History and Mythology

History and Mythology

Connections with Lewis: Space Trilogy

November 4, 2016

The landscape of Malacandra slowly fades as the ship soars into space. Ransom looks outside the window wondering if the memory of that strange world would soon become mythical in his mind with the distance of space and time. Then it occurs to him that “the distinction between history and mythology might be itself meaningless outside the Earth.”(p.144) We often distinguish between history and myth in such a way that privileges the historical account as more real. and mythology as a backwards, primitive form of communicating. History gives an almost scientific account of events. It presents the stream of life in a systematic, rational manner. But what is it that shapes and defines us as a race? Is it not story that makes us who we are, gives us our culture, and sculpts our identity? Is not myth the very foundation of history, even when presented in a highly structured method? Myth animates history with magic and meaning, while history keeps myth coherent.