Tag Archives: Death

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

Here is a little piece on a special day: the anniversary of the death of my father and brother on a villainously cold night when I was fourteen, and on the eve of the anniversary of my mother’s passing in … Continue reading

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Avoiding The Road, 31 Years

For fifteen years I have avoided The Road. Perhaps longer. I did not need the book description to know that I would avoid reading it. I picked it up, held it in my hand, and I knew. It was Cormac … Continue reading

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The Living Lie, But Dead Men Tell the Truth: The Screwtape Letters and Ivan Ilych

In Leo Tolstoy’s brilliant novella, The Death of Ivan Ilych (1886), there is a curious pun in the English translation I use (Aylmer Maude): “The dead man lay, as dead men always lie” (96). As the title suggests, The Death of Ivan … Continue reading

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Celebrations of Life: 30 Years, 4 Years, Today

Today is the 30th anniversary of the death of my father and baby brother. I saw them perish in a fire when I was a boy–an event that has shaped not just my family life, but my entire understanding of … Continue reading

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

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

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11/22/63: The Day that C.S. Lewis Died

This year I introduced an occasional feature I call “Throwback Thursday.” This is where I find a blog post from the past–raiding either my own vault or someone else’s–and throw it back out into the digital world. This might be … Continue reading

Posted in Lewis Biography, Reflections, Thoughtful Essays | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

The Last Letter of J.R.R. Tolkien, on the 45th Anniversary of His Death

I have just finished reading The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien (1982), which is fitting given that this is the 45th anniversary of his death (2 Sep 1973). With help from Christopher Tolkien, noted writer, broadcaster, and biographer Humphrey Carpenter collected the letters … Continue reading

Posted in L.M. Montgomery, Letters | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 33 Comments

A Grief Observed: A Lecture on the Anniversary of My Parents’ Deaths

It was a little eerie returning home on Saturday evening. My wife and I went to see the Oscar-nominated SF Fairy Tale, The Shape of Water. It was cold, terribly cold. With the wind chill it was approaching -30 Celsius (below -20 … Continue reading

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11/22/63: The Day that C.S. Lewis Died

This is a rewriting of a post from the 50th anniversary of C.S. Lewis’ death in 2013. Lewis died on the same day as American president John F. Kennedy and English public intellectual and dystopian writer, Aldous Huxley. Though Lewis … Continue reading

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For My Mother

You may have noticed that my posting has hardly been personal over the past couple of weeks. It is a week of difficult anniversaries. February 4th is the day my father and little brother perished in a fire, and last … Continue reading

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