Tag Archives: A Preface to Paradise Lost

Great and Little Men: J.R.R. Tolkien’s Letter about C.S. Lewis and T.S. Eliot

Posted on August 30, 2021 by Brenton Dickieson

For much of the last week, I have been fighting through the relationship between C.S. Lewis and T.S. Eliot. In my 2015 post about Eliot’s striking lyrical poem, “…In the Vacant Places,” I was more than a bit optimistic when … Continue reading →

Posted in Reflections | Tagged A Grief Observed, A Preface to Paradise Lost, An Experiment in Criticism, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, E.M.W. Tillyard, F.R. Leavis, I.A. Richards, J.R.R. Tolkien, Reflections on the Psalms, T.S. Eliot, The Inklings, The Personal Heresy, The Waste Land | 29 Comments

Review of “C.S. Lewis and the Christian Worldview” by Michael L. Peterson

Posted on October 13, 2020 by Brenton Dickieson

Note: This is a longer and more conversational version of a review that was published this week in Literature and Theology, which you can find here (free, open access). For those of you who would like a short, tight review, … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged A Preface to Paradise Lost, apologetics, C.S. Lewis, Chronicles of Narnia, English Literature in the Sixteenth Century, Intelligent Design, Mere Christianity, Michael L. Peterson, Miracles, The Allegory of Love, The Great Divorce, The Problem of Pain, theodicy | 9 Comments

A Peculiar Dedication: C.S. Lewis’ Dedication of A Preface to Paradise Lost to Charles Williams (with a Note on Lewis Prefaces)

Posted on January 16, 2020 by Brenton Dickieson

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

Posted in Lewis Biography, Memorable Quotes | Tagged A Preface to Paradise Lost, Charles Williams, Inklings, J.R.R. Tolkien, John Milton, lion the witch and the wardrobe, Lucy, Paradise Lost, Surprised by Joy, The Allegory of Love, The Discarded Image, The Place of the Lion, The Screwtape Letters, Till We Have Faces | 24 Comments

Did I Assign the Right Lines from Paradise Lost? A Rebuke from C.S. Lewis and a Christian Literature Reading List

Posted on January 8, 2020 by Brenton Dickieson

For the first time, I am teaching Paradise Lost–beyond the normal references that come up in English literature, C.S. Lewis courses, and talks about religious history. I am using it to begin an undergraduate course on Christian Literature (after reading Donne‘s … Continue reading →

Posted in Reflections | Tagged A Canticle for Leibowitz, A Preface to Paradise Lost, A Wrinkle in Time, C.S. Lewis, Frederick Buechner, Gilead, Godric, John Donne, John Milton, Madeleine L'Engle, Marilynne Robinson, Paradise Lost, Perelandra, Shūsaku Endō, Silence, The Great Divorce, Walter Miller | 25 Comments

8 Questions about the Problem of Susan Narnia Debate, or How to Read Well

Posted on May 1, 2019 by Brenton Dickieson

Kat Coffin’s brief article last week on “The Problem of Susan” is the hottest post of 2019. “How do you Solve a Problem like Susan Pevensie?” has been discussed in the blog comments and in various forums, sometimes with a … Continue reading →

Posted in Original Research, Reflections, Thoughtful Essays | Tagged A Preface to Paradise Lost, An Experiment in Criticism, Gender Theory, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Mere Christianity, Michael Ward, Narnia, Reading, sexism, That Hideous Strength, The Last Battle, The Personal Heresy, The Problem of Susan, The Screwtape Letters, The Silver Chair, Till We Have Faces, Virginia Woolf | 56 Comments

A Miraculous Find: C.S. Lewis First Editions

Posted on November 13, 2018 by Brenton Dickieson

Well, admittedly, that’s an overly dramatic title. But my son is turning fourteen and I have been working on Dad jokes, and bad puns fall well with that range (as this one will). And I can’t leave out cool forty-something … Continue reading →

Posted in News & Links | Tagged A Preface to Paradise Lost, book collecting, books, C.S. Lewis, English Literature in the Sixteenth Century, Miracles, Spenser's Images of Life, Surprised by Joy, The Great Divorce, The Problem of Pain, The Screwtape Letters, WWII | 30 Comments

C.S. Lewis’ Teenage Bookshelf, and Other Lessons on Reading

Posted on March 19, 2018 by Brenton Dickieson

The Beowulf author, Sir Thomas Malory, Jane Austen, William Morris, Charlotte Brontë, and Shakespeare. With the exception of Morris, who is merely an important author of his period, these are all canonical authors. Notably, though, these are all authors that Lewis … Continue reading →

Posted in Fictional Worlds, Letters, On Writing, Original Research | Tagged A Preface to Paradise Lost, An Experiment in Criticism, books, C.S. Lewis, Charlotte Brontë, Jane Austen, literature, Malory, Reader Response Criticism, Reading, Shakespeare, Studies in Words, The Discarded Image, William Morris | 53 Comments

Virgin Books

Posted on December 3, 2013 by Brenton Dickieson

I am reading C.S. Lewis’ A Preface to Paradise Lost for the first time. This is one of Lewis’ early works (1942), and comes out of his lecturing in English Literature. I was struck immediately on the first page by … Continue reading →

Posted in Lewis' Essays, Reflections | Tagged A Preface to Paradise Lost, books, C.S. Lewis, epic poetry, John Milton, literature, narrative poetry, Old Books, Paradise Lost, Poetry, virgin books | 31 Comments

A Peculiar Dedication

Posted on December 2, 2013 by Brenton Dickieson

In his academic world of literary criticism, C.S. Lewis might be most influential in his A Preface to Paradise Lost. As I read it now, it does not seem an astounding book, though it is surprisingly accessible (except that the … Continue reading →