Category Archives: Canadian literature

“Just Enough Light: Some Thoughts on Fantasy and Literature,” the 2021 Tolkien Lecture by Guy Gavriel Kay

Posted on May 20, 2021 by Brenton Dickieson

I was pleased last week to watch the 8th annual J.R.R Tolkien Lecture on Fantasy Literature, an annual lecture on fantasy literature held at Pembroke College, Oxford, this year broadcast online. The Tolkien Lecture on Fantasy Literature was established in … Continue reading →

Posted in Canadian literature, Fictional Worlds, News & Links, Thoughtful Essays | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 16 Comments

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 , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 23 Comments

L.M. Montgomery, the Radio, and Nostalgia in the Podcast Age

Posted on July 7, 2020 by Brenton Dickieson

This is a piece of writing I have been working on this spring. I even managed to pull in J.R.R. Tolkien on this reflection, and had to restrain myself there. The way writers of the post-WWI age both resisted technological … Continue reading →

Posted in Canadian literature, L.M. Montgomery, Reflections | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 25 Comments

Is L.M. Montgomery Canada’s Author?

Posted on July 1, 2020 by Brenton Dickieson

In the L.M. Montgomery feature in Penguin’s Extraordinary Canadians series, novelist Jane Urquhart describes how Montgomery’s novels created a literary legacy in her small-town family. Urquhart’s grandmother’s Anne books “electrified” her mother’s childhood, adding “meaning and intensity even to the … Continue reading →

Posted in Canadian literature, L.M. Montgomery | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 22 Comments

A University of Prince Edward Island-L.M. Montgomery Institute Timeline (Feature Friday) #LMMI @UPEI @LMMI_PEI

Posted on October 25, 2019 by Brenton Dickieson

In preparing my paper proposal for The L.M. Montgomery Institute’s Fourteenth Biennial Conference at the University of Prince Edward Island (25-28 June 2020; see my paper abstract here), I made a timeline of Montgomery as a WWI-era figure. In my … Continue reading →

Posted in Canadian literature, Feature Friday, L.M. Montgomery | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

My Paper was Accepted for the 2020 L.M. Montgomery Conference! #LMMI @UPEI @LMMI_PEI

Posted on October 11, 2019 by Brenton Dickieson

I am very pleased to announce that my paper proposal was accepted for the L.M. Montgomery Institute’s 14th Biennial conference in 2020! This is the premier Montgomery studies event in the world, gathering scholars and readers together from around the … Continue reading →

Posted in Canadian literature, L.M. Montgomery, News & Links | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 18 Comments

A WWI-era L.M. Montgomery Timeline

Posted on July 23, 2019 by Brenton Dickieson

I am preparing a paper proposal for The L.M. Montgomery Institute’s Fourteenth Biennial Conference at the University of Prince Edward Island (25-28 June 2020; CFP due 16 Aug 2019). In my Montgomery reading, as much as I love the first Anne … Continue reading →

Posted in Canadian literature, L.M. Montgomery | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 23 Comments

L.M. Montgomery’s Portrait of the Artist as a Ridiculous Young Man

Posted on October 3, 2018 by Brenton Dickieson

While there is humour and light and poetry in Mongomery’s prose style, I suspect that most of L.M. Montgomery’s readers are first captured by her characters. Absolutely there is Anne Shirley of Green Gables: impetuous, magical, an invitation to wild … Continue reading →

Posted in Canadian literature, L.M. Montgomery, Memorable Quotes | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

A Fatal Flaw in Contemporary Writing: Thinking About Identity in Emily St. John Mandel’s Station Eleven (Part 2)

Posted on September 20, 2018 by Brenton Dickieson

Earlier this week I put a review up of what I think to be a strong, engaging literary sf book, skillfully written to accomplish two things that many authors could not do. First, Emily St. John Mandel has created in Station Eleven … Continue reading →

Posted in Canadian literature, On Writing, Thoughtful Essays | Tagged , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Emily St. John Mandel’s Station Eleven: A Brilliant Apocalypse with an Almost Fatal Flaw (Part 1)

Posted on September 18, 2018 by Brenton Dickieson

From Mary Shelley to Margaret Atwood, I have a deep interest in women’s sf and speculative fiction. It is not just a question of perspective and hearing other voices. Rather, it simply that some of my favourite writers are in … Continue reading →

Posted in Canadian literature, On Writing, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments