PWJ: S3E2 – TWHF (Pt 1, Ch 1-2) – “Home Sweet Glome”

Today we get stuck into the chapters of Till We Have Faces! In the first two chapters of the book, Lewis sets the scene for his story in the fictional city of Glome.

S3E2: “Home Sweet Glome” (Download)

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Timestamps

02:22 – Drink-of-the-week
04:10 – Quote-of-the-week
06:03 – Summary of Chapter 1 and Chapter 2
46:50 – Closing remarks

YouTube Version

After Show Skype Session

This Season, after each episode, Matt and I will be recording a ten-minute Skype conversation:

Show Notes

• The artwork at the top of this post is by Bilquis Evely.

• For the drink-of-the-week, Matt was drinking ginger tea and Macallan 12. I was drinking English Breakfast Tea and Lagavulin.

• The quote-of-the-week was the opening line for the book:

“I am old now and have not much to fear from the anger of gods. I have no husband nor child, nor hardly a friend, through whom they can hurt me”

C.S. Lewis, Till We Have Faces (Chapter 1)

• This was my summary for Chapter 1:

Orual, now old, tells the story of her grievance against the gods, and particularly against the son of Ungit, and who lives on the Grey Mountain. Orual picks up the story shortly after her mother’s death. She describes life in the palace with her younger sister, Redival, her nurse, Batta, and her father, King Trom of Glome. She recounts the arrival of “The Fox”, a Greek slave whom her father instructs to teach his daughters in the learning of his people. The Fox shows himself to be a wise and inquisitive man and he quickly wins the approval of Orual. Determined to produce a male heir, King Trom becomes engaged to the third daughter of the King of Caphad. Thickly veiled, the daughters and twelve other nobles’ daughters greet the stepmother with a Greek song. They help the bride undress and leave her, shivering and scared, in the bridal chamber.

Summary of Chapter 1

• This was my summary for Chapter 2:

Orual’s stepmother becomes pregnant and King Trom is convinced it’s a boy, which thankfully tempers his displeasure at his discovery of his father-in-law’s declining kingdom. On the night of the birth, with all superstitious rituals satisfied, the household waits. Orual is woken up to the sound of wailing. The king calls for wine and, when the servant slips, he murders him. He then proceeds to threaten all those present, including Ungit’s priest and the god herself. After threatening The Fox with the mines, Orual begs him to flee, offering to go with him, but the King soon realizes The Fox’s value and he returns to his regular work. Orual quickly develops great affection for the beautiful baby, who is named Istra (Pscyhe) and takes charge of her care. Much to Orual’s horror, The Fox declares Pscyhe to be “Prettier than Andromeda, prettier than Helen, prettier than Aphrodite herself”…

Summary of Chapter 2