The Inklings Variety Hour

From the Old Winyards: War In Heaven, Part 1 (Saturday Reruns)

Here's another Saturday rerun. Original shownotes here:

This is the first of a series of conversations on Charles Williams' 1930 novel, War in Heaven, in which the Holy Graal (yes, that's how it's spelled here) is discovered in a tiny church in the English countryside.  Hijinks and shenanigans ensue, along with a heavy dose of black magic, car chases, and ecumenism.  You'll also find out whether the hosts would prefer to read a book called Christianity and the League of Nations or Foxy Flossie's Flirtations. 

We'll be covering the first three chapters of War in Heaven, which you can purchase here if you want to read along.

Most of our conversation this episode will be about Charles Williams' life, interest in the occult, and influence.  A few works mentioned include:

• The Third Inkling, by Grevel Lindop
• The Oxford Inklings, by Colin Duriez
• The Fellowship, by Philip and Carol Zaleski
• Hell, by Dorothy Sayers
• Taliessin Through Logres and The Region of the Summer Stars, by Charles Williams
• The Figure of Beatrice, by Charles Williams

To read the first letters Lewis and Williams wrote to each other, go here!

Stay tuned for Part 2!  If you're enjoying the podcast, please consider leaving us a review, as it is the best way to ensure the podcast will continue.  Also, feel free to drop us a line at InklingsVarietyHour@gmail.com.  

From the Old Winyards: Is Narnia a Fairy-Story? (Saturday Rerun)

An old favorite:

This week, we follow up on our discussion of Tolkien's "On Fairy Stories" by applying some of his ideas to The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.  We're trying to assess whether (despite Tolkien's low view of it), Lewis' children's tale actually works as a Tolkienian "Fairy Story."  Works mentioned include:

• On Fairy Stories
• The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
• The Black Bull of Norroway
• Preface to Paradise Lost (when discussing Primary v. Secondary Epic)

Chris also promotes the blog he and his wife do--12tide.com--that includes resources to help people celebrate a twelve-day Christmas Season.   

If you enjoy this podcast, please recommend it to a friend and give us a review on iTunes.  And please do feel more than free to drop us a line at InklingsVarietyHour@gmail.com.  We'd love to hear from you!

Arthurian Torso

Jonathan Geltner and Søri Higgins join Chris to discuss Arthurian Torso--a collection of Charles Williams' Arthuriana (his poems and a non-fiction book) edited by C.S. Lewis. We'll be discussing and reading a few favorite poems and marveling at what Williams managed to achieve. Stick around for some broad-brush critical history of Arthurian myth in general and speculation as to whether the fantasy genre has killed it. (Way to go, Tolkien!)

You can read Jonathan's stuff at Romance and Apocalypse | Jonathan Geltner | Substack and check out his debut novel here.

You can read more of Søri's stuff here, and here, and some of her books here.

Also, if you want Williams' poetry and the Torso is a bit too pricey, she's edited those too, here.

Many thanks for the kind reviews of the podcast! Please keep them coming!

And as always, feel free to reach out to me at inklingsvarietyhour@gmail.com. I'd love to hear from you.

From the Old Winyards: On Fairy Stories, Part 2: Recovery, Escape, Consolation (Saturday Rerun)

Another episode from the vaults. Here's the original episode description: 

Join Anika, Meagan, and Chris for the second half of our discussion of J.R.R. Tolkien's essay "On Fairy Stories."  Among other things, we talk about the nature of originality, the way that stories re-enchant and recover reality for us, the nature of true escapism and modernity, the Gift of Illuvatar and whether anyone actually wants to live forever--probably--also, whether Tolkien really did believe in fairies, the idea of consolation, how joy is more poignant than grief, the parts of the Lord of the Rings that make us cry, fairy stories, myth, and the Gospel, how the temporal and material helps us recover the eternal--and, of course, Frodo of the Nine Fingers and His Ring of Doom!  So strap on your steel shoes and prepare to climb the glassy hill of robust conversation with us.

 

You can find this essay in a number of places, but this is a pretty nice edition.

 

Next time, we'll be applying some of the ideas from "On Fairy Stories" to The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, in order to determine, once and for all, whether it is a fairy story, and whether Tolkien is departing from his own standards in disliking it.  It's full circle time!  If you enjoy this podcast, recommend it to a friend and give us a review on iTunes.  And please do feel more than free to drop us a line at InklingsVarietyHour@gmail.com.  We'd love to hear from you.

From the Old Winyards: Tolkien's "On Fairy Stories," Pt 1 (Saturday Rerun)

Recovered from the deeps of time...

 

An Unexpected Podcast: On Hobbit Birthdays

It's been too long since we've done podcasts on Tolkien.

I thought I'd record a fairly off-the-cuff episode on Hobbit birthdays in light of Bilbo's and Frodo's shared birthday, September 22.

I'm reading part of Tolkien's Letter 214, which is in response to A.C. Nunn (and never sent), who points out the discrepancy between Gollum expecting a birthday present and Hobbits giving presents on their birthdays. 

The letter is much longer than this (and, quite characteristically, apparently not sent). 

If you want to read more of Tolkien's response, as well as his letters in general, grab a copy of Tolkien's Collected Letters.

From the Old Winyards: Into the Wardrobe Pt 3 (Saturday Rerun)

Blast from the Icy past!

Original shownotes:

The third and final installment of our conversation on The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe enters some interesting territory as Chris, Anika, and Meagan explore Lewis's (inadvertent?) use of Aslan-as-Trickster imagery, proper Narnian politics, and kangaroos. Also witness the precise moment in which the trio realizes that Lewis may have ruined their childhoods.

Works referenced include:

• A Grief Observed by C. S. Lewis
• The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri

Outro poetry sample: "On the Circuit" by W. H. Auden

Email the show! InklingsVarietyHour@gmail.com

Prose and Poetry in Perelandra, with Don W. King

Don W. King joins Chris to talk about Ruth Pitter's Perelandra Spenserian Stanzas!

More episode description to come!

From the Old Winyards: Into the Wardrobe Pt 2 (Saturday Rerun)

Another nostalgic Saturday rerun episode!

Original shownotes: 

Return to Narnia for the second part of our (three-part) discussion on The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Find out the intrepid trio's thoughts on such questions as:

• Why shouldn't we be too hard on Edmund?
• How exactly does Father Christmas fit into this story, anyway?
• Why is it so important to remember to wipe your sword?

Works referenced include:

• Planet Narnia by Michael Ward
• Boxen by C. S. Lewis

As always, the outro poetry sample is from W. H. Auden's "On the Circuit".

Write to us at InklingsVarietyHour@gmail.com!

Pop-up Episode: Study Short Stories with Søri Higgins (Live! Almost!)

Søri Higgins joins me to discuss her new class on short stories, opening tomorrow. 

Along the way, we discuss other things as well, which I don't have time to mention here.  But you'll like it.  I promise.

 

Find out more about Sori's class here: ONLINE CLASS: The Architecture of a Short Story | The Oddest Inkling (wordpress.com)