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C.S. Lewis

New York C.S. Lewis Society: 40th Anniversary Weekend

by Travis Prinzi on June 12, 2009

lewis-764447 The New York C.S. Lewis Society, “the oldest society for the appreciation and discussion of C.S. Lewis in the world,” is hosting a 40th anniversary weekend symposium, with excellent Lewis scholars, August 7-9, 2009. If you’re near NYC, this is an event you won’t want to miss. I’m 7 hours away, and I’m trying to figure out how I could manage to make the trip.

View the pdf flyer for the conference.

Great conference and day-pass rates. You’ll be happy you went.

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BBC Narnia Code with Michael Ward Online

by Travis Prinzi on April 17, 2009

michael_ward_headshot BBC’s special, The Narnia Code, which is about Michael Ward’s excellent work, Planet Narnia, is available online for another 6 days! I plan to watch it sometime this weekend. Don’t miss the opportunity!

Johnny did an interview with Michael Ward for The Hog’s Head just prior to the release of the Prince Caspian movie.

Find Michael Ward at his website.

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Mythos and Logos

by Travis Prinzi on March 2, 2009

Randy Hoyt has written at length on two types of thinking: mythos and logos. This is a fascinating subject for me, and I’ve begun exploring it recently, most notably in this post at The Rabbit Room and to a lesser extent in this post here.

Randy concludes that mythos and logos are complementary ways of thinking, and I agree. I’m inclined, with Clyde Kilby, to give mythos the priority:

Myth is necessary because reality is so much larger than rationality. Not that myth is irrational, but that it easily accommodates the rational while rising above it.

[click to continue…]

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Around the Common Room

February 3, 2009

If you’ve been considering submitting a programming proposal for Azkatraz, now’s the time to do it. The deadline was extended to Feburary 9.
Michael Ward: A Look at C.S. Lewis’s Poetry
A book discussion of some of Lewis’s Narnia books has begun at Leaky.
Speaking of Leaky, if you’re the social networking type, they’ve begun a large-scale, Facebook-type [...]

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C.S. Lewis Didn’t Have a Hairy Heart

January 25, 2009

“The Warlock’s Hairy Heart” is a tale of dehumanization because of unwillingness to love, for fear of being hurt. Fear vs. Love the overriding theme of the Harry Potter stories.
I love it when I come across a comment written by someone decades or hundreds of years ago that perfectly describes a newer story I’ve recently [...]

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The Curtain Between Two Worlds

January 14, 2009

Put this into the “I wish I’d read it before writing Chapter 2 of my book” file:
“There is a curtain, thin as gossamer, clear as glass, strong as iron, that hangs forever between the world of magic and the world that seems to us to be real. And when once people have found the little [...]

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Your ‘09 Reading Plans?

January 10, 2009

What’s the first book you’ve finished or will finish in 2009?
I just finished Paradise Lost, by John Milton, as read by Nadia May.
As far as actual eyes-on-print goes, I’ll probably finished The Enchanted Castle by Edith Nesbit before anything else.
I usually don’t make out much of a reading plan, because books I wasn’t planning on [...]

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22 November 1963 – Remembering C.S. Lewis

November 22, 2008

Today marks the passing of C.S. Lewis from this world. While it’s been 45 years since he died, Lewis still provokes inspiration, discovery, and argument. He is remembered for writing the seven volumes of The Chronicles of Narnia as well as his famous apologetic work, Mere Christianity, derived from his radio talks at the BBC [...]

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“I see with a myriad eyes”

November 9, 2008

A great C.S. Lewis quote courtesy of The Kibitzer:*

In reading great literature I become a thousand men and yet remain myself. Like the night sky in the Greek poem, I see with a myriad eyes, but it is still I who see. Here, as in worship, in love, in moral action, and in knowing, I [...]

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A fine C.S. Lewis quote to discuss

November 5, 2008

I found an excellent CS Lewis quote today that fits our recent discussions very well:
“Reason is the natural organ of truth; but imagination is the organ of meaning.”
Discuss.
p.s. Did it find it’s way into your book, Travis?

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Around the Common Room

October 7, 2008

A few items of interest:
Journey to the Sea’s most recent issue came out last week, and there’s an article there with a name on it you’ll recognize.
Zossima.com has two free audio files on C.S. Lewis available for download. These lectures comprise two chapters of C.S. Lewis: Views from Wake Forest, a new essay collection [...]

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Review: Prince Caspian

May 22, 2008

by Johnny
Can a movie improve upon a book which C.S. Lewis wrote that “[s]ales show that is longo intervallo [latin for "by a long interval"] the least popular of the Narnian books”? That certainly seems to be the aim of the director and producers of the film adaptation of Prince Caspian. From the lengthy battle [...]

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Around the Common Room: Prince Caspian Weekend

May 17, 2008

by Travis
First, special thanks to Johnny for the Hog’s Head Interview with Michael Ward. Even I didn’t know that was coming until it was posted!
Second, after you’ve digested that interview, here are some links for a little weekend reading.

Andrew Peterson’s reflections on Prince Caspian, the book.
Greydanus’s review of Prince Caspian is up.
More from Greydanus, [...]

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Hog’s Head Interview with Michael Ward

May 16, 2008

by Johnny
Michael Ward is the author of Planet Narnia, a groundbreaking work in C.S. Lewis and Narnia studies, which is stirring excitement and discussion. In his book, Ward argues that each novel in the Narnia series corresponds to one of the seven planets of Medieval Cosmology. I met him at the February 2008 meeting of [...]

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Dr. Ward on Prince Caspian and Mars

May 14, 2008

A couple of interesting Prince Caspian links:

Greydanus has written his review of the film, but you can’t see it yet unless you’re subscribed. I’m looking forward to that review.
Dr. Michael Ward, author of Planet Narnia, has a new entry on Prince Caspian at the C.S. Lewis blog.

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Prince Caspian is C.S. Lewis?

May 2, 2008

by Johnny
I came across an interesting article by Devin Brown on Christianity Today, which shows some similarities between the title character Prince Caspian and the life of C.S. Lewis.
Brown, who is a Professor of English at Asbury College, wrote:
Lewis and Caspian share another element—one more significant than all the others, for it changed the direction [...]

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Zoe Sandvig: Cracking the Narnia Code

April 14, 2008

Common Grounds Online has a lengthy write-up on Michael Ward’s Planet Narnia.

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Recommendation: Planet Narnia

March 6, 2008

by Johnny
Anyone reading the literary criticism of The Chronicles of Narnia will notice that C.S. Lewis scholars have no answers regarding the supposed disorganized, “hodgepodge” (as Tolkien referred to his friend’s creation) that characterizes the series. That is until Michael Ward and his seminal work, Planet Narnia came along. Ward believes that the popular explanation [...]

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Understanding Ginny

June 30, 2006

I’ll admit from the start, I’m not one for the “shipping” debates (which student should date which). Nevertheless, there is some importance to the whole dating scene, not least the fact that Rowling’s a big fan of Austen’s novels, so romance will undoubtedly play a part.
In case you’re unfamiliar with the shipping debates, there [...]

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Magic in Prince Caspian

December 19, 2005

How good people use good magic for good purposes in Narnia as well as Harry Potter.

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Aslan and Gryffindor: Initial Thoughts

December 17, 2005

Over time, as I read and re-read the Chronicles of Narnia and the Harry Potter books, I want to draw the parallels between Aslan and Gryffindor and highlight their status as Christ symbols. Let’s lay the initial groundwork.
Aslan is the manifest Christ symbol of Lewis’ Narnia books. Son of the Emperor over the [...]

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