Tag Archives: Spenser

“We Became to America what the Huns Had Been to Us”: C.S. Lewis and the European Colonization of America

Posted on August 31, 2022 by Brenton Dickieson

One of C.S. Lewis’ funniest and punchiest books is also his longest. And, arguably, it is his most important work of literary criticism and his greatest academic achievement. The snazzily titled English Literature in the Sixteenth Century, excluding Drama was … Continue reading →

Posted in Reflections | Tagged C.S. Lewis, Colonialization, Columbus, English Literature in the Sixteenth Century, Indigenous Peoples, John Donne, OHEL, Out of the Silent Planet, Science Fiction, Shakespeare, Spenser, United States | 16 Comments

John Bunyan’s Apology for his Book with a Note from C.S. Lewis on Writing as Holistic Discovery–and How Narnia Achieved the Bigness You See

Posted on March 30, 2022 by Brenton Dickieson

In my blog post last week, “Bunyan and Others and Me: Vicarious Bookshelf Friendship and a Jazz Hands Theory of Reading,” I offered two “Theories of Reading” from my experience of trying to find sympathy with John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Memorable Quotes, On Writing, Reflections | Tagged A Pilgrim's Regress, Arthur Greeves, BBC, C.S. Lewis, Dante, John Bunyan, John Milton, Selected Literary Essays, Sometimes Fairy Stories May Say Best What's to be Said, Spenser, spiritual theology, The Pilgrim's Progress, writing | 7 Comments

Bunyan and Others and Me: Vicarious Bookshelf Friendship and a Jazz Hands Theory of Reading

Posted on March 22, 2022 by Brenton Dickieson

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

On Reading The Faerie Queene for the First Time

Posted on June 3, 2015 by Brenton Dickieson

The Faerie Queene fits in the category of important books so big that they often stay in our “to read” pile for years on end. I still haven’t read Ulysses by Joyce, which is only as long as a Stephen … Continue reading →

Posted in Reflections, Reviews | Tagged Arthuriana, books, English Literature in the Sixteenth Century, fantasy, IT, Midsummer Night’s Dream, Queen Elizabeth, Reading, Romeo & Juliet, Shakespeare, Sidney, Spenser, Stephen King, The Allegory of Love, The Faerie Queene | 28 Comments

On Leprechauns

Posted on March 17, 2014 by Brenton Dickieson

I don’t know about you, but I always put leprechauns in a special category. I knew there was a tinge of danger there–an ambivalence that makes them untrustworthy woodfolk. I am, unfortunately, more affected by Lucky Charms commercials in childhood … Continue reading →

Posted in Reflections, Reviews | Tagged C.S. Lewis, Disney, faerie, fairy tales, folklore, George MacDonald, leprechauns, literature, Lucky Charms, Milton, myth, Oxford, Spenser, St. Patrick, The Discarded Image | 23 Comments

C.S. Lewis’s Faerie Lecture, and a Prince Edward Island Folktale

Posted on December 14, 2012 by Brenton Dickieson

C.S. Lewis gave a lecture on Faeries at the oldest and (arguably) most prestigious university in the English world. He did this lecture often, and he did it with a straight face. It is, of course, perfectly normal for universities … Continue reading →