Imagination has been considered central to C.S. Lewis's life and to his creative and critical works, and this study provides a thorough analysis of his theory of imagination, including the ways he used the word and how those uses relate to each other. This book begins by looking at the way reading or engaging with other arts is an imaginative activity, focusing on three books in which imagination is the central theme: "Surprised by Joy", "An Experiment in Criticism" and "The Discarded Image". It then examines imagination and reading in Lewis's fiction, concentrating specifically of "The Chronicles of Narnia". It looks at the way the imaginative experience of reading is affected by the physical texture of the books, the illustrations, revisions, the order the books are read in and their narrative "voice", the "storyteller" who becomes almost a character in the stories. It also explores Lewis's ideas about imagination in the non-literary arts. It concludes by analyzing the uses and abuses of imagination.
- ISBN13 9780826214072
- Publish Date 1 July 2002
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 30 November 2010
- Publish Country US
- Imprint University of Missouri Press
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 232
- Language English