Description
Book SynopsisC. S. Lewis, fantasy novelist, literary scholar, and Christian apologist, is one of the most original and well-known literary figures of the twentieth century. As one who stood at the crossroads of Edwardian and modern thinking, he is often read as a sexist or even misogynistic man of his time, but this fresh rereading assesses Lewis as a prescient thinker who transformed typical Western gender paradigms.
The Feminine Ethos in C. S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia' proposes that Lewis's highly nuanced metaphorical view of gender relations has been misunderstood precisely because it challenges Western chauvinist assumptions on sex and gender. Instead of perpetuating sexism, Lewis subverts the culturally inherited chauvinism of masculine classical heroism with the biblically inspired vision of a surprisingly feminine spiritual heroism. His view that we are all feminine in relation to the masculine God a theological feminism that crosses gender lines means that qualities we tend to
Trade Review«Presented in a clear and engaging literary style, Monika B. Hilder’s exhaustive study not only exposes the shortcomings of all sexist readings of Lewis’s works, but it also convincingly demonstrates how his theological feminism evenhandedly attributes the same range of characteristics to both genders. With this book, Hilder is making an essential contribution to Lewis studies.» (Rolland Hein, Professor Emeritus of English, Wheaton College)
