Christian Fantasy: From 1200 to the PresentThis is the first account of invented stories of the Christian supernatural, of fantasies that depict imagined forms of heaven or hell, angel or devil, world and creator; it considers their growth and changes from the time of Dante to the present day. Relatively infrequent, such works nevertheless for centuries represented some of the highest aspirations of art. Works considered here include the French Queste del Saint Graal, Dante's Commedia, the Middle English Pearl, the first book of Spenser's The Faerie Queene, Marlowe's Dr. Faustus, Milton's Paradise Lost, Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress, Swedenborg's Heaven and Hell and poems by Blake; and, from the post-Romantic and increasingly less 'Christian' period, the fantasies of George MacDonald, Charles Kingsley, Charles Williams, C. S. Lewis and many others. In the development of these works, a primary issue is found to be the fantasy-making imagination itself, at first seen as a potential obstacle to plain Christian purpose, but more recently given freer rein in the new aim of demonstrating God's existence in a more secular world. The picture that emerges is of a literary mode which becomes more fictive and indirect in its presentation of Christian vision. |
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Page 68
... Evil is strong enough for those who will let it have a hold on them ; but , Spenser is saying , truly seen it is unstable , a mere delusive fantastical image which must be put aside for the far more wonderful and substantial truth ...
... Evil is strong enough for those who will let it have a hold on them ; but , Spenser is saying , truly seen it is unstable , a mere delusive fantastical image which must be put aside for the far more wonderful and substantial truth ...
Page 69
... evil is concerned , from its false shows to its true , if still fantastical , lineaments ; and , with the good , from the operant presence of grace within the world to a vision of that pattern of action the divine imagination takes ...
... evil is concerned , from its false shows to its true , if still fantastical , lineaments ; and , with the good , from the operant presence of grace within the world to a vision of that pattern of action the divine imagination takes ...
Page 70
... evil in ostentation . And that in itself , quite apart from the fact that it is continually being exposed from within , or forming a pattern in its own defeat , may be why so much place is given to the evil delusions early on ...
... evil in ostentation . And that in itself , quite apart from the fact that it is continually being exposed from within , or forming a pattern in its own defeat , may be why so much place is given to the evil delusions early on ...
Contents
The French Queste del Saint Graal | 12 |
The Commedia | 21 |
The Middle English Pearl | 42 |
Copyright | |
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allegory angels appears becomes beginning believe body called century certainly character Charles Christ Christian fantasy Church City comes concerned continually course created creation Dante death described desire devil direct divine earth evil existence experience expresses fact fairy faith fall Faustus feel fiction figure final further give given God's heaven Hell Holy human idea imagery imagination journey Kingsley Land later less Lewis literature live London look lost MacDonald means mind move narrative nature never novel once Paradise pattern Pearl perhaps physical picture Pilgrim's play poem portrays present Progress reality Redcrosse relation seems seen sense significance soul spiritual story suggests supernatural Swedenborg tells things thought true truth turn understanding universe University Press vision Water-Babies whole writers