Monthly Archives: November 2014

What Did C.S. Lewis do on his Birthdays? An Eleventy-Sixth Birthday Inquiry that Failed

On the occasion of his eleventy-sixth birthday, I thought I would replay a post I did on a previous birthday. Partly, it’s a way to capture this great thinker and writer on his birthday. It’s also partly to show deeply … Continue reading

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Balder the Beautiful Is Dead, Is Dead: C.S. Lewis’ Imaginative Conversion

One day a young C.S. Lewis casually turned to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s death-dirge in the tradition of a northern epic poem, Tegner’s Drapa. He read these words that forever changed him: I heard a voice that cried, Balder the beautiful … Continue reading

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Week 3 in the Great Divorce Read-Along: A Handy Chart

Today is the 70th anniversary of the third installment of the weekly story that we now know as The Great Divorce. Week 1 and Chapter 1 were the same, so that a reader picking up the book today and a … Continue reading

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11/22/63

This is a reblog from the same day last year, on the 50th anniversary of C.S. Lewis’ death. Canadians just aren’t as good as Americans when it comes to iconic days. Let’s be honest: Canada Day isn’t nearly as interesting … Continue reading

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Why I Don’t Think Jesus Was a Soccer Dad…

Or that Mary Magdalene was a redeemer goddess. Or that Christ was an invention by the aristocratic elite to sooth the masses. Or that he never existed. Or that anything is really factual on the page that Dan Brown titles … Continue reading

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3 Pop Culture References to The Great Divorce

While there seems to be no end to C.S. Lewis fans, biographers, and bloggers—like the digital network connected with A Pilgrim in Narnia—I have found surprisingly few pop culture references to Lewis’ books other than Narnia and The Screwtape Letters. … Continue reading

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Cataloging the Wade: An update from Elaine Hooker

Originally posted on Off the Shelf:
Elaine Hooker, Wade Center Catalog Librarian Wade Catalog Librarian Elaine Hooker shares some of her thoughts and experiences on undertaking the monumental task of cataloging the Wade Center’s collections. Her work will, for the…

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Digital Dust? Thoughts on my 300th Post

300 posts. Wow. When I began this project, I had little sense of an end in sight. It really began as a way of reading C.S. Lewis out loud. Over time, as my roots have deepened, the tree has branched … Continue reading

Posted in Creative Writing, Fictional Worlds, News & Links, Original Research, Reflections | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 19 Comments

An Unpublished Foreword to The Great Divorce

C.S. Lewis’ haunting vision of the afterlife, The Great Divorce, began its publication run 70 years ago today. I was once pressed by Inklings scholar Sørina Higgins to name what I thought was Lewis’ best fiction. Lewis himself preferred Perelandra, … Continue reading

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Call For Guest Blogs on The Great Divorce

On Monday, Nov 10th, we celebrate the 70th anniversary of C.S. Lewis’ novella, The Great Divorce. I rank this among the best of Lewis’ fiction and one of his richest thought experiments. Though not one of his bestsellers, I think … Continue reading

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