What is the “discarded image” that C.S. Lewis spoke about in his lectures at Oxford University, and why did he think it was necessary for his literature students to know what it was? This week the ladies discussed the first few chapters of the collections of Lewis’ lectures called The Discarded Image. Lewis taught that medieval peoples’ worldview was one where all knowledge was integrated into a unified whole, and that they were obsessed with collecting and cataloging all information previously known and newly discovered. We noted how this love of information collection greatly mirrors the modern world’s obsession with scrolling the Internet.
The ladies also discussed how both Lewis and Tolkien used this medieval view of creation as a “whole” to write their stories; rather than “world building,” they were merely presenting through fantasy, the world that was until recently, always believed. We believe that they had the secret to re-enchanting the world, the antidote to compulsive scrolling, by reclaiming the discarded image of creation as a whole, and enjoying reading “the old stories’ again.
This is the first in our series of discussions about Lewis’ The Discarded Image. Please join us again and give us your ideas or questions in the comments! —Streamed August 8, 2025
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