Category Archives: Original Research

A Grief Observed: A Talk on the Anniversary of My Parents’ Deaths, with C.S. Lewis

Posted on February 4, 2019 by Brenton Dickieson

Here is a little piece I did this time last year. This past week had that frightful cold snap once again–experienced throughout our entire continent–and the cold has finally broken. But on this day, February 4th, it is hard not … Continue reading →

Posted in Original Research, Reflections | Tagged A Grief Observed, academics, C.S. Lewis, Death, fatherhood, Frederick Buechner, grief, love, mourning, orpan tales, parenting, Teaching, The Problem of Pain, The Shape of Water | 9 Comments

Here Be Dragons: Mythmoot VI Launch and Call For Papers (Friday Feature)

Posted on February 1, 2019 by Brenton Dickieson

I’m pleased to share the news of the annual Mythmoot. Although Signum University is a completely online school, offering a global-leading MA programme in imaginative literature and Germanic languages, we do like to gather from time to time. I say … Continue reading →

Posted in Feature Friday, News & Links, Original Research | 84 Comments

Girls, Boys, and the Maps in Their Heads: A Reflection on Narnia

Posted on January 24, 2019 by Brenton Dickieson

I walk around with a map in my head. Or at least I try to. I have driven in Tokyo, Manhattan, Vancouver, Kobe, Toronto, Chicago, Montreal, and–most terrifying of all–Wales. There were times in the wilds of Japan or BC … Continue reading →

Posted in Memorable Quotes, Original Research, Reflections | Tagged C.S. Lewis, feminism, leadership, Lewis and Gender, lion the witch and the wardrobe, Monika Hilder, Narnia, Prince Caspian, spirituality, The Last Battle, The Silver Chair, Voyage of the Dawn Treader | 162 Comments

Help Me Find the Accusation of Misogyny in the TIME Article on C.S. Lewis, Don v. Devil

Posted on January 9, 2019 by Brenton Dickieson

Two recent references have created a bit of a puzzle for me which I hope you can perhaps make clear for me. Both in Mary Stewart Van Leeuwen’s A Sword Between the Sexes: C.S. Lewis and the Gender Debates and the edited volume … Continue reading →

Posted in Memorable Quotes, Original Research | Tagged C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, Dorothy L. Sayers, feminism, George MacDonald, Miracles, Phantastes, sexism, T.S. Eliot, The Pilgrim's Regress, Time Magazine, W.H. Auden | 59 Comments

2018: A Year of Reading: The Nerd Bit

Posted on January 7, 2019 by Brenton Dickieson

“With such wishes for the New Year as still seem possible” ~ C.S. Lewis to his father from the trenches in France during WWI “Is there any point in wishing each other a happy New Year? Well, yes, I suppose … Continue reading →

Posted in Original Research, Reflections | Tagged C.S. Lewis, fantasy, Goodreads, H.P. Lovecraft, Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling, Margaret Atwood, Narnia, Octavia E. Butler, Reading, Science Fiction, Stephen King, Terry Pratchett, William Gibson | 24 Comments

“(Re)Considering the Planet Narnia Thesis”: My Article in An Unexpected Journal

Posted on December 7, 2018 by Brenton Dickieson

Popular readers of C.S. Lewis and A Pilgrim in Narnia may be surprised that I have not been won over by Michael Ward’s thesis in Planet Narnia. It is an elegant, sophisticated, symmetrical, and well-argued idea about how C.S. Lewis constructed … Continue reading →

Posted in Original Research, Reviews, Thoughtful Essays | Tagged An Unexpected Journal, C.S. Lewis, Michael Ward, Narnia, Planet Narnia, The Narnia Code, writing | 43 Comments

Reading and the Cultural Moment, with C.S. Lewis

Posted on December 4, 2018 by Brenton Dickieson

So much of C.S. Lewis’ uniqueness comes down to his sheer love of diversity. He loved variability, colour, the exchange, the alienation of encounter and unity with others. His weird dystopia That Hideous Strength was, in many ways, a protest against … Continue reading →