Monthly Archives: February 2021

On the Nobody Somebody Has Inside: C.S. Lewis and a Post About Bullying For Pink Shirt Day #pinkshirt

Posted on February 24, 2021 by Brenton Dickieson

By all accounts, the famous children’s author C.S. Lewis was bullied badly in the English private school that he was subjected to as a child. His first school, Wynyard, had a bully as a headmaster. Robert Capron–nicknamed “Oldie” by Lewis … Continue reading →

Posted in Reflections | Tagged bullies, bullying, C.S. Lewis, children's literature, Letters to an America Lady, Narnia, pink shirt, Pink Shirt Day, Surprised by Joy, the Narnian, Walter Hooper | 9 Comments

“The Country Around Edgestow”: A Map from C.S. Lewis’ That Hideous Strength by Tim Kirk from Mythlore

Posted on February 23, 2021 by Brenton Dickieson

Among the bulletin-board resources that I have pasted around my office, competing with lists and charts for visual space, is “The Country Around Edgestow.” This fantasy map was drawn by artist Tim Kirk for an early Mythlore article, “Arthurian & … Continue reading →

Posted in Reflections | Tagged Fantasy Maps, Janet Brennan Croft, Malvern College, Mythlore, Perelandra, Ransom Cycle, speculative geography, That Hideous Strength, Worcester | 42 Comments

A Flash of Joy: Discussing C.S. Lewis and L.M. Montgomery Online with The C. S. Lewis Society of Central Indiana (Fri, Feb 19th, 2021, 7-9pm EST)

Posted on February 19, 2021 by Brenton Dickieson

As I talk about in the piece I touched up and republished yesterday, “CSL:LMM, C.S. Lewis and L.M. Montgomery,” I have been playing with the ways that Montgomery and Lewis overlap–even though they are writers of a different generation, gender, … Continue reading →

Posted in News & Links | Tagged C.S. Lewis, L.M. Montgomery, Sehnsucht, Surprised by Joy, The Flash, The MaudCast | 1 Comment

CSL:LMM, C.S. Lewis and L.M. Montgomery (Throwback Thursday)

Posted on February 18, 2021 by Brenton Dickieson

At A Pilgrim in Narnia, we have an occasional feature called “Throwback Thursday.” By raiding either my own blog-hoard or someone else’s, I find a blog post from the past and throw it back out into the digital world. This … Continue reading →

Posted in Canadian literature, L.M. Montgomery, Lewis Biography | Tagged Anne of Green Gables, books, C.S. Lewis, Canadian literature, Emily of New Moon, letters, Prince Edward Island, publishing, publishing dreams, Rainbow Valley, Rilla of Ingleside, Story Girl, The Alpine Path, WWI, WWII | 22 Comments

The Pretty Cool Imaginative World-building in Margaret Cavendish’s Pretty Terrible “Blazing World”

Posted on February 16, 2021 by Brenton Dickieson

Margaret Cavendish’s The Description of a New World, Called The Blazing-World is just terrible. For me, anyway. It is an important book in feminist history and natural philosophy and, I would argue, the development of science fiction. Except for experts … Continue reading →

Posted in Fictional Worlds, Reviews | Tagged 17th Century Literature, Margaret Cavendish, speculative fiction, The Blazing World, utopia | 1 Comment

“Is C.S. Lewis too Sexy for America?” TexMoot 2021 (Saturday, Feb 13th)

Posted on February 11, 2021 by Brenton Dickieson

I am pleased to be part of TexMoot 2021: Signum University’s Fourth Annual Texas Literature & Language Symposium. The Signum “moots”–from the Old English word for a meeting or assembly–are there to give a live, in-the-flesh connection for this international … Continue reading →

Posted in Reflections | Tagged A Grief Observed, Anthony Hopkins, C.S. Lewis, Debra Winger, Four Loves, Joy Davidman, Lewis and Gender, sex, Shadowlands, Signum University | 28 Comments

Share with Me a Woman’s Voice on Shakespeare, with Thoughts on The Merchant of Venice

Posted on February 9, 2021 by Brenton Dickieson

Yes, I know, it is kind of a strange request: Share with Me a Woman’s Voice on Shakespeare. Moreover, it is one that I cannot necessarily follow up on fully. But let me explain. The other day, I finished up … Continue reading →

Posted in Reflections | Tagged C.S. Lewis, feminism, Goethe, Hamlet, Harry Potter, Helena Kelly, Inklings, J.R.R. Tolkien, Jane Austen, Joanna Russ, Octavia Butler, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Shakespeare, Stephen King, The Merchant of Venice, The Tempest | 16 Comments

Avoiding The Road, 31 Years

Posted on February 4, 2021 by Brenton Dickieson

For fifteen years I have avoided The Road. Perhaps longer. I did not need the book description to know that I would avoid reading it. I picked it up, held it in my hand, and I knew. It was Cormac … Continue reading →

Posted in Reflections, Reviews | Tagged Blood Diamonds, books, Cormac McCarthy, Death, father, fire, Post, The Kite Runner, The Pursuit of Happiness, The Road, The Walking Dead | 6 Comments

“An Older Wardrobe: Echoes of Deuteronomy in The Silver Chair” by A.J. Culp

Posted on February 2, 2021 by Brenton Dickieson

As a child, I wasn’t much of a reader. But I was a listener. I loved listening to stories—to stories told and stories read. And the Chronicles of Narnia were some of my favourites, with my mother often reading them … Continue reading →