The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis
Week 1: Preface — Lewis Sets the Stage
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Before the dream begins, Lewis tells us exactly what he is and is not trying to do — and his warnings are as important as the story itself.
Discussion Questions
6 questions1.Lewis opens the Preface by warning readers not to mistake his fictional geography for a literal map of the afterlife. Why do you think he feels the need to issue this disclaimer before a single page of narrative? What does it tell you about the purpose of the allegory?
2.The book's title, The Great Divorce, is a direct reply to William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell. Lewis insists Heaven and Hell cannot be 'married' — that ultimately there is no comfortable middle ground between them. Does that claim strike you as harsh, or as honest? What in your own experience resonates with — or resists — it?
3.Lewis quotes George MacDonald as a guiding influence and will later introduce him as a character. What do you already know about MacDonald, and what does Lewis's choice of him as a mentor figure suggest about the kind of Christianity this book will present?
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