As one year dies and another begins, and, at least in my part of the world, most outdoor growing things are dead or wisely biding their time to emerge in a few months, it is a fitting time to think about how stories, like those we analyze and discuss here, address the idea of death. Perhaps this is a rather glum subject, but it does not have to be. I sometimes joke with my literature and mythology students that no one ever “really” dies in mythology, that characters morph from one myth into another, that the stories themselves sustain the
Does Anyone “Really” Die in Stories?
The Faerie Queene and The Christmas Pig
One of the most wonderful features of Troubled Blood, at least for those of us who are devoted to Edmund Spenser, is the Faerie Queene subtext woven throughout Robin Ellacott and Cormoran Strike’s year-and-a-bit-long investigation into the cold case of Margot
Bamborough. With the publication of The Christmas Pig, it’s clear that J.K. Rowling’s Faerie Queene theme was not a one-shot effort, but evidence of Spenser’s prominence in her compost pile of influences. In addition to the wonderful connections to Scripture, Dante, and my longtime favorite, The Velveteen Rabbit, The Christmas Pig uses the Spenser template beautifully to weave an accessible, yet remarkably effective, allegory that is completely different from the latest Strike adventure while still drawing from the deep and powerful well of Spenser.
The Inklings and Culture: A Feast of Brilliant Scholarship
One of the great joys of my work with authors like Rowling, Lewis, and others is the opportunity to interact with remarkable scholars from all over the world, and one scholar whose work never fails to impress me is Dr. Monika B. Hilder, Professor of English at Canada’s Trinity Western University. Among other accomplishments, she is the co-founder and co-director of the Inklings Institute of Canada, a remarkable group of scholars that has just produced an incredible collection of essays that is well worth the attention of any reader of the Inklings.
The Inklings and Culture: A Harvest of Scholarship from the Inklings Institute of Canada, published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing, and edited by Hilder as well as Sara L. Pearson and Laura N. VanDyke has something for everyone who enjoys the work of the most well-known Inklings, J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, as well as that of less famous (to the general reader) members, “de facto” Inklings members, and honorary or “proto-Inklings” like Charles Williams, Owen Barfield, Dorothy Sayers, George MacDonald, and G.K. Chesterton. [Read more…]
“Spenser Strikes Again!” at Virtual Voices Event this Saturday
Since so many authors have not been able to make the usual circuit of events this past year, seventeen of the authors who publish with McFarland (including yours truly) will be speaking this Saturday at a virtual event from 1-5 EST. My McFarland book is Spenser, Milton, and the Chronicles of Narnia, but it came out a while back, and these days, when I talk about Spenser, I like to talk about Cormoran Strike, so I’ll be giving a short talk highlighting some of the great Spenser/Strike connections that we have enjoyed exploring here. I hope you’ll join me, and some of the other interesting folks who will be speaking on topics as diverse as Terry Pratchett, Women in Sci-fi, Horror Movies, and everything in between!
Slow-Reveals, Interior Reality, and the Power of Symbols: Why Smart Potter-Pros Get WandaVision
I recently promised I’d collect my thoughts on the new Disney+ series WandaVision, and I was planning to wait until the final, ninth episode airs, a little over a month from now. However, I’ve been thinking about how some viewers love the show, while there does seem to
be a group of malcontents who don’t seem to like/understand it; it occurs to me that some of the tools that make watching this show both enjoyable and thought-provoking are tools familiar to close readers of the Hogwarts adventures and Strike series. So it seems like a good time to go ahead and share some mid-point ideas about how those of us who are long-time Rowling readers may have some super powers that give us a headstart on seeing the magic in this new MCU short-run. Be warned, the following conversation is for those who have already seen the first four episodes, as well as the pertinent MCU films, so proceed if you dare, and see how a world filled with wizards and witches is great place to learn about how to navigate a world of one particular (Scarlet) Witch, Wanda Maximoff. [Read more…]
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