The Inklings Variety Hour

Ruth Pitter, with Don W. King

Chris interviews Don W. King about Ruth Pitter, a superb and often-overlooked poet who was friends with Lewis and many of the other Inklings. 

Don also shares some of his exclusive recording of Pitter reading her poetry.  Definitely worth hearing!

If you're enjoying The Inklings Variety Hour, we have no way of knowing it unless you email us (inklingsvarietyhour@gmail.com) or leave us a rating (and review) on iTunes. If we're a part of your life, we'd love to have you be a part of ours as well--let us know what you're enjoying, and what you'd like to see more of.

I'd write more, but I have a newborn--welcome Arthur Edmund Pipkin, who has the most Inkling-y name of all my children.

Aliens and C.S. Lewis (”Religion and Rocketry”), with Jordan Duncan

As a kind of epilogue to Out of the Silent Planet, Chris talks with Jordan Duncan from Lesser-Known Lewis about C.S. Lewis' 1958 essay, "Religion and Rocketry," also published as "Will We Lose God in Outer Space?"  You can find it collected in The World's Last Night and Other Essays. 

This is a wide-ranging conversation (we get a lot of mileage out of a comparatively short essay), and we cover everything from the question of aliens, to government conspiracies, to apologetics, to Richard Dawkins, Elon Musk, James Cameron (and of course, Sir Fred B. Hoyle), to Lewis' idea of animals and humans "becoming" something higher and what that has to do with rational souls, to (oddly enough) the Monkey King from The Journey to the West, as well as The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, and The Story of Your Life (Arrival). 

Come for the self-indulgent semi-conspiratorial ramblings, and stay for Chris actually disagreeing with C.S. Lewis about something, as well as for the following hypothetical questions, as posed by Lewis and by us:

• If aliens existed would this invalidate the Christian faith?
• If aliens existed would this actually prove the existence of God?
• If aliens existed, should Western democracies opt out of the new space race that would result?
• Should we avoid colonizing other planets (for instance, Mars), even if they are uninhabited?
• Is adventure bad (the result of the Fall) or is it how God designed us? And isn't making contact with aliens another adventure?
• Speaking of good intentions potentially having disastrous consequences: Is C.S. Lewis indirectly responsible for James Cameron's Avatar?

If you like this podcast, please rate it on iTunes. Please also consider dropping us a line at Inklingsvarietyhour@gmail.com.  We'd love to hear from you.

Also, I highly recommend Jordan's podcast, Lesser-Known Lewis. This will be the first of a few collaborations.

Next time, I'll be talking with Sørina Higgins about her book of short stories, Shall These Bones Breathe?

Michael Drout: The Liberal Arts and Beowulf

Renowned Beowulf and Tolkien scholar Michael Drout joins me to talk about the two projects he is publishing through Signum University Press--How to Learn How to Think: What the Liberal Arts Are Good For, Anyway and The Beowulf Project. 

While not explicitly about Lewis or Tolkien, these subjects we cover this episode were near and dear to the heart of Lewis and Tolkien, as well as other members of the Inklings--many of whom were scholars.

Find out more about Exploring Beowulf here:

Exploring Beowulf

And find out about other books being published through Signum here:

https://press.signumuniversity.org/

I am also joined by friend of the show, Sørina Higgins, Editor-in-Chief of Signum University Press.

Next week: We'll be talking about C.S. Lewis' essay, "Religion and Rocketry," as well as Sørina's book, Shall These Bones Breathe?

Music for this episode is by The Medieval Jazz Quartet.

Rerun: Mythopoeia (Reading)

We should be back on Thursday to bring you an interview with Michael Drout. But until then, enjoy Tolkien's "Mythopoeia," read by Anika Smith in Season One!

We'll have a conversation with Jordan Duncan on "Religion and Rocketry" pretty soon as well, but I wasn't able to complete it quite in time for Tuesday this week.

Here's the old description for "Mythopoeia":

This week, we have J.R.R. Tolkien's "Mythopoeia," read by Anika Smith!

You can find the text of the poem online if you want to read along, or you can buy this lovely book.

Music in the background is Lohengrin, by Richard Wagner.

Next week, we'll be back to discuss Tolkien's essay "On Fairy Stories," in which a part of "Mythopoeia" is quoted.

If you're enjoying these podcasts, please share with a friend or drop us a line to tell us so (InklingsVarietyHour@gmail.com).  Constructive feedback and suggestions for future episodes are welcome.  We'd also very much appreciate reviews in iTunes, if you can spare the time.  

Verlyn Flieger: A Waiter Made of Glass

Tolkien scholar Verlyn Flieger joins Chris to talk about her new book, A Waiter Made of Glass, a collection of short stories and poems recently published by Quickbeam Books, an imprint of Signum University Press. Topics covered include myth, grief, and the creative writing process.

Go here to learn more about Signum University Press.

We'll be back next week to talk with scholar Michael Drout about his forthcoming book on the liberal arts and ongoing Beowulf Project!

I also plan to release a conversation between myself and Jordan Duncan, from the Lesser-Known Lewis podcast, about Lewis' essay, "Religion and Rocketry"--but it is possible that this will be delayed!

If you're enjoying this podcast, please drop me a line to let me know!  Also, do feel free to jump on our new substack to discuss episodes (I am, admittedly, still figuring out how to post new podcasts there, but the old ones are up).  You can find it here.

And, as always, feel free to email us at inklingsvarietyhour@gmail.com.  We'd love to hear from you.

David C. Downing: Out of the Silent Planet, Part 4

If you're enjoying The Inklings Variety Hour, please consider giving us a review on Apple Podcasts. We'd also love to hear from you, so feel free to shoot us an email at Inklingsvarietyhour@gmail.com.  Additionally, we now have a Substack, so if you have thoughts on any of these episodes, we'd love to discuss them with you!

The Inklings Variety Hour is pleased to welcome Dr. David C. Downing for our final episode discussing Out of the Silent Planet. David wrote the first serious scholarly book on C.S. Lewis' "Ransom Trilogy," Planets in Peril and he is the co-director, with his wife, Crystal, of the Marion E. Wade Center at Wheaton College. Check out their fine podcast, if you haven't already. 

Among other things we discuss:

• How David became interested in C.S. Lewis and the genesis of Planets in Peril
• Why Lewis is like an EGOT-er
• Tolkien and Lewis, their influence on each other, and their different approaches to fantasy
• Lewis and Mysticism
• Into the Region of Awe, Looking for the King, and C.S. Lewis on Writing (And Writers)
• J.B.S. Haldane and Lewis
• Controversy as Muse
• Clear Writing
• Lewis' personal aesthetic experiences as basis for fiction

I hope you enjoy!  Thanks again to Dr. Downing for joining me.

On Thursday, join us again as I interview another heavy hitter, renowned Tolkien scholar Verlyn Flieger, as part of a continued series of interviews with authors publishing through Signum University Press. I will be talking with Verlyn about her new book of stories and poetry, A Waiter Made of Glass, which is now available wherever books are sold.

The Flower of the Cedar, with Kay Ben-Avraham

Kay Ben-Avraham joins me to talk about her new (and still emerging) book, The Flower of the Cedar, which is about a dryad's journey to find her hearts in the time before human history.

If you would like to find out more, to support Kay, or to help her shape this book, go to https://kaybenavraham.com/.  

Kay is the first of several writers for Signum University Press that I'll be interviewing this summer.  Signum is unusual in that each of their authors has a "author's circle" for whom they write and revise.  Go here to learn more.

Next week, I'll be talking with David C. Downing about Out of the Silent Planet, as well as Verlyn Flieger about her new book, also with Signum UP.  Stay tuned!

If you're enjoying this podcast, please drop me a line to let me know!  Also, do feel free to jump on our new substack to discuss episodes (I am, admittedly, still figuring out how to post new podcasts there, but the old ones are up).  You can find it here.

And, as always, feel free to email us at inklingsvarietyhour@gmail.com.  We'd love to hear from you.

Out of the Silent Planet, Part 3

We have a Substack page at inklingsvarietyhour.substack.com. Head there if you have comments to make about this or any episode!  It may be desolate at first (I've not bothered to invite anyone as of this posting) but make a comment and subscribe--it shouldn't be too long before you hear back from someone else who wants to talk about Out of the Silent Planet.

Also, please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts!

And do feel more than free to drop us a line at inklingsvarietyhour@gmail.com.

 

Sophie Burkhardt joins the show today to discuss the final third of C.S. Lewis' Out of the Silent Planet. Among other things, we discuss:

• Why it doesn't snow in Malacandra
• The many ways in which humans are humbled in this book
• Renaissance, Scholastic and...Einsteinian ideas about angels' bodies
• Lewis and Resurrection Bodies
• Three types of humans and three types of Malacandrians
• Were the birds hnau?
• Organization of labor (or if you like, organisation of labour) on Malacandra
• H.G. Wells' The First Men In the Moon and The Door in the Wall
• J.B.S. Haldane's (actually pretty well-informed) critique of the Ransom Trilogy
• Are the Malacandrians living in a communist utopia?
• The inherent absurdity and dignity of all creatures
• Goofy questions include:
  • Are you a sorn, a pfiffltriggi, or a hross? Take our personality quiz and find out! (Not really)
  • Prompt: Rewrite a myth or Bible story, but set it against the backdrop of Lewis' cosmology.

Next Tuesday, I'll be talking to Dr. David C. Downing, who wrote the first seriously scholarly work on Lewis' Ransom Trilogy (which is quite readable).

Thanks to Sophie for joining me!  Please check out her podcast, Beneath the Willow Tree!

In a few days, join us for a bonus episode, where I will interview Kay Ben-Avraham, who has written (and is writing) a book about dryads called The Flower of the Cedar. This is the first of a few interviews I'll be having with authors publishing through Signum University Press.

 

Out of the Silent Planet, Part 2

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Also, we'd love to hear from you!  Email us at inklingsvarietyhour@gmail.com.

Chris, Sophie, and Logan discuss Chapters 9-14 of Our of the Silent Planet, by C.S. Lewis!

More description to come!

Out of the Silent Planet, Part 1

If you enjoy this podcast, please rate it on iTunes, or wherever in the world you get your podcasts!  Please feel free to drop me a line at inklingsvarietyhour@gmail.com.  I'd love to hear from you.

David Bates, Logan Huggins, and Sophia Burkhardt join Chris to talk about Out of the Silent Planet!  This was recorded quite some time ago--shortly after the Voyage of the Dawn Treader, but I wanted to space out my Lewis episodes (so to speak). 

Longer episode description (with links) to come, because I am tired!

Next week: Out of the Silent Planet, Part 2 (of 3).  

Want even more Out of the Silent Planet?  David's podcast, Pints With Jack, is covering the book in detail this year!  Check it out!

This is a Wagner-iffic episode, partly due to the fact that Malacandra is (as Dr. David C. Downing once pointed out) a fairly "Northern" world.  So that's why I'm doing that. 

Also, when this was recorded, Logan Huggins was indeed my producer, but he has since had to jump ship--so if anything (sound effects, music) is sloppy, that is wholly my fault!