The Discarded Image

C. S. Lewis’s The Discarded Image paints a lucid picture of the medieval world view, as historical and cultural background to the literature of the middle ages and renaissance. It describes the ‘image’ discarded by later ages as ‘the medieval synthesis itself, the whole organisation of their theology, science and history into a single, complex, harmonious mental model of the universe’. This, Lewis’s last book, was hailed as ‘the final memorial to the work of a great scholar and teacher and a wise and noble mind’.

Preface; 1. The medieval situation; 2. Reservations; 3. Selected materials: the classical period; 4. Selected materials: the seminal period; 5. The heavens; 6. The longaevi; 7. Earth and her inhabitants; 8. The influence of the model; Epilogue; Index.

‘Wise, illuminating, companionable, it may well come to be seen as Lewis’ s best book.’ The Observer

‘… erudite and graceful, filled with anecdote and analogy, illuminating the images of the past.’ Los Angeles Times

‘… his wonderful gusto, the clarity of his style, the wit of his comments and analogies, the range of his learning and the liveliness of his mind are displayed to the full, warmed by a prevailing good humour.’ Helen Gardner, The Listener