The Inklings Variety Hour

Walking Tours

The Inklings are often characterized as mostly sedentary men who wrote about people going off on adventures. Yet for a few of them, the highlight of their year was the chance to go on walking tours throughout England.

It's unlikely, in fact, that they would have been able to describe the adventures of, say, Elwin Ransom, or the three friends in Night Operation if they didn't take these rambles (and write about them!) from time to time. 

With me to talk about the Inklings' walking tours are Inklings scholars Sørina Higgins, Don W. King, and (for the first time), Owen A. Barfield, grandson of Owen Barfield. 

We cover a lot of ground during this conversation. Topics include:

• What exactly a walking tour is/was
• The walking tours Jack and Warnie took versus those Jack took with the "Cretaceous Perambulators" (Barfield and others)
• Why these excursions tended to be documented a bit better than Inklings' meetings at Magdalen
• Humor and bawdy among the Inklings
• Connection between walking, talking, and working ideas out
• "The Inkling Impulse"
• What different Inklings looked for in a successful walking tour
• Influence of the walking tours in the Inklings' fiction

My thanks to all three of my illustrious guests for joining me. You can find more about them and their work here:

• Sørina Higgins
• Don W. King
• Owen A. Barfield

See you in two weeks' time! As always, please do rate the podcast, and if you have ideas or responses, please do email me at inklingsvarietyhour@gmail.com.

 

NICE Alchemy! (That Hideous Strength)

Joseph Weigel from the Men With Chests podcast joins me to talk about NICE Alchemy! 

By which I don't mean, "Whoa, that was some really sweet alchemy you were doing just now, dude! NICE!"

But rather, the connection between science and magic as practiced by the National Institute for Co-ordinated Experiments (N.I.C.E.) in C.S. Lewis' final novel in his space trilogy, That Hideous Strength. It's weird stuff. And Merlin's involved, naturally. That guy.

This is part discussion, part interview, because Joseph has recently published an article in Sehnsucht about connections between the N.I.C.E.'s experiments and alchemy. Read it here: https://digitalcommons.georgefox.edu/cslewisjournal/vol18/iss1/11/

Also, be on the lookout for Joseph's forthcoming book, Planet Thulcandra. It hasn't come out as of the publication of this podcast, but it's on its way!

Be sure to check out Men With Chests while you're at it!

 

There is a lot more to come this season! It seems likely that (because this is only coming out once every two weeks), it will extend well into the Fall.

In the vault, I have:

A roundtable on The Abolition of Man

A conversation about the Walking Tours that members of the Inklings took

A discussion of George MacDonald's Lilith

A series on the OHEL

...and quite a bit more.

Shoot me an email to say hi if you're listening--I appreciate hearing from people who enjoy this podcast! And please do leave a rating and review if you can. It's nice to know when this is actually getting heard by someone!

Leaf by Niggle

Ned Bustard and Matt Wheeler join me to discuss J.R.R. Tolkien's great allegory (or is it?) for the creative process, "Leaf by Niggle"!

Enjoy! I am quite excited about this episode.

And check out Ned and Matt's stuff! I will post links! I will! In the meantime, I've given you the spelling of their first and last names, above. Notable works include, but are not restricted to: Every Moment Holy, The Lost Tales of Sir Galahad, The Wonder of It All. You're welcome.

More episode description to come, but it's been another late night editing, and I have small children who wake up early, you monster! Think of them.

Liked the episode? Give us a five-star review. Want to weigh in on the red-hot-button allegory controversy? Shoot me an email: inklingsvarietyhour@gmail.com

 

Pauline Baynes and Painting Wonder

Katie Wray Schon joins us to talk about Pauline Baynes, the subject of her new book, Painting Wonder! 

It's been a long-held goal of this podcast to devote at least one episode to Pauline Baynes--who, while not an Inkling, illustrated both the Narnia chronicles and many of Tolkien's short stories--in addition to being one of the best illustrators of the 20th Century.

Luckily, Katie Wray Schon has just written and published a children's picture book about Baynes' life, and she joins me to talk about both her work and Baynes'. We talk about Baynes' life--her childhood in India, her discovery of storybooks at dreary British boarding school, her work for the British Navy in WWII, and her career as an illustrator.

Sadly, many of the non-Narnian books Baynes illustrated or created are now out of print or hard to obtain. They include, but aren't limited to:

I Believe: The Nicene Creed

Noah and the Ark

Questionable Creatures: A Bestiary

Good King Wenceslas

A Dictionary of Chivalry, by Grant Uden

Miracle Plays: Seven Medieval Plays for Modern Players, by Anne Malcolmson

All Things Bright and Beautiful

The Arabian Nights, by Amabel Williams-Ellis

The Snail and the Caterpillar, by Helen Piers

Let There Be Light

It would be a worthy project for someone (perhaps a new small press, or even an old, big one) to begin publishing these books again. 

In the meantime, of course, pick up Katie Wray Schon's book!

Thanks for listening, as always! We'll see you again in two weeks!

To drop me a note or an episode suggestion, write inklingsvarietyhour@gmail.com

To encourage all those (okay, mainly me) who make this podcast possible, leave us (or me) a five-star review on itunes!

 

We've (okay, I've) got a lot more fantastic episodes coming this season, including:

• Leaf by Niggle with Ned Bustard and Matt Wheeler
• The Abolition of Man: A Roundtable Discussion
• Lilith, by George MacDonald
• The Oxford History of English Literature (O-HEL Yes!) with Katherine Wyma
• That Hideous Strength with Joseph Weigel
• Tolkien's Poetry, with Jonathan Geltner
• Choose-Your-Own-Adventure 80's Narnia Book (That's right), with Matt Wheeler

And quite a bit more, but I am tired of listing things...

Time and Language in Farmer Giles of Ham

Sorry for the extra wait for this one! 

Eric Geddes, Jonathan Geltner, and Charlie Carter join me to talk Tolkien's Father Giles of Ham.

Episode description to come!

Many more podcasts on the way this summer!

Leave me a review! It's really the only way I know anyone is listening. 

The Horse and His Boy, Part 4: The Rest of the Story

Matt Wheeler rejoins me for our final episode on The Horse and His Boy.

More episode description to come!

Featuring "Wonder of It All" by Matt Wheeler.

The Horse and His Boy, Part 3: Freedom

If you would like episodes of The Inklings Variety Hour to come out more often, please do consider leaving us a positive review.

Singer-songwriter Matt Wheeler once again joins me to discuss his favorite Narnia book, The Horse and His Boy. 

Among other things, we talk about:

• Hermits and the nature of freedom
• Allegory and biblical allusion in Narnia
• Fear as motivation
• Self-pity as incomplete story
• Matt's song, "Worn Thin"

Enjoy, and join us next week for the conclusion of The Horse and His Boy.

Feel free to get in touch with me, as always, at inklingsvarietyhour@gmail.com. 

Thanks for listening!

 

 

Final Tolkien Reading Day: I Sit Beside the Fire and Think

Finishing the Tolkien Reading Day Marathon: Enjoy "I Sit Beside the Fire and Think."

(From the Old Winyards. Yes, these are reruns.)

But a new episode on The Horse and His Boy comes your way in one week!

Tolkien Reading Day: Tolkien Among the Ruins

Continuing the Tolkien Reading Day Marathon: Enjoy this talk with Jonathan Geltner about how Tolkien saves the future. After we're all dead, of course, but you can't have everything...

(From the Old Winyards. Yes, these are reruns.)

But a new episode on The Horse and His Boy comes your way in one week!

Tolkien Reading Day: The Shire

Continuing the Tolkien Reading Day Marathon: Enjoy this conversation about the Shire!

(From the Old Winyards. Yes, these are reruns.)

But a new episode on The Horse and His Boy comes your way in one week!