Literature in English, British Isles Commons^™

Review Of Revisiting Narnia: Fantasy, Myth And Religion In C. S. Lewis’S Chronicles, Joe R. Christopher

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

Review of Shauna Caughey, ed., Revisiting Narnia: Fantasy, Myth and Religion in C. S. Lewis’s Chronicles (Dallas, 2005). 310 pages. $14.95. ISBN: 9781932100636.

Review Of Through A Glass Darkly: Suffering, The Sacred, And The Sublime In Literature And Theory, David Llewellyn Dodds

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

Review of: Holly Faith Nelson, Lynn R. Szabo, and Jens Zimmermann, eds., Through a Glass Darkly: Suffering, the Sacred, and the Sublime in Literature and Theory (Waterloo, ON, 2010), xxviii + 450 pages. Paperback: $42.95; ISBN: 9781554583058. Hardcover: $85.00; ISBN: 9781554581849

Review Of Inside The Voyage Of The ‘Dawn Treader’: A Guide To Exploring The Journey Beyond Narnia, Charles Franklyn Beach

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

Review of Devin Brown, Inside The Voyage of the ‘Dawn Treader’: A Guide to Exploring the Journey Beyond Narnia (Grand Rapids, 2010). 249 pages. $12.99. ISBN: 9780801071652.

Review Of C. S. Lewis: His Literary Achievement, Suzanne Bray

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

Review of: Colin Manlove. C. S. Lewis: His Literary Achievement (Cheshire, CT, 2010). 256 pages. $14.52. ISBN: 9781936294008

Review Of The Magical World Of The Inklings, Matthew Dickerson

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

Review of Gareth Knight, The Magical World of the Inklings (Cheltenham, 2010). $24.99. 304 pages. ISBN: 9781908011015 New and expanded edition, first published in 1990

Review Of C. S. Lewis: Latter-Day Truths In Narnia, Stephen Yandall

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

Review of Marianna Richardson and Christine Thackeray, C. S. Lewis: Latter-Day Truths in Narnia (Springville, UT, 2008). x + 236 pages. $15.99. ISBN: 9781599551937

Review Of Owen Barfield On C. S. Lewis, Sørina Higgins

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

Review of: Owen Barfield; edited by G. B. Tennyson and Jane Hipolito. Owen Barfield on C. S. Lewis (Oxford, 2011). xxi +157 pages. $19.99. ISBN: 9780955958298

Review Of Writing God And The Self: Samuel Beckett And C. S. Lewis, Monika Hilder

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

Review of: Sharon Jebb, Writing God and the Self: Samuel Beckett and C. S. Lewis (Eugene, 2011). 292 pages. $32.00. ISBN: 9781608997381

Review Of C. S. Lewis: A Map Of His Worlds, Charles A. Huttar

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

Review of: Margaret Patterson Hannay, C. S. Lewis: A Map of His Worlds (Eugene, 2009). xiv (plus one inserted leaf, unpaginated) + 299 pages. $35.00. ISBN: 9781606084106

Review Of Companionship In Grief: Love And Loss In The Memoirs Of C. S. Lewis, John Bayley, Donald Hall, Joan Didion, And Calvin Trillin, Don W. King

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

Don W. King: Review of: Jeffrey Berman, Companionship in Grief: Love and Loss in the Memoirs of C. S. Lewis, John Bayley, Donald Hall, Joan Didion, and Calvin Trillin

"There Is No Emperor": Merlin And The Ideal State In That Hideous Strength, L. S.B. Maccoull

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

C. S. Lewis’ Merlin has been brought forward from the sixth century. In the world he knew, though there was no longer a Roman Emperor in the West, there certainly was an Emperor reigning in Constantinople who could be called upon for aid. A closer look at Lewis’ depiction of Byzantium reveals what role the positive qualities he attributed to the city played in the development of his own views regarding the nature of the realm (or world) we should strive to realize here on earth.

The Stylistic Achievement Of Mere Christianity, Gary L. Tandy

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

This essay will not attempt to explain the cultural, sociological, and theological reasons for the ongoing relevance of Lewis’s Mere Christianity. It will, however, look closely at several aspects of the work in order to assess its rhetorical and literary achievement. It will also suggest that, while Lewis’ understanding of Christian doctrine and his mastery of logical argument are important (and have received the bulk of critical attention), the success of Mere Christianity has more to do with the style through which the author communicated its content. Specifically, Lewis’ rhetorical or apologetic theory led him to focus on the …

"A Dreadful Thing": C.S. Lewis And The Experinces Of War, Timothy J. Demy

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

From a Christian perspective, war entails the death and killing of people who are all created in the image of God and therefore have inherent dignity and incalculable worth. And yet, even after experiencing war at firsthand, C. S. Lewis believed that war is sometimes justifiable and necessary.

Like others of his generation, Lewis was deeply affected by the experience of war. He lived through the First and Second World Wars, serving as an officer on the Western Front between November 1917 and April 1918. His brother Warren (“Warnie”) was a career officer serving in the British army in both …

"The Curdie Books, Please": C.S. Lewis' Co-Creative Reading In That Hideous Stength, Kirstin Jeffrey Johnson

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

The intent of this article is to initiate examination into the extent to which That Hideous Strength (1945), the last of the Ransom trilogy, is shaped by the “Curdie books”—particularly the second, The Princess and Curdie (1882).6 In doing so, some of MacDonald’s influence on Lewis’ understanding of “myth,” of “semantic unities,” and even of literary criticism will be set forth.

A Friend's Death: C.S. Lewis' Disagreement With St. Augustine, Jason Lepojärvi

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

Lewis did nothing to conceal his admiration of—and theological pedigree to—Augustine: as he wrote, Augustine “is a great saint and a great thinker to whom my old glad debts are incalculable.”3 This is why the only time he explicitly disagrees with Augustine on an important point concerning love, he does so “with trembling.”4 Lewis’ sentiments in having to disagree with Augustine may be comparable to Stanley Hauerwas disagreeing with Lewis. It is difficult, Hauerwas wrote, “to criticize a writer who has done so much good as C. S. Lewis.”5 The purpose of the present article is to evaluate the gentlemanly …

Jack Lewis And His American Cousin, Nat Hawthorne: A Study Of Instructive Affinities, D. G. Kehl

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

When he was a student at Oxford University, C. S. Lewis wrote to a friend expressing his great admiration of and enthusiasm for the novels of Nathaniel Hawthorne, particularly The House of the Seven Gables and Transformation (British title of The Marble Faun). This study examines the parallels between these two kindred spirits and their works, focusing on their similar worldviews, their personal backgrounds and lifestyles, and the "Ultimates" they both pondered. It discusses common themes in their works, such as myth, scientism, and "the great power of blackness." Their respective attitudes toward these issues and others, such as faith, …

Veiled Victorian Vampires: What Literary Antagonists Reveal About Societal Fears Of 19th Century England, Jenna Harford

Honors Theses

In my thesis paper I look at three primary texts, Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre, Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations, and Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray to analyze their main antagonists through a vampiric lens. I explain how the characters of Bertha Mason, Miss Havisham, and Dorian Gray are all written with veiled vampiric traits that revolve around themes of sexuality, secrecy and seclusion, and unbridled physical and emotional violence. Although none of these texts is obviously a “vampire novel”, the authors lean into vampire tropes including eerie physical description, doubled relationships, and other vampire lore that can be best …

"Cabined, Cribbed, Confined": Tyrannical Anxiety And Maternal Power In Shakespeare, Elle J. Nieuwsma

Masters Theses

The tyrannical king, a common trope in Shakespearean plays, is on the surface a powerful and confident character. He is motivated, though, by overwhelming anxiety and fear about losing his power and the freedom he experiences through it. In other words, he suffers from a metaphorical claustrophobia and is terrified of being confined to physical, social, and sexual inadequacy. In order to protect himself and maintain his freedom, the tyrant must project his anxiety onto someone else, and interestingly, the Shakespearean tyrants choose a shared target: mothers.

Through a series of close-readings and analysis, this article explores how several different …

Dismantling Dualisms: Jane’S Liminal Agency In Charlotte Brontë’S Jane Eyre, Nicole Baniukaitis

Masters Theses

Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre is a complex and, at times, seemingly paradoxical novel. Through Jane’s journey, I argue that Charlotte Brontë offers possibilities that can be explained and understood through Val Plumwood’s ecofeminist lens of dismantling or escaping dualisms in order to make these crucial changes and rewrite the traditional story. Jane’s liminality throughout the novel empowers her, offers her access to alternative modalities, and allows her to notice the oppressive dualistic structures governing all aspects of life. Due to her unique liminal positioning, Jane is aligned with nature and fights against oppressive dualisms to shape her life in a …

Review Of C. S. Lewis Pre-Evangelism For A Post-Christian World: Why Narnia Might Be More Real Than We Think, Josiah Peterson

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

Josiah Peterson: Review of Brian Williams, C. S. Lewis Pre-Evangelism for a Post-Christian World: Why Narnia Might be More Real Than We Think (Cambridge, Ohio: Christian Publishing House, 2021). 308 pages. $15.95. ISBN 9781949586152.