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- CFP: “Gardeners of the Galaxies: How Imaginary Worlds Teach Us to Care for This One” by Sørina Higgins and Brenton Dickieson (Academic Deadline Extended to May 30th)
- My Conference Papers this Week in Canada and K’zoo on C.S. Lewis’ Constructed Language and Intertextuality, with a Note on the Impostor Syndrome
- J.R.R. Tolkien’s “Secret Vice” and My Secret Love: Thoughts on Dimitra Fimi and Andrew Higgins’ Critical Edition of A Secret Vice: Tolkien on Invented Language (Throwback Thursday)
- “Gardeners of the Galaxies” Discussion with Sørina Higgins and Brenton Dickieson on Inkling Folk Fellowship (Fri, Apr 29, 2022, 4pm Eastern)
- My New Online Short Course: “Spirituality in the Writing of L.M. Montgomery” at AST in May, 2022
- Which Image Triggered C. S. Lewis’ Enthusiasm for Wagner’s Ring Cycle? A Proposal by Norbert Feinendegen
- The Literary Past and Future in C.S. Lewis’ “The Quest of Bleheris”: My Talk Tonight at the New York C.S. Lewis Society (Fri, Apr 8, 2022, 7:30pm Eastern on Zoom)
- How Long ’til Black Future Month? by N.K. Jemisin (a review)
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Tag Archives: Charles Dickens
Bunyan and Others and Me: Vicarious Bookshelf Friendship and a Jazz Hands Theory of Reading
I have been quite open about the fact that I have had some difficulty finding true sympathy with John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress. I even went so far as to admit that the text at one time had been for … Continue reading
Posted in Reflections
Tagged A Pilgrim's Regress, Auerbach, C.S. Lewis, Charles Dickens, Charlotte Brontë, Dante, Enid Blyton, George MacDonald, Harold Bloom, Huckleberry Finn, Jane Eyre, John Bunyan, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, literary friendship, Little Women, Louisa May Alcott., Mark Twain, Middlemarch, Milton, mimesis, Prince Edward Island, Spenser, The Allegory of Love, The Land of Far-Beyond, The Pilgrim's Progress
9 Comments
Ann Radcliffe’s Absolutely Essential “The Mysteries of Udolpho” (1794) and the Books I’d Rather Read
Ann Radcliffe’s The Mysteries of Udolpho: A Romance Interspersed With Some Pieces of Poetry (1794) has been one of those books that I have been wanting to read for some time—wanting to read in one way, but hesitant in another. … Continue reading
Posted in Reviews
Tagged Ann Radcliffe, Becoming Jane, Bleak House, Charles Dickens, Charlotte Brontë, feminism, Jane Austen, Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, mary shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft, Michael Lewis, Northanger Abbey, Pamela, Samuel Richardson, Stephen King, Susanna Clarke, The Brothers Karamazov, The Green Mile, The Monk, The Mysteries of Udolpho
18 Comments
The Gift (and Curse) of Asher Lev
The Gift of Asher Lev by Chaim Potok My rating: 5 of 5 stars The Gift of Asher Lev is a lovely, evocative book. It is my first time reading the sequel to My Name is Asher Lev, which I … Continue reading
Harold Bloom and “The Western Canon”: A Note on His Death
I received news this week that Harold Bloom has died. Bloom (1930-2019) was an avid reader, a rapid writer, and a penetrating critic whose essays and books on literature are breathtaking in scope and exemplary in their attention to the … Continue reading
Posted in Original Research, Reviews, Thoughtful Essays
Tagged books, C.S. Lewis, canon, Charles Dickens, Charles Williams, Dante, fantasy, feminism, Harold Bloom, J.R.R. Tolkien, Leo Tolstoy, literary criticism, literary history, Milton, mimesis, Reading, Shakespeare, T.S. Eliot, The Western Canon, Ursula K. LeGuin
18 Comments
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is the UK’s Favourite Book
According to a OnePoll survey of 2,000 UK adults, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is Britain’s most popular book. It is an intriguing find, but not inconsistent with other surveys and with research by people like Stephanie Derrick (see … Continue reading
Posted in Reflections
Tagged Anne of Green Gables, Arthur Conan Doyle, C.S. Lewis, Charles Dickens, Charlotte Brontë, Emily Bronte, Harry Potter, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Life of Pi, lion the witch and the wardrobe, Robert Louis Stevenson, Stephen King, The Da Vinci Code, The Handmaid's Tale, The Hobbit, The Lion, The Lord of the Rings
38 Comments
Harold Bloom’s Canon: The Essential List
On Monday I introduced Harold Bloom‘s 1994 bestseller, The Western Canon: The Books and School of the Ages. I decided to create a “canonical list” in today’s blog for those who are inclined to try to soak in this great radition. Taking … Continue reading
Posted in Reviews, Thoughtful Essays
Tagged canon, Charles Dickens, Chaucer, Dante, Goethe, Harold Bloom, Jane Austen, John Milton, Leo Tolstoy, Reading, Shakespeare, The Western Canon, Virginia Woolf, writing
33 Comments
Harold Bloom’s “The Western Canon”
Harold Bloom’s The Western Canon: The Books and School of the Ages was a sensation when it appeared in 1994. Harold Bloom, a curmudgeonly anti-academic ivy league scholar, fills this challenging read with fresh insights on every page. He … Continue reading
Posted in Original Research, Reviews, Thoughtful Essays
Tagged books, C.S. Lewis, canon, Charles Dickens, Charles Williams, Dante, fantasy, feminism, Harold Bloom, J.R.R. Tolkien, Leo Tolstoy, literary criticism, literary history, Milton, mimesis, Reading, Shakespeare, T.S. Eliot, The Western Canon, Ursula K. LeGuin
39 Comments
A Gospel Too Simple for the Learned: Tough Jo in Bleak House
This is my first time reading Charles Dickens’ Bleak House. As it is featured in Gary Colledge’s God and Charles Dickens and Harold Bloom’s The Western Canon, I thought I should come at last to this very long book. If you have ever … Continue reading
Posted in Memorable Quotes, Reflections
Tagged Bleak House, C.S. Lewis, Charles Dickens, fiction, Harold Bloom, literature, Milton, The Great Divorce
19 Comments
Tolkien’s Dickensian Dreams
Originally posted on A Tolkienist's Perspective:
Dickens’ short story that inspired a Tolkien chapter This is somewhat a Tolkien paper I had written a while back, with the expressed intention to publish it one day. When that day never seemed to…
10 Great Quotations for International Literacy Day
Some Inspiration for International Literacy Day! Interesting Literature Today is International Literacy Day! What better time, then, to celebrate some of the wisest, wittiest, pithiest, silliest, and most profound things that writers have ever said about literature and reading? The … Continue reading