good class on Perelandra . . .

A short post tonight--it's been a long day.

The class tonight went really well I thought. Most of the students had done the reading--a couple hadn't quite finished the novel so we didn't read the last chapter aloud, which I had wanted to do. That's probably my favorite piece of prose ever! The last half of chapter 16 and then chapter 17. I always say that reading Charles Williams' poetry makes me feel like I'm levitating (this is re: the Arthurian poems)--and I discovered that CSL agrees with me when I was researching a couple of summers ago. But this section of Perelandra gives me that same feeling. It's almost an out of body experience!

We all agreed that CSL is an amazingly gifted writer. Such clear and concise descriptions that really pull us into the story and let us see and experience what's going on. I was amazed this read-through at the number of similes; he really piles them on, and they make whatever he's describing so clear because he uses similes that we can really relate to and have an emotional response to.

We also agreed that the evil--embodied in the Un-man--is incredibly creepy! One student noted that the book made her more aware of Satan's power, and others noted that though evil is powerful it is, as CSL portrays it, infantile and derivative--not creative and truly powerful as Maleldil is.

Some were thankful that Lewis structured the story as it is--with the "ending" at the beginning of the book. We were glad that we knew ahead of time that Ransom made it safely back to Earth; this made reading about his combat with the Un-man and his underground adventures more bearable. I especially love the chapter where he emerges from the caverns and recovers high on the mountain side--what lovely imagery and a sense of peace and accomplishment.

Several students expressed an appreciation of this literature that convicts and encourages them spiritually. It really does strengthen us for the tasks we're called to do!

Well, that's it for Perelandra--at least for now; we'll be discussing these 3 books for the next several weeks. But now on to reading That Hideous Strength.