Browning said that his poem “Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came” came to him in a dream, and he wrote all 204 lines in one day. He did not say what he thought the nightmarish dream signified.In light of Walter Hooper’s claim that Lewis wrote The Dark Tower in response to Browning’s poem, certain lines in the poem are Read More ›
Hope Publishing House, 2000 INTRODUCTION George MacDonald said “It is the heart that is not yet sure of its God that is afraid to laugh in his presence.” G. K. Chesterton said “Solemnity flows out of us naturally, but laughter is a leap.” C. S. Lewis said “Joy is the serious business of heaven.” This book is for people who Read More ›
by Joshua Pong (First published in Chinese in a Christian magazine in Taiwan) The Pilgrim’s Regress is a semi-autobiographical allegory by Lewis. We read in the story that John, the main character, in his search for the Island (the experience of joy), commits fornication with a brown girl in a wood and ends up producing a bevy of little brown Read More ›
From Words to the Wise (Hope Publishing House, 2000) I heard about a woman who was suing God because He struck her property with lightning. She said that she didn’t expect Him to appear in court to try to defend Himself against the charge, and if the court examined her past life it would find her reputation blameless. I assume Read More ›
Vermin: Dirty or destructive pests such as rats or cockroaches Small wild predators such as foxes or weasels Loathsome people 1919 “Satan Speaks” Spirits in Bondage (early poetry) Between their will and mine — such lot I giveWhile still in my despite the vermin live. (Lewis has Satan call humans vermin.) 1933 Pilgrim’s Regress But in each form the anguished Read More ›
Professor Yagyu was a professor of English at Kanto Gankuin University in Yokohama and Chancellor of the Kanto Gakuin system of schools. He discovered the literary criticism of C. S. Lewis in 1942. He translated into Japanese Mere Christianity, The Great Divorce, and Miracles (the lattter with Lewis’s knowledge in 1963). He did Lewis research in England, became a friend Read More ›
by Nevill Coghill Upon a hill towards the sun,When part of my pilgrimage was done,I found my lover in a tree,Gathering bitter fruit for me.The branches tore his hands and feet,Yet, on the fruit he bade me eat,The bitterness was washed away;And in a year that was a dayThe tree was sometimes wild with flower,Sometimes a green and leafy bower,Sometimes Read More ›
by James O’Fee The Backward Glance: C. S. Lewis and Ireland, by Ronald W. Bresland,(The Institute of Irish Studies, The Queen’s University of Belfast, 1999) ISBN 0 85389 746 8, paperback, 140 pp, 8.50 (UK), $17.95 (amazon.com). C. S. Lewis, at Home in Ireland by David Bleakley, Foreword by Walter Hooper (Bangor, Northern Ireland: Strandtown Press, 1998) ISBN 0953 55120-2, Read More ›
A survey of widely varying accounts by Perry Bramlett The actual event took place during the late church service on 21 July 1940 In books about Lewis this event is usually switched to after the early morning service, and the date has been published as 14 July 1940. 15 July 1940, 20 July 1940, and autumn 1942. So far, Light Read More ›
“An honest man speaks the truth, though it may give offence; a vain man, in order that it may.” William Hazlitt (1778-1830) “A forger would have no trouble finding paper and ink that are 40 years old” Charles Hamilton, America’s leading autograph expert “Each cover of a true book enfolds the concentrated essence of a man. The personalities of the Read More ›