Monthly Archives: November 2015

When You Reach Me: A New Kind of Intertextuality?

Posted on November 30, 2015 by Brenton Dickieson

There isn’t much overlap between my wife and me when it comes to reading. A few books have been passed between us, such as The Secret Life of Bees and The Help. But Kerry does not prefer literary fiction or … Continue reading →

Posted in Original Research, Reviews | Tagged A Wrinkle in Time, books, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, fantasy, Harry Potter, intertextuality, Jane Austen, jodi picoult, literature, Madeleine L'Engle, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, Pride and Prejudice, Reading, The Elegance of the Hedgehog, The Help, The Secret Life of Bees | 33 Comments

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

Posted on November 29, 2015 by Brenton Dickieson

On the occasion of his eleventy-seventh 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 | 29 Comments

Why I am Not Anti-Muslim

Posted on November 25, 2015 by Brenton Dickieson

This is the phrase I put on the board for my students last week. They were not overly fond of my logic. But I had built us up to the moment. I noted a number of terrorist attacks from the … Continue reading →

Posted in Reflections | Tagged 9/11, apologetics, culture war, Election 2016, Islam, Islamism, popular culture, prejudice, religion, social media, terrorism, Theology of Culture | 56 Comments

“God and Charles Dickens” by Gary L. Colledge: A Review

Posted on November 23, 2015 by Brenton Dickieson

From The Christmas Carol to The Tale of Two Cities and Oliver Twist, the Anglo-American social conscience has been challenged by the prolific 19th century journalist Charles Dickens. While Dickens’ social morality is immediately evidence, Gary Colledge also argues that … Continue reading →

Posted in Reflections | 25 Comments

A Manuscript List and Timeline of The Screwtape Letters

Posted on November 18, 2015 by Brenton Dickieson

A couple of weeks ago I had announced the publication of a surprising draft of a preface to The Screwtape Letters. This “Handwritten Preface” is a “Cosmic Find,” since it shows us that Lewis thought about including Screwtape in the … Continue reading →

Posted in Fictional Worlds, Lewis Biography, Original Research | Tagged books, C.S. Lewis, Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis, Ransom Trilogy, Screwtape, The Screwtape Letters, Walter Hooper, writing, WWII | 40 Comments

C.S. Lewis on the Paris Attacks

Posted on November 16, 2015 by Brenton Dickieson

Many of us were struck by the events in the legendary city of Paris on Friday night. As Parisians settled into cafes, filed into theatre seats, and gathered by the tens of thousands at the soccer stadium, seven young men … Continue reading →

Posted in Reflections | Tagged 9/11, C.S. Lewis, culture war, evil, ISIS, Islam, Islamism, Paris, Paris Attacks, Political Theology, Politics, The Screwtape Letters, Theology of Culture | 21 Comments

Plagiarizing Screwtape

Posted on November 13, 2015 by Brenton Dickieson

Originally posted on Mere Inkling Press:
How many letters have you read that were penned in the tradition of C.S. Lewis’ groundbreaking Screwtape Letters? If you’re a fan of the collection, you’ve probably read similar correspondence that owed its very…

Posted in Reflections | 6 Comments

The Transformative Power of Memory: Lewis and the Great Wars

Posted on November 11, 2015 by Brenton Dickieson

The first reader of C.S. Lewis’ autobiography, Surprised by Joy, might be puzzled by the fact that WWI—the catastrophe that decided the fate of so many of Europe’s great thinkers and artists and inventors—makes up very little of Lewis’ narrative. … Continue reading →

Posted in Reflections | Tagged C.S. Lewis, Ransom Trilogy, The Screwtape Letters, Walter Hooper, war, writing, WWI, WWII | 17 Comments

Teaching Screwtape for a New Generation: My Conference Talk & Paper

Posted on November 9, 2015 by Brenton Dickieson

We are moving well along in our series on C.S. Lewis’ The Screwtapee Letters. I have written reviews and will write at least one more. I have asked questions about influences and genre, and looked at Screwtape copycats–including demonic memos by Charles Williams and Dorothy … Continue reading →

Posted in News & Links, Original Research | Tagged books, C.S. Lewis, Dorothy L. Sayers, epistolary fiction, literature, Pedagogy, Screwtape, Teaching, The Screwtape Letters, writing | 18 Comments

Dorothy Sayers’ Sluckdrib Letter: Not The First Screwtape Copycat … But Close

Posted on November 4, 2015 by Brenton Dickieson

In preparing for a paper on teaching The Screwtape Letters for the C.S. Lewis and the Inklings Colloquium at Taylor University back in 2012, I thought I had discovered the first Screwtapian letter written by someone other than C.S. Lewis. … Continue reading →