Tag Archives: An Experiment in Criticism

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 | 27 Comments

“The Personal Heresy” and C.S. Lewis’ Autoethnographic Instinct: An Invitation to Intimacy in Literature and Theology

Posted on June 3, 2021 by Brenton Dickieson

Canada’s annual Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences (Congress2021) is now winding down. I missed being live on the ground, stumbling with weary feet and droopy eyes from one brilliant intellectual session to another, discovering great local craft brewpubs … Continue reading →

Posted in Original Research | Tagged An Experiment in Criticism, Autobiography, autoethnography, C.S. Lewis, Congress2021, De Descriptione Temporum, Heather Walton, Literary Theory, new criticism, Surprised by Joy, The Personal Heresy, theology and literature | 7 Comments

“The Personal Heresy” and C.S. Lewis’ Autoethnographic Instinct: An Invitation to Intimacy in Literature and Theology (Congress2021 Paper)

Posted on May 28, 2021 by Brenton Dickieson

As I noted yesterday, this week is Canada’s annual Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences, Congress2021. In the same morning, I am presenting twice, at two different societies–at the Canadian-American Theological Association with a paper on C.S. Lewis’ spiritual theology, … Continue reading →

An Essential Reading List from C.S. Lewis: An Experiment on An Experiment in Criticism (Throwback Thursday)

Posted on August 13, 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. … Continue reading →

Posted in News & Links, Original Research, Throwback Thursdays | Tagged An Experiment in Criticism, books, C.S. Lewis, canon, Deconstructionism, George R.R. Martin, literary criticism, literary history, Margaret Atwood, Marilynne Robinson, Narnia, Reader Response Criticism, Reading, Sherlock Holmes, The Western Canon, writing | 40 Comments

“C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien: Friendship, True Myth, And Platonism,” a Paper by Justin Keena

Posted on June 2, 2020 by Brenton Dickieson

There is doubtless a significant amount of interest in the friendship of J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis–both in the more formal setting of the Inklings and in their own literary and personal paths. I’ve written here and here about how … Continue reading →

Posted in Original Research, Thoughtful Essays | Tagged An Experiment in Criticism, C.S. Lewis, Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis, friendship, J.R.R. Tolkien, myth, Oxford, The Silmarillion, Walter Hooper | 20 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 | 54 Comments

Turn Off CNN and Talk to Actual Americans: On Division in the United? States of America

Posted on August 14, 2018 by Brenton Dickieson

Are you ready for a shock? As I sat down to write this, CNN had on the front page of its website an article putting Donald Trump in a dim light. Hard to believe, I know. And–are you ready for … Continue reading →

Posted in Thoughtful Essays | Tagged America, American politics, American President, An Experiment in Criticism, C.S. Lewis, CNN, Donald Trump, Fox, Fox News, Glenn Beck, media, Stephen Colbert, Surprised by Joy, Theology of Culture, Trump | 63 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 | 52 Comments

A Narnian Close Read: Friday Feature

Posted on June 2, 2017 by Brenton Dickieson

A resource recently came to me from a homeschool mom. I am honestly not very connected to that kind of network, so I was pleased to bump into the “Close Reads Podcast,” hosted at the Circe Institute. Past books featured … Continue reading →

Posted in Feature Friday | Tagged An Experiment in Criticism, C.S. Lewis, canon, Feature Friday, Flannery O'Connor, Jane Austen, lion the witch and the wardrobe, podcast, Pride and Prejudice, Reading, The Western Canon, The Wind in the Willows | Leave a comment

George Watson’s Provocative Comments on C.S. Lewis as Literary Critic

Posted on February 22, 2017 by Brenton Dickieson

One of the advantages of finding new libraries is that the librarian’s skill of book-buying is more art than science. The librarians I know, despite their adept use of analytics, have as much curator or architect in them as they … Continue reading →