That the glory of the Lord might cover the dry land as the waters cover the sea
J. K. Rowling tells the truth in her fiction. Her twitter feed is another matter. Perhaps the limitations of the genre don’t allow her to communicate the nuance, sensitivity, and charity that characterize her fiction. Whatever the case, there’s a chasm between what she writes in her novels and what she tweets. In her fiction, …
Continue reading “J. K. Rowling Tells the Truth . . . In Her Fiction”
The title of this post says what you need to know about this play, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, bearing the ascription, “based on an original new story by J. K. Rowling, John Tiffany, and Jack Thorne; a new play by Jack Thorne.” Here are my complaints, as they come to me: The characters are …
This poem comes at the moving conclusion of Andrew Peterson’s fourth and final book in the Wingfeather Saga, The Warden and the Wolf King: The world is whispering–listen child!– The world is telling a tale. When the seafoam froths in the water wild Or the fendril flies in the gale, When the sky is mad with the …
In his brilliant and thought provoking book, Deep Exegesis, Peter Leithart writes (167): “In a book happily back in print, John Breck argues that chiasms are not ‘balanced structures, but instead are dynamic literary devices. He suggests that chiasms should be read ‘helically,’ moving not just from A to B to C to B’ and so …
In a letter to Walker Percy, Shelby Foote exhorted Percy to get to work on his desire to write fiction, saying something that is true about any craftsman pursuing any craft: “But the most heart-breaking thing about it is: the better you get, the harder youll have to work–because your standards will rise with your ability. I …
I’m sure you’ve heard what J. K. Rowling said about Albus Dumbledore: “I always thought of Dumbledore as gay.” Dumbledore is a hero, one of the good guys through all seven novels. Unlike the way he is portrayed in the movies, Dumbledore is neither bumbling nor weak. He is commanding, authoritative, strong, sure, and only …
Douglas Wilson has translated Beowulf, and a few years back he wrote an essay for Touchstone on it: “The Anglo-Saxon Evangel: The Beowulf Poet Was a Shrewd Christian Apologist.” Though a heroic poem about pagans that never mentions Christ, Beowulf is the opposite of syncretistic compromise. It is written to highlight the treachery as a way of life that …
What if an author wrote a page-turner of a mystery story that depicted things about the world whose implications we have not pondered? What if there were an industry (modeling) that routinely exploited young defenseless women, stripping them of their inhibitions and their clothing, desensitizing them to indignities, disregarding their futures, and at the same …
Continue reading “First Thoughts on The Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Galbraith (J. K. Rowling)”
Savor the power of the language in this stanza from G. K. Chesterton’s tribute to the Battle of Lepanto: Dim drums throbbing, in the hills half heard, Where only on a nameless throne a crownless prince has stirred, Where, risen from a doubtful seat and half attainted stall, The last knight of Europe takes weapons …
Have you ever read The Complete Works of Shakespeare? Seeing the film Lincoln inspired me to set an informal goal of reading all Shakespeare’s plays and poetry this year, and then I came across this quote in Another Sort of Learning: Not too long ago, I heard a tape of the memorial service held at Stanford …
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A few years back I read The Chronicles of Narnia aloud to my oldest two sons (we read them in the right order). The third-born is now 5 years old, and it’s his turn. The older boys are listening in, and we’re doing our best to keep them from revealing story-spoilers. I’m also trying to …
Continue reading “Mere Christianity’s Arguments in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe”
My friend Jason Duesing sent me a link to an insightful essay by Kathryn Schulz, “Why I despise The Great Gatsby,” where she points out Fitzgerald’s lack of humor in Gatsby, lack of empathy for his characters, and lack of real moral power. It’s a great essay, and it reminded me of a crisp scene …
I love the Harry Potter stories. My first trip through them was an audio excursion guided by the talented Jim Dale. Enthusiasm for the books swept me right into reading them aloud to my children, and we’re almost finished with the series. I am thrilled that J. K. Rowling’s next book, The Casual Vacancy, is …
Christianity.com has posted my thoughts on “What Rowling Said about Dumbledore.” Here’s the postscript: I haven’t read Jerram Barrs’ book yet, but I just saw on Justin Taylor’s blog that Barrs has an appendix in his forthcoming Echoes of Eden entitled “The Outing of Dumbledore.” I’ve been thinking about what Rowling said about Dumbledore since …
What’s with Rowling’s new book? Is it an “adult” novel? I saw one report where, rejecting some connotations of the word “adult,” Rowling said she preferred to say the novel is for grown-ups. That’s right. This is not a book that titillates. This is not a book that seduces people, luring them to fantasize about …
I’ve been thinking for a while about what J. K. Rowling teaches us in the Harry Potter stories through her depiction of Remus Lupin, the werewolf who is a good guy. I finally got around to writing up my reflections, and they’re now posted over at Christianity.com. Here’s the opening: I love the Harry Potter …
Continue reading “On the Eve of the Release of Rowling’s Next Book”
“She would of been a good woman,” The Misfit said, “if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life.” These words, near the end of Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man Is Hard to Find,” bounced around in my head as I made my way through Cormac McCarthy’s novel The Road. …
Continue reading “The Life We Long for: On Cormac McCarthy’s The Road”
Flannery O’Connor’s novel Wise Blood left me scratching my head. I think that was part of her technique, honestly. The “meaning” of her stories isn’t right there on the surface as it is in a Dickens novel. Her works really have to be pondered, and you’re best off pondering from the perspective of the biblical …
Continue reading “Do You “Get” Flannery O’Connor? She Writes Like a Biblical Author”
The Lord provided for me on Saturday morning. I was preparing to preach Jeremiah 19–20, and I was really stuck on Jeremiah 20:7, which reads in the ESV, “O LORD, you have deceived me, and I was deceived; you are stronger than I, and you have prevailed . . .” Some scholars say that Jeremiah …
I have posted before on Dostoevsky’s translator, and I was pleased to read the “Translator’s Note” to Albert Camus’s The Stranger. Matthew Ward is the translator, and it seems to me that his comments weigh against “dynamic equivalence” in favor of a more literal rendering. Ward is actually critiquing the earlier more dynamic translation of …