Educating the Moral Imagination : the Fantasy Literature of George
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EDUCATING THE MORAL IMAGINATION: THE FANTASY LITERATURE OF GEORGE MACDONALD, C.S. LEWIS, AND MADELEINE L'ENGLE Monika B. Hilder Master of Arts, The University of British Columbia 1983 Bachelor of Arts, The University of British Columbia 1980 THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY In the Faculty of Education O Monika Barbara Hilder 2003 SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY December 2003 All rights reserved. This work may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopy or other means, without permission of the author. APPROVAL NAME Monika Barbara Hilder DEGREE Doctor of Philosophy TITLE Educating the Moral Imagination: The Fantasy Literature of George MacDonald, C.S. Lewis, and Madeleine L'Engle EXAMINING COMMITTEE: Chair Rina Zazkis, Professor --------------- Kieran Egan, profess& Senior Supervisor J . Ki a -K~~Assistai5r0f~r,oepartrnentoTEn~lish, ---9Unive y of British Columbia Member -- Geoffrey Madoc-Jones, ASS~& Professor External Examiw Examiner Date: December 3, 2003 PARTIAL COPYRIGHT LICENSE I hereby grant to Simon Fraser University the right to lend my thesis, project or extended essay (the title of which is shown below) to users of the Simon Fraser University Library, and to make partial or single copies only for such users or in response to a request from the library of any other university, or other educational institution, on its own behalf or for one of its users. I further agree that permission for multiple copying of this work for scholarly purposes may be granted by me or the Dean of Graduate Studies. It is understood that copying or publication of this work for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. Title of Thesis/Project/Extended Essay Educating the Moral Imagination: The Fantasy Literature of George MacDonald, C.S. Lewis, and Madeleine L'Engle Author: (Signature) Ms. Monika Barbara Hilder (Name) ABSTRACT This thesis explores the education of the moral imagination through the fantasy literature of George MacDonald and two authors he directly influenced, C.S. Lewis, and Madeleine L'Engle. Though moral education is the oldest curriculum, and considered by many, from Plato to the present, to be the ultimate aim in education, much of academic literary discourse and contemporary classroom practice ignores moral education. We excel in reading literature through various theoretical lenses, and teach for intellectual and stylistic excellence but, ironically, ignore too often literature's most serious purpose: to teach virtue. To the extent that this is so, we are failing to equip children and young adults with what they need most: literary nourishment that facilitates the development of spiritual well-being. This inquiry is addressed to such a gap in the curriculum: the need to educate the imagination with healing stories of courage and hope, and the need to do so with an imaginative pedagogy that encourages moral fortitude. Unlike rationalistic discourse, which alienates learners, I argue that MacDonald, Lewis, and L'Engle nurture the ethical human being with an education into the "feeling intellect." I describe how they achieve this in a subversion of the cultural privileging of the traditionally viewed "masculine" values of reason, autonomy, and egotistical power and, concomitantly, by a celebration of the traditionally viewed "feminine" values of imagination, interdependence, and humility. In the six chapters that make up the body of this work, I explore how MacDonald, Lewis, and L'Engle nurture the moral imagination: one, their ethical pattern of humility as grounded in the moral imagination of the Christian Gospel, particularly as articulated by John Milton, and that of William Wordsworth; two, the childlike heroic in George MacDonald; three, the "feminine" heroic in C.S. Lewis; four, the mythic understanding of heroism in Madeleine L'Engle; five, theoretical curriculum implications for the imaginative education of these three authors; and six, practical pedagogical interpretations of teaching this heroic fantasy literature in the classroom. Together, these chapters are intended to help teachers explore educating the moral imagination through fantasy literature. By Cove subsists JICC Casting grandeur, 6y pervading Cove; That gone, we are as dust. William Wordsworth, The Prelude (bk. XIV, lines 168-70) ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to my senior supervisor, Kieran Egan, for his wisdom and vision, Meguido Zola, for his hilarity and insight, and J. Kieran Kealy for his enthusiasm and faith--exemplars, each of you, of the pedagogy of humility in that place where irony dovetails with childlike wonder. I would like to thank Dr. Geoffrey Madoc-Jones, Dr. Ronald Jobe, and Dr. Rina Zazkis, for their willingness to serve in this project. I am also grateful for the support of Simon Fraser University, Graduate Studies, through fellowships and a research stipend, and the donors of the Dr. M. Sheila O'Connell Graduate Scholarship in Children's Literature. And my sincere thanks to Madeleine L'Engle for reading an early version of this thesis and granting me an interview. I have often been reminded that my work comes from and speaks to an interwoven community of voices. I would like to thank Jan de Bruyn, Professor Emeritus, The University of British Columbia, for teaching me Milton and always believing; Dr. Lee M. Johnson for his conversation with me about Wordsworth and interest in this work; Dr. Margaret A. H. Blom, Professor Emeritus, The University of British Columbia, for teaching me as an undergraduate student and for her great encouragement; and Dr. Starla H. Anderson for her warm collegiality and inspiration. I am indebted to the caring of my intersecting communities: the Faculty of Education at Simon Fraser University (faculty, Imaginative Education Research Group, staff, and graduate students, including Bob Corbett, Stan Garrod, Rebecca Lloyd, Marcia McKenzie, Donna Nanson, Keiichi Takaya, and Sharon Wahl); the Department of English, the Department of Philosophy, and the vii School of Education at Trinity Western University; and Zion Lutheran Church and School in Cloverdale, B.C. and St. Luke Lutheran Church in Surrey, B.C. Many thanks to a special group of friends who believed and prayed: Ann McBurnie, Jean Von Hollen, Joyce Goebel, and Judy Mack ("You go, girl! "). And I am gifted with the passions, frustrations, and resilience of my students over the years: at Ulrich-von-Hutten Gymnasium, Schliichtern, Germany; The University of British Columbia; adult education, John Oliver Secondary School, Vancouver, B.C.; Point Grey Secondary School, Vancouver, B.C.; my grade 3 Creative Writing class at Zion Lutheran School, Cloverdale, B.C.; and many literature students at Trinity Western University. A special thanks to my cheering family: my parents, Arno and Kate Schmidtke, loving storytellers; my sister Karen and Dieter Mueller, Peter and Patra, Christine and Shawn, and Annette; my brother Ralf and Helga Schmidtke. My deepest indebtedness, and to whom this thesis is dedicated, is to my own beloved circle: my husband, Emanuel, and our three children, Natalie, Jessica, and David. I have thanked you for your love, patience, and joy. And I thank God for your intimate presence in my story-for being such stalwart pilgrims on this journey with me. Each of your voices, often laughter-filled, resonates in my own, and for this I am truly blessed-thank you all. ... Vlll TABLE OF CONTENTS .. Approval ............................................................................................................................11 ... Abstract .............................................................................................................................111 Dedication .......................................................................................................................... v Quotation ..........................................................................................................................vi .. Acknowledgements ..........................................................................................................v11 Table of Contents ............................................................................................................. ix List of Abbreviations and Acronyms ............................................................................. xi Introduction ................................................................................................................. 1 Chapter One The Pedagogy of Humility in Milton and Wordsworth ...................... 17 The Magnificat: A Heroic Reversal .............................................................................. 22 The Miltonic Argument: From Heroic Idol to Image and Achievement ....................... 24 The Heroic Idol: "strength from Truth divided." .......................................................... 26 The Heroic Image: "His weakness shall o'ercome Satanic strength." .......................... 29 The Heroic Achievement: "A paradise within ...happier far." ................................... 31 Wordsworth's Education into the "Feeling Intellect" ................................................... 37 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................... 44 Chapter Two Forever Childlike: Reading Heroism in George MacDonald's Princess Books and Other Fairy Tales ......................................................................