Have you ever wondered if a particular book about Lewis or the one of his Inkling friends was any good? While I’ve personally tried to help potential readers with my podcast interviews from the authors themselves, often you benefit more from an objective review. Where can you turn? If you want more than feedback from the review section of a place like Amazon (which may or may not be useful) you have to check out a place online that I don’t believe many are aware of…the FREE (“Open Access”) part of the scholarly publication The Journal of Inklings Studies (formerly known as The Chronicle of the University of Oxford C.S. Lewis Society)
Month: July 2014
Daily Lewis – Fact / Quote / Quiz: July 23rd
FACT OF THE DAY:
While two dozen poems by Lewis were published in Punch, “Revival or Decay?” is the only non-fiction work published there.
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QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“All sorts of things will make a man brave for the time being. Alcohol, ignorance of the danger, anger, self-respect, human loyalty, and love of God. But they’re not all equally good sources.”
The Anvil
(BBC Radio Broadcast aired 7/22/1943)
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QUIZ OF THE DAY:
Complete the quote and name the source (4 words):
“Ye cannot fully understand the relations of choice and Time till _____ _____ _____ _____ .”
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(Click “Read More” to SEE Answer)
Daily Lewis – Fact / Quote / Quiz: July 22nd
FACT OF THE DAY:
Lewis was a guest on “The Anvil” that was aired today (7/22) in 1943. This BBC radio program was recorded on the 19th.
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QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“If you will go to God just as you are, fully admitting that you care about Him very little, and put yourself in His hand, if you’re even ready to be made to care and leave Him to work, He’ll do the rest.”
The Anvil
(BBC Radio Broadcast aired 7/22/1943)
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QUIZ OF THE DAY:
The U.S. edition of what book was published this month in 1960?
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(Click “Read More” to SEE Answer)
RETROSPECT: July 22nd – 31st
Highlights for the period of July 22-31include: Lewis on the radio that wasn’t a part of the eventual Mere Christianity book, the U.S. release of The Four Loves and the publication of a friend’s landmark book that Lewis encouraged the author to write (hint: it has a “ring” to it).
When you consider a person’s life over the years (like this series has with C.S. Lewis), it’s no surprise that there might be a week or two were relatively little significant events happened. Such is the case for this time-period. However, there was a very meaningful moment in the life of a now more famous friend, J.R.R. Tolkien. In 1954 The Fellowship of the Ring was published at the end of July (the actual date is either the 24th or 29th, as I’ve seen both listed).
It’s not just because they were friends that it’s worth mentioning, rather
Daily Lewis – Fact / Quote / Quiz: July 21st
FACT OF THE DAY:
The poem known today as The Magician and the Dryad was first published in Punch on July 20, 1949.
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QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“The feeling of being, or not being, forgiven and loved, is not what matters. One must come down to brass tacks. If there is a particular sin on your conscience, repent and confess it. If there isn’t, tell the despondent devil not to be silly.”
Letter to Mary Willis Shelburne 7/21/1958
(Published in The Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis, Volume III)
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QUIZ OF THE DAY:
Which of the Narnia books is dedicated to a family?
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(Click “Read More” to SEE Answer)
Daily Lewis – Fact / Quote / Quiz: July 20th
FACT OF THE DAY:
Willing Slaves of the Welfare State was published today (7/20) in 1958 in The Observer. It was part of series on Is Progress Possible?
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QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“Progress, for me, means increasing goodness and happiness of individual lives. For the species, as for each man, mere longevity seems to me a contemptible ideal.”
Willing Slaves of the Welfare State
(Published in The Observer on 7/20/1958)
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QUIZ OF THE DAY:
Complete the quote and name the source (4 words):
“I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen, not only because I see it, but because by it _____ _____ _____ _____ .”
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(Click “Read More” to SEE Answer)
Daily Lewis – Fact / Quote / Quiz: July 19th
FACT OF THE DAY:
On this date in 1943 “The Anvil” (a BBC radio program) recorded its show with Lewis as one of the guests.
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QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“The safest road to Hell is the gradual one—the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.”
The Screwtape Letters XII
(Published in The Guardian on 7/18/1941)
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QUIZ OF THE DAY:
Before Mere Christianity was a hit, what was the book that came out this month that was released related to it?
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(Click “Read More” to SEE Answer)
C.S. Lewis’s Hidden Hatred of Males
Those who falsely claim that C.S. Lewis didn’t like women have missed the gender than he secretly hated: MALES! That’s correct, hidden very deep within the writings of C.S. Lewis you will discover a hatred that is so concealed that only my carefully skilled abilities have been able to uncover the shocking truth.
I don’t expect you to accept my word on this delicate matter…so, I’ll reveal what my findings have been so far (undoubtedly there is more yet to be discovered). What follows is a list of characters Lewis created along with a short explanation as to why it proves my point.
Edmund Pevensie – in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe Edmund is the villainous traitor whose deeds result in the death of Aslan.
Daily Lewis – Fact / Quote / Quiz: July 18th
FACT OF THE DAY:
The twelfth letter from Screwtape was published on this date (7/18) in The Guardian in 1941.
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QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“The only thing that matters is the extent to which you separate the man from the Enemy [God]. It does not matter how small the sins are provided that their cumulative effect is to edge the man away from the Light and out into the Nothing.”
The Screwtape Letters XII
(Published in The Guardian on 7/18/1941)
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QUIZ OF THE DAY:
In “The Great Divorce” what animal was perched on the shoulder of a ghost that symbolized lust (and what color was it)?
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(Click “Read More” to SEE Answer)
Daily Lewis – Fact / Quote / Quiz: July 17th
FACT OF THE DAY:
The classic “Meditation in a Toolshed” essay was published today (7/17) in The Coventry Evening Telegraph in 1945.
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QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“You get one experience of a thing when you look along it and another when you look at it.”
Meditation in a Toolshed
(Published in The Coventry Evening Telegraph on 7/17/1945)
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QUIZ OF THE DAY:
Clipsie is the chief duffer’s daughter in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, but what does her name mean?
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(Click “Read More” to SEE Answer)