A Key to All Mythologies

[steepholm]

"A myth points, for each reader, to the realm he lives in most. It is a master key; use it on what door you like." (C. S. Lewis)

I buried this quotation deep in the notes of *Four British Fantasists*, but coming across it again now I was struck again by its lapidary wisdom. One of my favourite sayings of Lewis, and not well known.

Comments

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

Which work was that in?

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

It's in his 1955 (I think!) review of LOTR, published in Time and Tide.

[kalimac.livejournal.com]

Even more useful is the context: he's using it to explain why The Lord of the Rings is not an allegory. The fallacy he's addressing is one of putting the key in a lock of your choice and then declaring that the key was specifically made to fit that one lock and that only. This fallacy lives robustly in Tolkien criticism.

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

Not just Tolkien criticism! But yes, that's the context.