Tag Archives: WWI

“A Sense of the Season”: C.S. Lewis’ Birthday Pivot and the Cambridge Inaugural Address (Updated 2021)

Posted on November 29, 2021 by Brenton Dickieson

In the autumn of 1954 at the age of 56, C.S. Lewis was at the height of his academic career. With a chance to speak to the academic community at Cambridge and the listening world on the BBC, Lewis used … Continue reading →

Posted in Lewis Biography, Original Research, Thoughtful Essays | Tagged anthropology, autoethnography, BBC Talks, C.S. Lewis, De Descriptione Temporum, English Literature in the Sixteenth Century, F.R. Leavis, I.A. Richards, J.R.R. Tolkien, literature, Mere Christianity, Narnia, OHEL, Reflections on the Psalms, Surprised by Joy, The Discarded Image, theology, WWI | 6 Comments

A Head Full of Homer, A Trench Full of Blood (Remembrance Day Reblog from Tom at Alas Not Me)

Posted on November 11, 2021 by Brenton Dickieson

Last year I followed a link from Tom Hillman (@alas_not_me) on Twitter to one of his 2017 reflections on war and reading. At the Alas, Not Me blog, Tom consistently writes thoughtful reading reflections and books studies, often connected to … Continue reading →

Posted in Reflections | Tagged C.S. Lewis, Homer, Reading, Shakespeare, war, WWI, WWII | 5 Comments

Affirming Creation in the Lord of the Rings

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 | 8 Comments

CSL:LMM, C.S. Lewis and L.M. Montgomery (Throwback Thursday)

Posted on February 18, 2021 by Brenton Dickieson

At A Pilgrim in Narnia, we have an occasional feature called “Throwback Thursday.” By raiding either my own blog-hoard or someone else’s, I find a blog post from the past and throw it back out into the digital world. This … Continue reading →

Posted in Canadian literature, L.M. Montgomery, Lewis Biography | Tagged Anne of Green Gables, books, C.S. Lewis, Canadian literature, Emily of New Moon, letters, Prince Edward Island, publishing, publishing dreams, Rainbow Valley, Rilla of Ingleside, Story Girl, The Alpine Path, WWI, WWII | 22 Comments

“A Sense of the Season”: C.S. Lewis’ Birthday Pivot and the Cambridge Inaugural Address (Updated)

Posted on November 29, 2020 by Brenton Dickieson

In the autumn of 1954 at the age of 56, C.S. Lewis was at the height of his academic career. After nearly two decades of research and writing English Literature in the Sixteenth Century, Excluding Drama, this magnum opus intensified … Continue reading →

The Poets Behind C.S. Lewis’ Paragraph about WWI, with Wilfred Owen

Posted on November 11, 2020 by Brenton Dickieson

I have struggled in the past to understand C.S. Lewis’ complicated relationship with WWI–the Great War, as they called it. In my piece, “Marching as to War: C.S. Lewis on His Way to the Front Line,” I tried to show … Continue reading →

Posted in Reflections | Tagged C.S. Lewis, Canada, Götterdämmerung, In Flanders Fields, L.M. Montgomery, Narnia, Ragnarök, Remembrance Day, Robert Graves, Siegfried Sassoon, Spirits in Bondage, Surprised by Joy, Tennyson, The Chronicles of Narnia, The War Poets, Wilfred Owen, WWI, WWII | 29 Comments

L.M. Montgomery, the Radio, and Nostalgia in the Podcast Age

Posted on July 7, 2020 by Brenton Dickieson

This is a piece of writing I have been working on this spring. I even managed to pull in J.R.R. Tolkien on this reflection, and had to restrain myself there. The way writers of the post-WWI age both resisted technological … Continue reading →

Posted in Canadian literature, L.M. Montgomery, Reflections | Tagged Anne of Green Gables, art of letter writing, L.M. Montgomery, Lucy Maud Montgomery, podcast, podcasting, Prince Edward Island, Rilla of Ingleside, technology, The MaudCast, WWI, WWII | 24 Comments

Superinfection, COVID-19, and C.S. Lewis’ Till We Have Faces

Posted on April 15, 2020 by Brenton Dickieson

I am sure I am not the only person who is looking back into history to help me think about the current moment of social unrest. In fact, I know I’m not. For example, I am following an engaging series … Continue reading →

Posted in Thoughtful Essays | Tagged C.S. Lewis, COVID-19, Gilead, Great Depression, Marilynne Robinson, novel coronavirus, spanish flu, That Hideous Strength, Till We Have Faces, WWI | 26 Comments

My Paper was Accepted for the 2020 L.M. Montgomery Conference! #LMMI @UPEI @LMMI_PEI

Posted on October 11, 2019 by Brenton Dickieson

I am very pleased to announce that my paper proposal was accepted for the L.M. Montgomery Institute’s 14th Biennial conference in 2020! This is the premier Montgomery studies event in the world, gathering scholars and readers together from around the … Continue reading →

Posted in Canadian literature, L.M. Montgomery, News & Links | Tagged Anne, Anne of Green Gables, Anne's House of Dreams, children's literature, L.M. Montgomery, Prince Edward Island, Rainbow Valley, Rilla of Ingleside, theodicy, Timeline, University of Prince Edward Island, UPEI, WWI | 18 Comments

Tolkien’s Last Friend in Oxford when the World Went to War, by John Garth

Posted on July 29, 2019 by Brenton Dickieson

Originally posted on John Garth:
Colin Cullis and J.R.R. Tolkien at Exeter College, Oxford, in 1912 (courtesy of H.D.L. Thompson) ‘Not a single man I know is up except Cullis,’ Tolkien lamented at the start of his final year as…