C. S. Lewis and René Girard on Desire, Conversion, and Myth: The Case of Till We Have Faces

The works of Lewis and Girard share several central interests but seem divided by opposite views of myth. Lewis’ novelistic retelling of the myth of Cupid and Psyche, however, provides a bridge: it depicts an ancient society organized around sacrifice and myth as understood in Girards cultural theory and tells a Girardian story of conversion, in which the narrator discovers the imitative and rivalrous nature of her desire. Her rivalry and reconciliation with the story’s true god carries the novel beyond Girardian myth to a contrary kind of narrative identified with fairy stories, which can extend Girard’s approach to Christian conversion.