Tag Archives: fantasy

Affirming Creation in the Lord of the Rings #earthday

Posted on April 22, 2021 by Brenton Dickieson

Perhaps it isn’t that surprising that J.R.R. Tolkien’s books are so environmentally sensitive. Like Sam Gamgee, Tolkien loved things that grow and good tilled earth. He loved walks–long walks beyond his garden through English towns and villages and vast, untouched … Continue reading →

Posted in Fictional Worlds, Reflections | Tagged creation, creation care, Earth Day, environment, fantasy, J.R.R. Tolkien, Legolas, literature, Lord of the Rings, Matthew Dickerson, The Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers, Treebeard, WWI | 5 Comments

The Top New Posts of 2020 on A Pilgrim in Narnia

Posted on January 5, 2021 by Brenton Dickieson

2020 was the busiest year ever on A Pilgrim in Narnia! And by a pretty big margin. In 2020, we topped 1,000 posts, blew past our 1,000,000th page view, and passed 200,000 hits in a single year for the first … Continue reading →

Posted in News & Links, Reviews, Throwback Thursdays | Tagged Anne’s House of Dreams, C.S. Lewis, Christopher Tolkien, fantasy, J.R.R. Tolkien, John Keats, L.M. Montgomery, Lucy Maud Montgomery, Narnia, Rainbow Valley, Ransom Cycle, SF, The Inklings, The MaudCast, The Problem of Susan, The Screwtape Letters, Tolkien, Walter Hooper | Leave a comment

George Orwell’s Review of C.S. Lewis’ “That Hideous Strength” (Throwback Thursday)

Posted on September 10, 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 Reviews, Throwback Thursdays | Tagged 1984, Animal Farm, books, C.S. Lewis, Chesterton, dystopia, fantasy, Fictional Universes, George Orwell, Nazism, Newspeak, Ransom Trilogy, technocracy, technology, That Hideous Strength, totalitarianism, WWII | 54 Comments

Readings from J.R.R. Tolkien’s Tale Of Beren and Lúthien, with The Center from the Study of C.S. Lewis and Friends

Posted on April 17, 2020 by Brenton Dickieson

Hi folks. This event is past, but The Center for the Study of C.S. Lewis and Friends at Taylor University are having a digital Inklings “tea” on Friday’s at 4pm. They are an archive, a host of strong Inklings-informed study … Continue reading →

Posted in Fictional Worlds, News & Links | Tagged Beowulf, Beren and Lúthien, Christopher Tolkien, fantasy, Fictional Universes, J.R.R. Tolkien, Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion, writing | 20 Comments

Harry Potter at Home and at the British Library Online

Posted on April 9, 2020 by Brenton Dickieson

Last week I talked about some Audible learning resources –including “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” by Stephen Fry in English, but also in many other languages–and how J.K. Rowling opened up copyright restrictions for teachers and parents to help … Continue reading →

Posted in Fictional Worlds, News & Links | Tagged art, books, British Library, fantasy, Fictional Universes, folklore, Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling, magic, manuscripts, Medieval Cosmology, writing | 9 Comments

Harold Bloom and “The Western Canon”: A Note on His Death

Posted on October 18, 2019 by Brenton Dickieson

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 | 14 Comments

A Brief History of Fantastic Maps, A Story Map by Johnny Eaton (Friday Feature)

Posted on September 27, 2019 by Brenton Dickieson

For today’s Friday Feature I wanted to share this gorgeous website, “A Brief History of Fantastic Maps, from Paleolithic Cave Drawings to the Futuristic Possibility of Immersive Geographies.” I have been curious about GIS utilities for reading fantasy literature, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Feature Friday, Fictional Worlds | Tagged ArcGIS, Digital Humanities, ESRI, fantasy, Fantasy Maps, GIS mapping, J.R.R. Tolkien, Lord of the Rings, maps, Story Maps, Winnie the Pooh | 8 Comments

O Foolish Writer: The Living Reality of an Author’s Work, with C.S. Lewis, Stephen King, and Ursula K. Le Guin (Throwback Thursday)

Posted on July 18, 2019 by Brenton Dickieson

Throwback Thursdays are 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 might be an idea or book that is now relevant again, or … Continue reading →

Posted in Creative Writing, Fictional Worlds, Memorable Quotes, Throwback Thursdays | Tagged brewing, C.S. Lewis, Carrie, Chloe Moretz, Earthsea, Eugene Peterson, fantasy, fictional worlds, Frederick Buechner, Julianne Moore, Of Other Worlds, On Writing, Science Fiction, speculative fiction, Stephen King, Ursula K. Le Guin, writing | 14 Comments

“Sometimes Fairy Stories May Say Best What’s to be Said” by C.S. Lewis (Throwback Thursday)

Posted on May 30, 2019 by Brenton Dickieson

Last 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 blog-hoard or someone else’s–and throw it back out into the digital world. This might be … Continue reading →