enchanted?
John Franklin
... Tolkien and Lewis disagreed about myth and fairystory.
Do we live in a disenchanted world?
Disenchantment refers to the loss of a
spiritual quality that was long believed to be
part of the very fabric of the real world. One
expression of this loss is the split that has
been made between reason and imagination,
where reason grasps what is true while imagination
merely dabbles in its self-created
falsehoods. On other occasions I have sought
to affirm a contrary view suggesting that imagination
is indispensible for faith and that
metaphor and symbol are a means to understand
important truths about the world.
Though I cannot claim to be an avid reader
of fiction, fantasy or fairy tale I am very
interested in how these forms of story captivate
us. In his insightful and influential
lecture titled, On Fairy-Stories (1938), J.R.R.
Tolkien makes clear the importance of this
genre of story-telling, perhaps more important
than ever in a disenchanted world. Faerie
as he prefers to spell it, speaks of a “perilous
realm enchanted by a kind of magic”. Tolkien
prefers the word “enchantment” to describe
the elvish craft. Magic seeks to alter the
primary world while enchantment produces
a Secondary World “into which both designer
and spectator can enter”. Magic is more
about control and manipulation of the world,
while fantasy
seeks “shared
enrichment...
not slaves.”
C.S. Lewis and
Tolkien were
good friends.
I
recently discovered
more about
that friendship
through reading
an article by
Canadian scholar
Kristin Johnson. (“Tolkien’s Mythopoesis”,
in Trevor Hart, & Ivan Khovacs eds., Tree of
Tales: Tolkien, Literature and Theology). She
tells of how early in their relationship Tolkien and Lewis disagreed about myth and fairystory.
For Tolkien they had the power to carry
truth and open up fresh understanding of our
world, while for a young Lewis they could not
be anything more than “beautiful lies.” Lewis
understood well the value and role of myth
in a culture but was not very sympathetic to
Christianity at the time. A long late-night
conversation between Lewis, Tolkien and
fellow Inkling – Hugh Dyson resulted it a
significant discovery for Lewis. Soon after
Lewis said to a friend; “Now they have convinced
me that the story of Christ is simply a
true myth: a myth working on us in the same
way as the others, but with this tremendous
difference that it really happened.
(the)Daily news keeps us mindful of the weight of sorrow, pain and suffering which so many must bear
Toward the end of his essay On Fairy-
Stories Tolkien writes of the Consolation
of the Happy Ending as a key component
of the fairy-story. He observes that
“Tragedy is the true form of Drama”
while the opposite is true of Fairy-story.
He calls this opposite “Eucatastrophe”
which bring “joy”. He sees this “good
catastrophe” not as ‘escapist’ or ‘fugitive’,
but rather as a sudden and miraculous
grace, never to be counted on
to recur”. In this there is no denial of
failure, sorrow and suffering – only the
denial of a final defeat.
The Gospels embrace all 
the essence
of fairy-stories but the story they tell
“really happened”. In the Epilogue
Tolkien writes “The Birth of Christ is
the ecuatastrophe of Man’s history.
The
Resurrection is the eucatastrophe of the
story of the Incarnation. The story begins
and ends in joy.”
Daily news keeps us mindful of the
weight of sorrow, pain and suffering
which so many must bear. None of us can
escape the sombre realities of life. The
story of advent invites us to a posture of
waiting attended by a confident hope that
soon we will experience a “sudden and
miraculous grace”.
At this year-end I want to thank all who
have in one way or another supported
Imago in 2011. We are grateful for your
interest and support. It has been a good
year with lots of events, new projects
and connections with new artists. In
November Imago entered its 40th year
and we look to celebrating this milestone
anniversary in 2012.
John Franklin, Executive Director, imago@rogers.com
Glass is a wonder
By Craig Handy,
Toronto-based architect
In the light of early morning downtown
Toronto emerges as a shifting
spectrum of colours making
the first commute of the day. First
violets, then warmer hues, move
westward across a glade of glass
towers. Historic brick buildings
huddle in the shadows, eclipsed
now by high-rise buildings clad in
glass. Glass is so widely used in
contemporary architecture it is a
defining characteristic of modern architecture.
For architects and engineers, these
great expanses of glass are exultant expressions
of new technical possibilities, but the
popularity of glass is because it allows for
light and openness. Expansive views, lots
of daylight. So is this passion for glass a
triumph of modern construction?
A return
through technique to connection with the
natural environment after so many movements
that seemed to lead away from realm
of nature?
The architect Chad Oppenheim spoke enthusiastically
at a recent Construct Canada
Architectural Roundtable of designing with
the elements themselves. Rather than bricks
and mortar he works with the sun, clouds,
stars, and the shimmer of the ocean on
the horizon. I enjoyed Oppenheim’s poetic
description of design – carefully situating a
building in the landscape and crafting it to
optimize views and day-lighting are central
to architecture. Yet Oppenheim’s glamorous
modernist buildings are from Miami, a city
often out of place, dominated by the automobile,
and they are designed to “enhance
the possibilities of a hedonistic lifestyle. “
Here in Toronto the condos are also marketed
as light-filled luxury-living, hopefully
with a view of the lake. Is the beauty of glass
employed as mere marketing ploy I wonder?
It is the low cost of window wall, the poetry
of the balance sheet rather than earth and
sky, that usually inspires its use.
Nonetheless, glass is a wonder, material
poetry. Glass offers views to elsewhere,
reflections, multiplying images, the play
of light, sparkle, at day and all the more
at night, the inversion of the view as light
levels change. It has that cool sheen, smoothtexture, and fluid form. Glass is beautiful
and beguiling. So glass buildings are often
statements of glamour or prestige.
I was
curious where this Roundtable discussion
would lead. Another architect, condemned
glass buildings as mute. Mario Botta prefers
to work in stone and brick, finding facades
of glass opaque and ultimately inert. The
commercial towers of Bay Street bear this
analysis out, as do too many insipid condominium
towers.I think Botta goes too far, however, when
he attributes a paucity of substance to glass
itself. Yes, glass can be a superficial surface.
(Sometimes the elegance of a seductive
artifact is a fine end.) Glass is also a beautiful
and necessary building material when
handled well, especially in our northern
climate. The challenge is, as always in art,
to be alert to and eschew banal expressions.
Find the possibilities proffered by material
at hand and response with a craftsmanship
that brings these out.
theatre
9th Hour Theatre, Ottawa; Jonathan Harris, Artistic Director
This Canadian not-for-profit theatre company
was launched in 2009 with a vision to
creatively engage the art of story-telling to
explore, examine, and express themes of
faith and spirituality.
Story telling is central to 9th Hour’s mandate.
The vision is to tell stories that will
evoke consideration of faith; stories that
are fictional, historical, biographical, classical,
or contemporary in nature, whether
through children’s theatre, one act or full
length plays, dance theatre, musicals,oratorios,operas,operettas, collectives, or a
combination.
9th Hour is keenly interested
in collaborating and partnering with other
artists and companies in producing original
creative works, seeking to provide opportunities
for both veteran professionals and
emerging artists alike, regardless of faith
interest or background.
9th Hour seeks to be sensitive and relevant
in sharing the light and love that is at the
heart of the Gospel.
This needs to happen
not by means of didacticism or a coercive
style, but, as Thorton Wilder once said, “letting
beauty be the persuasion”.
9th Hour has staged its third full scale production
after the contemporary Eyes Upon
the Cross at the Shenkman Arts Centre
in Ottawa, Easter 2011 and the inaugural
musical collective Telling the Story in June
of 2010. In September 2011, 9th Hour
presented Children’s Letters to God, a new
musical based on the international best-selling
book. The show featured a cast of young
performers and is inspired by actual letters
from kids writing to God. Performances
were held at Centrepointe Theatre in
Ottawa.
For more information: www.9th-hour.ca
News & reviews
Carry Me Home - Ali Matthews
Ali Matthews
Stratford Ontario artist Ali Matthews received
four GMA Covenant Awards for 2011
for her new CD Carry Me Home: CD/DVD
Artwork Design of the Year, Folk/Roots Song
of the Year for “God Only Knows”, Album of
the Year, Female Vocalist of the Year.
“I desire to write songs that connect us with
each other; songs that tap into our hopes
and heartaches, our fears and passions, the
things that make us vulnerable, the things
that tell us we are alive.” ~ Ali Matthews
You
can find out more at : alimatthew .com
RADIO
The radio program
on the arts, “Arts Connection”, explores the intersection
of faith, the arts and Canadian
culture. The program is hosted by Robert
White, an award-winning veteran journalist
with a love and appreciation for
the arts and artists. “Arts Connection” is broadcast every
Thursday from 10 to 10:30 p.m. on Faith
FM 94.3 – Waterloo Region’s inspiration
station and webcast simultaneously at
www.faithfm.org.
Archived programs can
also be found at www.selawministries.ca
To pass on information about the arts
e-mail : robert@selawministries.ca.
