Monthly Archives: November 2014

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

Posted on November 29, 2014 by Brenton Dickieson

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 →

Posted in Lewis Biography, Reflections | Tagged birthday, C.S. Lewis, Emily Bronte, J.R.R. Tolkien, Jane Austen, Public Intellectual, Sir Walter Scott, writing, WWI | 5 Comments

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

Posted on November 26, 2014 by Brenton Dickieson

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 →

Posted in Lewis Biography | Tagged C.S. Lewis, epic poetry, literature, myth, Norse Mythology, Siegfried and the Twilight of the Gods, Spirits in Bondage, Surprised by Joy, The Great Divorce, The Pilgrim's Regress, The Silver Chair, Till We Have Faces, Wagner | 57 Comments

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

Posted on November 24, 2014 by Brenton Dickieson

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 →

Posted in Reflections | Tagged C.S. Lewis, fantasy, Homer, Netflix, Pilgrim's Progress, The Great Divorce, The Oddysey, The Screwtape Letters, The Wizard of Oz, writing | 17 Comments

11/22/63

Posted on November 23, 2014 by Brenton Dickieson

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 →

Posted in Lewis Biography, Reflections | Tagged 11/22/63, 9/11, Brave New World, C.S. Lewis, Canada, Death, Independence Day, John F. Kennedy, John Lennon, jubilee, Lady Diana, Mother Teresa, Narnia, The Beatles, Tiananmen Square | 2 Comments

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

Posted on November 19, 2014 by Brenton Dickieson

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 →

Posted in Reflections, Thoughtful Essays | Tagged Audrey Tautou, conspiracy theory, Dan Brown, History, Jesus, Jesus Seminar, Karen King, manuscript history, Mary Magdalene, Michel Faber, Simcha Jacobovici, Sir Ian McKellen, The Da Vinci Code, The Lost Gospel, Tom Hanks | 11 Comments

3 Pop Culture References to The Great Divorce

Posted on November 17, 2014 by Brenton Dickieson

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 →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged C.S. Lewis, Caedmon’s Call, Heath McNease, J.K. Rowling, Jars of Clay, Lev Grossman, music, Narnia, Neil Gaiman, Phil Pullman, The Great Divorce, the High Countries, The Screwtape Letters | 23 Comments

Cataloging the Wade: An update from Elaine Hooker

Posted on November 14, 2014 by Brenton Dickieson

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…

Posted in Reflections | Tagged C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, Dorothy L. Sayers, g k chesterton, George MacDonald, Inklings, J.R.R. Tolkien, Marion E. Wade Center, owen barfield | 3 Comments

Digital Dust? Thoughts on my 300th Post

Posted on November 12, 2014 by Brenton Dickieson

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 C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, fantasy, Guy Gavriel Kay, J.K. Rowling, J.R.R. Tolkien, King Arthur, literature, Madeleine L'Engle, Neil Gaiman, Ransom Trilogy, Stephen King, Terry Pratchett, ursula le guin | 19 Comments

An Unpublished Foreword to The Great Divorce

Posted on November 10, 2014 by Brenton Dickieson

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 →

Posted in Lewis Biography, Original Research | Tagged Animal Farm, C.S. Lewis, Camus, Franz Kafka, George Orwell, Sartre, The Great Divorce, The Outsider, The Screwtape Letters, To the Lighthouse, unpublished manuscript, Virginia Woolf, William Faulkner | 34 Comments

Call For Guest Blogs on The Great Divorce

Posted on November 6, 2014 by Brenton Dickieson

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 →