A face for eternity

The myth of Cupid and Psyche as told by the older sister, the ugly and jealous one, who accuses the gods. Lewis's final novel, which he considered his best, written with the help of Joy Davidman.

Orual, an aging queen of the small barbaric kingdom of Glome, on the margins of the Greek world, takes up her pen to lodge a complaint against the gods. As a child, she raised her half-sister Psyche alone, whose beauty was so radiant that the people ended up worshipping her, then sacrificing her to the Mountain god to ward off famine. Orual goes in search of the body. She finds Psyche alive, happy, claiming to live in a palace that Orual cannot see, married to a god whose face she is not allowed to see. Consumed by possessive love that she mistakes for tenderness, Orual drives her to break the taboo. The rest of her life, having become a veiled queen, a warrior, and a skilled politician, is dedicated to justifying this act. The novel is in two parts: the complaint, then what the complainant discovers in writing it.

• Original title — Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold
• First appearance — 1956
• Genre — Novel (myth retold)
• First English edition — Geoffrey Bles, London, 10 September 1956
• Available in bookstores — Both translations seem to be out of print in new editions; they can be found secondhand.
• Reading level — Demanding — but life-changing
• For whom — For avid readers, after reading more accessible novels. To be read in one sitting, and reread.
• Year — 1956

Other French titles

• Till We Have Faces

[{Title, Publisher, Year, Translator?, Note?, Source?}]

• Un visage pour l'éternité : un mythe réinterprété — L'Âge d'Homme — Lausanne — 1995 — M. and D. Le Péchoux
• Un visage pour l'éternité — Le Livre de poche n° 27009 — 2007 — M. and D. Le Péchoux
• Till We Have Faces — Alain Carrière — 2011 — Marie de Prémonville — preface by François Rivière

themes

• Consuming love: jealousy disguised as devotion.
• The silence of the gods and the revolt against it.
• The veil, the face, and the truth about oneself.
• The dialogue between Greek reason (the Fox, Orual's tutor) and the bloody religion of Ungit.
• Inner transformation through suffering and truth.

Family

Novels and stories

Other titles

• Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold
• Till We Have Faces
• Novel (myth retold)
• Fiction

The myth of Cupid and Psyche as told by the older sister, the ugly and jealous one, who accuses the gods. Lewis's final novel, which he considered his best, written with the help of Joy Davidman.

Quick facts

## How to Approach It

Level: Demanding — but transformative. For advanced readers, after the more accessible novels. Read it in one sitting, and then revisit it.

## The Book in a Few Lines

Orual, aging queen of the small barbarian kingdom of Glome, on the edge of the Greek world, takes up her pen to lodge a complaint against the gods. As a child, she raised her half-sister Psyche alone, whose radiant beauty led the people to adore her, then to sacrifice her to the god of the Mountain to avert famine. Orual goes to retrieve the body. She finds Psyche alive, happy, claiming to live in a palace that Orual cannot see, married to a god whose face she is forbidden to look upon. Consumed by a possessive love that she mistakes for tenderness, Orual drives her to break the taboo. The rest of her life, now a veiled queen, warrior, and shrewd politician, is dedicated to justifying this act. The novel is divided into two parts: the complaint, and what the complainant discovers while writing it.

## In Lewis’s Workshop

Lewis had long dreamed of rewriting this myth from Apuleius since he was eighteen: he wanted to tell the story from the sister’s point of view. He accomplishes this in 1955, after discussing it with Joy Davidman during an evening at the Kilns. She reads each chapter and encourages him. The book is dedicated to her.

## What It Foreshadows in Narnia

It echoes the theme of faces and appearances in The Horse and His Boy (Aravis, Tashbaan) and the idea of a truth that can only be seen with changed eyes, like the dwarfs in The Last Battle who cannot see the feast.

## In Brief

Rewriting ancient myths from the perspective of a secondary character has become a successful genre. Lewis did it as early as 1956, with a narrator of rare complexity. The novel also speaks very directly of love that smothers under the pretext of protecting, a question familiar to many families.

## Its Legacy

Mixed reception upon release: readers of Narnia and Christian books are taken aback. It is now considered by many critics as Lewis’s literary masterpiece, studied at universities for its unreliable narrator and complex portrait of a woman.

## Key Takeaways

• Love that consumes: jealousy disguised as devotion.
• The silence of the gods and the rebellion against it.
• The veil, the face, and the truth about oneself.
• The dialogue between Greek reason (the Fox, Orual’s tutor) and the bloody religion of Ungit.
• Inner transformation through suffering and truth.

## To Quote

“How could they meet us face to face until we have faces?”
— Till We Have Faces, Part 2, ch. 4 — translation from the website

## Read in French

• Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold, L’Âge d’Homme, Lausanne, 1995, translated by M. and D. Le Péchoux
• Till We Have Faces, Le Livre de poche no. 27009, 2007, translated by M. and D. Le Péchoux
• Till We Have Faces, Alain Carrière, 2011, translated by Marie de Prémonville — preface by François Rivière

## On Stage and Screen

Several stage adaptations. No film adaptation.

## See Also

• Joy Davidman and “The Ombres of the Heart”
• What to Read by Lewis After Narnia
• Susan, Orual, and Joy: Reopening the “Lewis Misogynous” File, Armed with New Evidence
• From the Biscuit Tin to Aslan’s Country: The Secret “Joy” that Links All of Lewis’s Work

## Sources

• https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Un_visage_pour_l%27%C3%A9ternit%C3%A9
• https://catalogue.bnf.fr/rechercher.do?index=TIT3&numNotice=12005711