for Richard Thornton Hewitt, one of his students in 1937. These notes plus other additional explanatory notes by David C. Downing, who edited this special edition, comprise a running commentary alongside the text.]
On Victoriana, CSL wrote: "These people are not individuals, though partly suggested by them, but tendencies. This one roughly Sitwellism on its worst side; it has a better one" (p.41 - the better one possibly was that Sitwell was a competent poet, acc to CSL) Apparently Lewis drew his inspiration for Victoriana from Edith Sitwell, used a similar argument ("all great singers are persecuted in their lifetime -- and I'm persecuted -- and therefore I must be a great singer.") in explaining her own greatness as a poet (p.42).
CSL's note on South Wind was that he was representing writers such as D.H. Lawrence in this portrayal of raw suggestive swamp literature. Glugly, CSL noted was suggestive of "the works of Gertrude Stein or Joyce's Anna Livia Pluribella [sic] or the surrealists, Dadaists etc." (p. 44)
Poor John! Things go from bad to worse ... and he becomes imprisoned and hopeless: "by dismissing both God and Sweet Desire as illusions (note p.50)," Freudianism strips him of hope. Fortunately Reason comes to his aid and defeats the Spirit of this Age just in time. Yay!
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I like this book thus far although John is a rather passive protagonist; things happen to him and people talk to him, but he seems rather helpless. I hope to see him connect with someone who can mentor him and help him start to reason on his own and help him acquire enough discernment not to get drawn into fruitless connections and cheap copies of the truth.