narnia

Hope Made Certain

  • May 02, 2012
  • Christopher Assenza
  • 0 Comments

In the chapter on Hope, Lewis makes fun of those who reject the Christian idea of Heaven because they don’t want to spend eternity playing harps. “The answer to such people,” he says, “is that if they cannot understand books written for grown-ups, they should not talk about them” (p. …

Read More

C.S. Lewis and Pacifism: A Failure of the Imagination

  • Jun 27, 2011
  • Tom Arthur
  • 0 Comments

Whenever one disagrees with C.S. Lewis, there is sure to be much fear and trembling. I am a Christian today in large part due to Lewis’ writing, and, if he had the opportunity to respond to me on the subject of pacifism, I suspect I would meet the long shadow …

Read More

Journeys to the Underworld in the Aeneid and The Silver Chair

  • Apr 27, 2011
  • David C. Downing
  • 0 Comments

One of the characters in Virgil’s Aeneid is named Polydorus, which means “many-gifted.” That epithet might apply just as well to C. S. Lewis. Visitors to this site already know Lewis as the creator of Narnia, as well as a distinguished literary critic, an influential Christian writer, and a gifted …

Read More

A Look at David C. Downing’s New Novel "Looking for the King"

  • Jan 27, 2011
  • David C. Downing
  • 0 Comments

Anglophiles, mystery lovers (particularly those who prefer the brainy rather than the bloody type), and Inkling fans everywhere are sure to find something to truly enjoy in Looking for the King, the recent novel written by Lewis scholar David Downing. Here’s how the description on the jacket flap begins: “It …

Read More

Through the Wardrobe

  • Jan 22, 2011
  • Will Vaus
  • 0 Comments

The back cover of Through the Wardrobe (2010, by Herbie Brennan) invites the reader to: “Step through the wardrobe and into the imaginations of 16 friends of Aslan as they explore Narnia—from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe to The Last Battle, from the heart of Caspian’s kingdom to …

Read More

A Review of The Narnia Code

  • Jan 10, 2011
  • Charlie W. Starr
  • 0 Comments

Scholars are required to write lengthy, heavily footnoted tomes, carefully and logically presented, with not even the slightest minutiae left uncovered. In the case of Michael Ward’s first book, Planet Narnia, the task was made more difficult by his need to prove a radical and controversial claim: that there is …

Read More

Thoughts on the Third Narnia Film

  • Dec 09, 2010
  • Devin Brown
  • 0 Comments

“It is perhaps not possible in a long tale to please everybody at all points, nor to displease everybody at the same points; for I find from the letters that I have received that the passages or chapters that are to some a blemish are all by others specially approved.” …

Read More

C. S. Lewis and his Mice

  • Nov 01, 2010
  • Will Vaus
  • 0 Comments

C. S. Lewis once wrote to one of his young readers: “I love real mice.  There are lots in my rooms in College but I have never set a trap.  When I sit up late working they poke their heads out from behind the curtains just as if they were …

Read More

Corkscrews, Cathedrals, and the Chronicles of Narnia

  • Sep 08, 2010
  • Devin Brown
  • 0 Comments

C. S. Lewis opens “A Preface to Paradise Lost” with an imperative for all would-be critics: “The first qualification for judging any piece of workmanship from a corkscrew to a cathedral is to know what it is—what it was intended to do and how it is meant to be used. …

Read More

“The Sound and Savor” of Words: Lewis on the Art of Writing

  • Jul 24, 2010
  • David C. Downing
  • 0 Comments

I recently received a student essay explaining that “immigration, taxation, and economic exploitation have contributed to polarization across our nation.” Apart from its broad generalizing, the essay was clearly not written to be read aloud. Its rat-a-tat prose assaults the ear as if it were composed by an unlikely committee …

Read More