In Episode 52 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg discusses CS Lewis‘ last novel, Till We Have Faces, a reworking of the myth of Eros and Psyche, comparing it to its ancient source material, The Golden Ass of Apuleius. The pagan roots of the novel, as well the influence of Lewis’ first real love interest, Joy Davidman, make the work his most richly layered with meaning—and perhaps even unintentionally feminist. Weinberg also decries that the current edition does not include the original engravings by artist Fritz Eichenberg, a radical pacifist associated with the Catholic Worker movement. Listen on SoundCloud.
Music: Barefaced by the Elu Dance Company
Production by Steph Rywalt and Chris Rywalt
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Image: Psyche Revived by Cupid’s Kiss, Antonio Canova, 1787, at the Louvre, via Grethexis
Erratum
The current edition of Till We Have Faces without the original illustrations appears to be from HarperCollins, not Macmillan.
African roots of Psyche myth
The hometown of Apuleius, Madauros (now M’daourouch, in contemporary Algeria), was a Roman-Numidian city, famous as the site of one of the first universities on the African continent. For more background, see Défrichage de l’histoire de l’Algérie et du monde.