C. S. Lewis on Theories and Language and Dead Metaphors

        The main approaches to understanding the composing process in Faigley are described as "theories," a term we use in the course title, too.  What is a "theory"?  What are the consequences of believing in a theory?  Can one do this work without a theory?  Can one believe in more than one theory?  Faigley sort of does, and I think you can make the case that even Peter Elbow ("Mr. Expressivist") does, as well.  This all makes me think of C.S. Lewis's essay, "Blauspels and Flalanspheres: A Semantic Nightmare." If you like theory, or Lewis, or both, you will enjoy thinking about this with him:

Author Lewis, C. S. (Clive Staples), 1898-1963
Title Rehabilitations, and other essays / by C. S. Lewis
Publication Info. St. Clair Shores, Mich. : Scholarly Press, 1976
LOCATION CALL NO. STATUS
 Main Collection  826.6 L673Kr    AVAILABLE
Description viii, 197 p. ; 21 cm
Notes Reprint of the 1939 ed. published by Oxford University Press, London
Contents Shelley, Dryden, and Mr. Eliot -- William Morris -- The idea of an "English school" -- Our English syllabus -- High and low brows -- The alliterative metre -- Bluspels and flalansferes -- Variation in Shakespeare and others -- Christianity and literature