Category Archives: Thoughtful Essays

Three Myths Retold: Madeline Miller’s Song of Achilles, Margaret Atwood’s Penelopiad, and C.S. Lewis’ Till We Have Faces

Posted on July 20, 2021 by Brenton Dickieson

While I love the Odyssey, I always dread returning to The Iliad. I just find all the war and posturing and characters to be ash and dust and thorn for me, just weariness and work and pain. The moments of greatness within … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, Thoughtful Essays | Tagged C.S. Lewis, feminism, Hélène Cixous, Homer, Madeline Miller, Margaret Atwood, N.K. Jemisin, Nalo Hopkinson, Narnia, Nnedi Okorafor, Percy Jackson, Perelandra, The Four Loves, The Iliad, The Laugh of the Medusa, The Odyssey, The Penelopiad, The Song of Achilles, The Weight of Glory, Till We Have Faces | 35 Comments

“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 Adam Roberts, fantasy literature, Guy Gavriel Kay, J.R.R. Tolkien, Kij Johnson, Lev Grossman, Marlon James., speculative fiction, Susan Cooper, Terri Windling, The Tolkien Lecture, V.E. Schwab | 17 Comments

Reading J.R.R. Tolkien by Audiobook and Adaptation: Thoughts on a Portland Discovery

Posted on March 25, 2021 by Brenton Dickieson

It was pouring rain in Portland as Nicolas and I wove our way through the artisan-filled streets of this renewed East Coast City. I love Portland, though we were not visiting on the best of circumstances. Just a couple of … Continue reading →

Posted in Thoughtful Essays | Tagged Andy Serkis, Beren and Lúthien, J.R.R. Tolkien, Mr. Bliss, Nicol Williamson, Peter Jackson, Philip K. Dick, Portland Maine, Stephen King, The Children of Húrin, The Fall of Gondolin, The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion, Tolkien Reading Day, Unfinished Tales | 24 Comments

“A Very Mean Rank”: William Shakespeare, Brian Grazer, and Biographies that are Too Good to be True

Posted on March 2, 2021 by Brenton Dickieson

As background to my year of reading Shakespeare (one play a month), I am reading Peter Ackroyd’s biography of Shakespeare. As in all of Akroyd’s historical writing, it is accessible, thoughtful, and remarkably quick-moving for a long book. He writes … Continue reading →

Posted in Thoughtful Essays | Tagged 8 Mile, A Beautiful Mind, A Curious Mind, Apollo 13, Brian Grazer, Curious George, Lie to Me, Malcolm Gladwell, Night Shift, Peter Ackroyd, Ron Howard, Samuel Johnson, Shakespeare, Splash, The Beatles, The Doors | 9 Comments

Bethlehem as the Hingepoint of History: C.S. Lewis’ Christmas Revolution Poem

Posted on December 25, 2020 by Brenton Dickieson

It is difficult to see this poem in the Christmases that most of us are subjected to. I think that’s why C.S. Lewis became a bit of a Christmas curmudgeon in his latter days. But in the midst of his … Continue reading →