Monthly Archives: July 2013

The Personal Heresy and the Growth of a Person

Posted on July 29, 2013 by Brenton Dickieson

One of the books that cut C.S. Lewis’ critical teeth is The Personal Heresy: A Controversy. The book is a debate with Cambridge professor Dr. E.M.W. Tillyard over questions about the role of the poet in how the reader appreciates … Continue reading →

Posted in Lewis Biography, Reviews | Tagged academic, books, C.S. Lewis, controversy, debate, E.M.W. Tillyard, J.K. Rowling, Lemony Snicket, literary criticism, literature, Paulo Coelho, Poetry, The Personal Heresy | 35 Comments

In My World, Everyone’s a Pony!

Posted on July 17, 2013 by Brenton Dickieson

There are so many great lines I could have stolen for this blog post: We’ve All Got Our Own Clovers With Worlds on Them How to Eat Rainbows and Poop Butterflies That Horton is a Menace Mom, Please, You are … Continue reading →

Posted in Fictional Worlds | Tagged books, C.S. Lewis, children's literature, faerie, fantasy, fantasy writers, FIonavar Tapestry, Golden Compass, Guy Gavriel Kay, Horton Hears a Who, J.R.R. Tolkien, kurt vonnegut jr, literature, On Other Worlds, world-building, writing | 9 Comments

Taking a Breath before a Second Dive

Posted on July 15, 2013 by Brenton Dickieson

Here I sit, on the edge of 1937. Not literally, of course. This is not a blog from the 30s, waiting until now to see digital light. But in my reading of C.S. Lewis’ work, this is where I am, … Continue reading →

Posted in Lewis Biography, Original Research | Tagged apologetics, BBC, books, C.S. Lewis, Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis, fantasy, letters, literature, Narnia, Ransom Trilogy, Reading, religion, The Great Divorce, The Screwtape Letters, Wildwood | 21 Comments

Ruffling the Pages of The Hobbit: C.S. Lewis’ Original Review in TLS

Posted on July 10, 2013 by Brenton Dickieson

Besides his own children, in the early days of The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien’s biggest fan was C.S. Lewis. No one really knew what to do with Tolkien’s strange faerie tale just yet, and Tolkien was anxious about its value, but Lewis … Continue reading →

Posted in Fictional Worlds, Lewis Biography | Tagged Alice in Wonderland, C.S. Lewis, children's literature, faerie, fantasy, George MacDonald, imagination, Inklings, J.R.R. Tolkien, maps, The Hobbit, The Wind in the Willows, writing | 30 Comments

The Land Where Oz is North of Middle-earth: Reflections of a Speculative Cosmographer

Posted on July 4, 2013 by Brenton Dickieson

If I were to print a business card for what I do as a fantasy writer, in the section called “title” I would put, “Speculative Cosmographer.” Fancy title, eh? Well, broken down, it really just means fictional world-builder. When I … Continue reading →

Posted in Creative Writing, Fictional Worlds | Tagged C.S. Lewis, children's literature, fantasy, Fictional Universes, Harry Potter, Holly Black, imagination, J.K. Rowling, J.R.R. Tolkien, literature, madeleine l engle, Madeleine L'Engle, maps, Middle Earth, Narnia, The Hobbit, The Spiderwick Chronicles, Winnie the Pooh | 149 Comments

The Beginnings of Complicated (Dis)Agreement: C.S. Lewis’ 2nd Letter to Charles Williams

Posted on July 2, 2013 by Brenton Dickieson

After posting the first letters between C.S. Lewis and Charles Williams last week, it was requested that I post Lewis’ second letter to Williams. Williams worked for Oxford University Press and was reading Lewis’ first academic book, The Allegory of … Continue reading →