Tag Archives: literary history

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 →

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An Open Class on Narnia and Friendship with Brenton Dickieson, Jason Lepojärvi, and Diana Pavlac Glyer (Full Video from Signum University)

Posted on December 6, 2019 by Brenton Dickieson

Friendship was an absolutely critical part of C.S. Lewis’ life. His lifelong friendship with his brother created a literary household. Lewis’ childhood and university friendships helped him renegotiate his core values and his life philosophy. The Oxford Inklings, the main … Continue reading →

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An Open Class on Narnia and Friendship with Brenton Dickieson, Jason Lepojärvi, and Diana Pavlac Glyer

Posted on November 7, 2019 by Brenton Dickieson

Friendship was an absolutely critical part of C.S. Lewis’ life. His lifelong friendship with his brother created a literary household. Lewis’ childhood and university friendships helped him renegotiate his core values and his life philosophy. The Oxford Inklings, the main … Continue reading →

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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 →

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H.P. Lovecraft’s “Supernatural Horror in Literature”

Posted on August 22, 2018 by Brenton Dickieson

I am in the midst of an extended reading of Stephen King‘s Dark Tower Cycle, including the extra books that connect most intimately with King’s great mythic universe (see Mathew Olson’s essay here; I’m rereading ‘Salem’s Lot now with Wolves … Continue reading →

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John Lawlor on C.S. Lewis’ “The Allegory of Love”

Posted on May 22, 2017 by Brenton Dickieson

The Allegory of Love … is a work which has all the authority of a mind of the highest quality marking out clear paths in a complex and absorbing mass of material. As such it effortlessly joins company with that … Continue reading →

Posted in Reflections | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 17 Comments

An Essential Reading List from C.S. Lewis: An Experiment on An Experiment in Criticism

Posted on August 4, 2016 by Brenton Dickieson

On A Pilgrim in Narnia we have been playing with lists of the key books to read–what we might call a “canon.” We’ve thought about the key books of Western literature (here and here), thought about the problems of this discussion, … Continue reading →

Posted in Reflections | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 83 Comments

Harold Bloom’s “The Western Canon”

Posted on July 11, 2016 by Brenton Dickieson

  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 →

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