FACT OF THE DAY: On Stories: and Other Essays on Literature was initially published on June 24th in 1982. – – – QUOTE OF THE DAY: “We act from duty in the hope that someday we shall do the same acts freely and delightfully.” The Novels of Charles Williams (Published in On Stories on 6/24/1982) …
13r Essay Chat – On Stories pt. 1 (Andrew Lazo)
“On Stories” is the namesake essay in On Stories: And other Essays on Literature. William O’Flaherty spoke with Andrew Lazo back in 2012 about this shorter work by C.S. Lewis. Among the topics it explores is what makes a story pleasurable and why fairy tales do follow a strict logic. This is the first of a two-part …
Read the full post →“13r Essay Chat – On Stories pt. 1 (Andrew Lazo)”
Fact / Quote / Quiz: 4/29
FACT OF THE DAY: Found in On Stories, “On Three Ways of Writing for Children” was first a talk given on this day (4/29) in 1952. – – – QUOTE OF THE DAY: “When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown …
Fact / Quote / Quiz: 2/11
FACT OF THE DAY: Lewis spoke on the BBC today (2/11) in 1949 on “The Novels of Charles Williams.” It was recorded and is also in On Stories. – – – QUOTE OF THE DAY: “To find that one’s emotions do not ‘come to heel’ and line up as stable sentiments in permanent conformity with …
RETROSPECT: September 22nd – 30th
Highlights for September 22nd – 30th include: Debut story of a Sci-Fi trilogy, a landmark book published anonymously and the death of Lewis’s father to cancer.
It’s no secret that Lewis is known for being a versatile writer. One of his earliest efforts that spotlighted this fact is what happened on the 23rd in 1938. This is when Lewis released the first of what is referred to many fans as the Ransom trilogy. That’s because Dr. Elwin Ransom is a central character introduced in Out of the Silent Planet. Released a dozen years before the Narnia stories, some call this his first imaginative apologetic work. Apparently Lewis himself wasn’t aware of how useful of a tool fiction could be to present Christian ideas in a latent way. It was
Daily Lewis – Fact / Quote / Quiz: September 22nd
FACT OF THE DAY:
On this day in 1944 “The Death of Words” was published in The Spectator. It was republished in On Stories.
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QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“The most important sense of a word is not always the most useful. What is the good of deepening a word’s connotation if you deprive the word of all practicable denotation?”
The Death of Words
(Published 9/22/1944 in The Spectator)
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QUIZ OF THE DAY:
What book from the Narnia series was published in March of 1956?
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(Click “Read More” to SEE Answer)
Daily Lewis – Fact / Quote / Quiz: September 5th
FACT OF THE DAY:
Of Other Worlds: Essays and Stories edited by Walter Hooper was released today (9/5) in 1966. All the stories are also in The Dark Tower.
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QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“No man would find an abiding strangeness on the Moon unless he were the sort of man who could find it in his own back garden.”
On Stories
(Published in Of Other Worlds on 9/5/1966)
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QUIZ OF THE DAY:
Aside from the Narnia books, how many fictional books were published by Lewis in his lifetime (excluding poetry)?
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(Click “Read More” to SEE Answer)
RETROSPECT: September 1st – 11th
Highlights for September 1-11 include: Two Narnia books published, a final fictional work, being on the cover of Time in the U.S. and his only title devoted to a book of the Bible.
Time CoverThe number of books published over the years during these ten days would be enough for most authors for an entire lifetime. Although, two of the titles are collections of shorter works were released after his death, interestingly the five others were during the last eleven years of his life. An additional title, A Mind Awake: An Anthology of C.S. Lewis, is a lesser known collection of quotes first available in March, 1968, but was published as a paperback on the 9th in 1980.
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
RETROSPECT: July 11th – 21st
Highlights for the period of July 11-21 include: the first book resulting from speaking on the BBC, an unusual meditation, and the death of Joy.
When Lewis agreed to do talks over the radio he had no idea how well received they would be. After two successful series of talks that were each in five parts and another series scheduled to start in late September, the book Broadcast Talks was released on the 13th in 1942. Unlike the later books released after each of his last two series, this book contained no additional material. They were merely five chapters each to match what was on the air. The only difference had to do with the order of the chapters from the first series.