Which C.S. Lewis book presents the medieval idea of the “discarded image”?

The Discarded Image presents C.S. Lewis’s account of the medieval model of the universe.

Published in 1964, the book examines the intellectual picture of reality that shaped medieval and Renaissance literature. Lewis calls this system the “medieval model,” or the “discarded image,” because later scientific and cultural changes replaced it with other ways of understanding the cosmos.

The study discusses medieval ideas about the heavens, Earth, hierarchy, spirits, and the relationship between visible and invisible reality. Its purpose is literary as well as historical: understanding the old model helps modern readers interpret writers who assumed that worldview.

The book was published after Lewis’s death, using material connected with his Cambridge lectures. It is not a novel and should not be confused with The Abolition of Man, which is a shorter work of moral and educational criticism.