As I announced a month ago, I am once again teaching the great Signum University class, “C.S. Lewis and Mythologies of Sex and Love.” I love this course, which uses C.S. Lewis’ book and lecture series, The Four Loves, to structure a survey of different kinds of love stories in history. While some students will take the course to simply enjoy a great books class–and there really are some great books in the reading list–what I am doing is also setting up a way of thinking about how culture frames the way we think about different kinds of love.
Doing such a course makes some mocking of cultural irresistible to me. So woven into the very serious lectures are these little moments of humour. After a fairly serious hour on medieval courtly love and the affair between theologian Peter Abelard and literary scholar/abbess Heloïse, I insert a short spoofy and goofy segment as I pivot to Romeo and Juliet and other Western forbidden love tales. This is my light and flaky take on some great and terrible forbidden love films. It’s lofi, chatty, and filled up with comments from the class. I hope you enjoy–and do nothing more than enjoy! But if you like the syllabus and would like to join us, do let me know (you can contact me here).
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“A Pilgrim in Narnia” is a blog project in reading and talking about the work of C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, the Inklings, L.M. Montgomery, and the worlds they created. As a "Faith, Fantasy, and Fiction" blog, we cover topics like children’s literature, myths and mythology, fantasy, science fiction, speculative fiction, poetry, theology, cultural criticism, art and writing.
This blog includes my thoughts as I read through my favourite writings and reflect on my own life and culture. In this sense, I am a Pilgrim in Narnia--or Middle Earth, or Fairyland, or Avonlea. I am often peeking inside of wardrobes, looking for magic bricks in urban alleys, or rooting through yard sale boxes for old rings. If something here captures your imagination, leave a comment, “like” a post, share with your friends, or sign up to receive Narnian Pilgrim posts in your email box.
Brenton Dickieson (PhD, Chester) is a father, husband, friend, university lecturer, and freelance writer from Prince Edward Island, Canada. You can follow him:
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Many (MANY) moons ago, in high school, I wrote my Ontario Academic Credit final English paper on different aspects of love found in Victor Hugo’s “Notre Dame de Paris”… I didn’t use Lewis’ “Four Loves”, which, in hindsight would have been brilliant… but came up with Compassionate Love (Esmeralda to Quasimodo), Lust (Phoebus to Esmeralda), Motherly Love (Paquette la Chantefleurie to baby Agnes (aka Esmeralda)), and sacrificial love (Esmeralda to Quasimodo))… But after watching your video I see that I missed the interspecies love between Esmeralda and her goat Djali… which was perhaps the biggest love of the whole thing. Shame on me! 😉
As I announced a month ago, I am once again teaching the great Signum University class, “C.S. Lewis and Mythologies of Sex and Love.” I love this course, which uses C.S. Lewis’ book and lecture series, The Four Loves, to structure a survey of different kinds of love stories in history. While some students will take the course to simply enjoy a great books class–and there really are some great books in the reading list–what I am doing is also setting up a way of thinking about how culture frames the way we think about different kinds of love.
Many (MANY) moons ago, in high school, I wrote my Ontario Academic Credit final English paper on different aspects of love found in Victor Hugo’s “Notre Dame de Paris”… I didn’t use Lewis’ “Four Loves”, which, in hindsight would have been brilliant… but came up with Compassionate Love (Esmeralda to Quasimodo), Lust (Phoebus to Esmeralda), Motherly Love (Paquette la Chantefleurie to baby Agnes (aka Esmeralda)), and sacrificial love (Esmeralda to Quasimodo))… But after watching your video I see that I missed the interspecies love between Esmeralda and her goat Djali… which was perhaps the biggest love of the whole thing. Shame on me! 😉
Yes, interspecies love does everything! It’s the critical tool we’re all missing. Goats included. But good list of loves.
Thanks for the laugh at the end of my tiring day. Too good!
Ha! Thanks for the note.