Tag Archives: Goethe

Share with Me a Woman’s Voice on Shakespeare, with Thoughts on The Merchant of Venice

Posted on February 9, 2021 by Brenton Dickieson

Yes, I know, it is kind of a strange request: Share with Me a Woman’s Voice on Shakespeare. Moreover, it is one that I cannot necessarily follow up on fully. But let me explain. The other day, I finished up … Continue reading →

Posted in Reflections | Tagged C.S. Lewis, feminism, Goethe, Hamlet, Harry Potter, Helena Kelly, Inklings, J.R.R. Tolkien, Jane Austen, Joanna Russ, Octavia Butler, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Shakespeare, Stephen King, The Merchant of Venice, The Tempest | 16 Comments

L.M. Montgomery’s Portrait of the Artist as a Ridiculous Young Man

Posted on October 3, 2018 by Brenton Dickieson

While there is humour and light and poetry in Mongomery’s prose style, I suspect that most of L.M. Montgomery’s readers are first captured by her characters. Absolutely there is Anne Shirley of Green Gables: impetuous, magical, an invitation to wild … Continue reading →

Posted in Canadian literature, L.M. Montgomery, Memorable Quotes | Tagged Annette Bening, Emily of New Moon, Emily's Quest, Goethe, L.M. Montgomery, Lucy Maud Montgomery, Poetry, Prince Edward Island, Running With Scissors, The Sorrows of Young Werther | 10 Comments

A Weekend of Reading to Change Your Literary Life

Posted on May 15, 2018 by Brenton Dickieson

If you are like me, you have spent much of your adult life as a reader catching up on a severe lack of education. It is common that I am out with friends and when the topic of books comes … Continue reading →

Posted in Reflections | Tagged Arthur C. Clarke, Charles Williams, Charlotte Brontë, Goethe, H.P. Lovecraft, Isaac Asimov, J.K. Rowling, J.R.R. Tolkien, Kurt Vonnegut, L.M. Montgomery, Margaret Atwood, Reading, Shakespeare, Stephen King, Terry Pratchett, Virginia Woolf, William Morris | 39 Comments

The Sorrows of Young Goethe

Posted on August 23, 2017 by Brenton Dickieson

Let me tell you a story. In the summer of 1772, 245 years ago, a young Johann Wolfgang von Goethe took a position articling in Wetzlar, Germany. He wasn’t a very good lawyer, however, and spent most of his time … Continue reading →

Posted in Thoughtful Essays | Tagged canon, epistolary fiction, European Literature, Faust, German Literature, Goethe, love, Napoleon, Reading, Romance, Romanticism, suicide, the Romantic Movement, The Sorrows of Young Werther, Werther Fever, writing | 17 Comments

Harold Bloom’s Canon: The Essential List

Posted on July 13, 2016 by Brenton Dickieson

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

The Stories behind Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice

Posted on February 18, 2015 by Brenton Dickieson

I think that Pride & Prejudice is the best English novel, ever. Is that too much? Perhaps it is, but I’m a fan, and in the world of non-fantasy prose storytelling it is about as good as it gets for … Continue reading →

Posted in Reflections | Tagged Arthuriana, Bible, Brave New World, C.S. Lewis, epistolary fiction, Goethe, intertextuality, Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, Romeo & Juliet, Samuel Richardson, Shakespeare, That Hideous Strength, Vanity Fair | 40 Comments

A Level of Hell that Dante Forgot: A Note from Discworld

Posted on December 15, 2014 by Brenton Dickieson

Terry Pratchett is about as weird and wonderful an author as I could ever want. A master world-builder, he trades in irony, parody, and satire the way the TV show Glee trades in stereotypes. And yet, despite the constant self-degradation … Continue reading →

Posted in Fictional Worlds, Memorable Quotes | Tagged C.S. Lewis, children's literature, Dante, Discworld, fantasy, Faust, Fictional Universes, Glee, Goethe, hell, intertextuality, Terry Pratchett, The Great Divorce, The Screwtape Letters | 29 Comments

The Sorrows of Young Goethe

Posted on July 21, 2014 by Brenton Dickieson

The Wildwood in The Decemberists

Posted on August 20, 2013 by Brenton Dickieson

Last week I reviewed Wildwood by Colin Melot and Carson Ellis. Colin Melot, who is the literary creator of the NewYorkTimes bestseller Wildwood Chronicles, is also the chief lyricist for Grammy-award winning The Decemberists. One might wonder what children’s writing … Continue reading →