Updated January 1999
MYTHCON 98 Wed 15-Mon 20 July, Wheaton College, Illinois.
Mythcon 98 was a feast for Inklings lovers and especially Lewisphiles, since it brought together a wide range of experts, admirers, and dreamers who had spent much of their lives submerged in the imaginative landscapes of C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, Charles Williams, and, even Owen Barfield. (The latter, of course, had a centenary of his own to be celebrated, and the discussions and revelations about Barfield's thought on many issues related to Lewis were most informative.) In addition, there was attention paid to Lewis Carroll, George MacDonald, and some of the lesser-known Inklings.
Lewis was the rightful center of attention and certainly drew the majority of the participants. The organizing committee, chaired by Dr. Diana Glyer of Azsua Pacific University, did a tremendous job of balancing academic, theological, literary, and cultural interests in the life and works of Lewis in filling the program. Intriguing panels abounded--so many, in fact, that it was impossible to be present at all of them, since many ran simultaneously. And even when they didn't, the side conversations and networking of scholars, fans, and well-wishers often took first priority and were as edifying as some of the formal papers. A highlight for many was the one-person performance of The Great Divorce by Tony Lawton of Philadelphia; his evocation of Lewis' dream vision of the afterlife was both moving and challenging. One of the more overflowing panel discussions in terms of attendance, interestingly enough, was the session on Lewis as Literary Critic, in which the participants introduced, reviewed, or critiqued one of Lewis's seminal works--The Allegory of Love, Studies in Words, the Preface to Paradise Lost, An Experiment in Criticism, and English Literature in the 16th Century. This seemed to confirm still another fruitful area of Lewis studies has opened up that transcends his apologetics and fiction.
The most lasting memory most of us who attended will entertain is the simple truth that Lewis continues to bring together good hearted, intellectually alive, and spiritually attuned people, and that when they come together, a rich community is formed that expands the tradition of the Inklings to inspire excellence, cultivate goodness, and foster learning. All in all, Mythcon 98 was a wonderful experience and one rarely found in the pathways that many academics and aficionados of authors like Lewis travel.-Dr Bruce Edwards.
ORGAN RECITALS The 19 September issue of the 'Knoxville News-Sentinel' (Tennessee) had an article by Rebecca Simmons covering Dr George Bayley's summer organ recitals in cathedrals in London, Dublin, and Belfast, in Co Down, and on his visit to Northern Ireland. You can access this article through the web site, http://www.knoxnews.com, click the religion section, then "In tune with C. S. Lewis".
PORTSTEWART 'SHADOWLANDS' Tuesday 8 September. Standing room only at the production of 'Shadowlands' at Portstewart, Co Derry, with 300 people attending.
BELFAST ‘SHADOWLANDS’, 8-26 September. The Lyric Theatre’s production of ‘Shadowlands’ was both a critical and commercial success.
WHEATON CONFERENCE ON LITERATURE 98, Wed 23-Sat 26 September.
Wheaton College (Illinois) sponsors an annual conference in the Fall on a Literary figure or movement, and chose, for 1998, C. S. Lewis for his centennial significance. Presenters included David Downing, Philip Yancey, Bruce Edwards, Doris Myers, Jerry Root, George Musacchio, Chris Mitchell, and Tom Martin. Many papers focused on Lewis's scholarship and its relationship to his imaginative work, while one focused his unpublished romance, "The Quest for Blehres," found in Wheaton's Wade Center's collection of Lewis manuscripts. Tom Key performed his one-man Lewis show and a banquet talk by Philip Yancey celebrated salutary Lewis's impact on the way Christians think about their faith in relationship to time and eternity, viz., like Chesterton, Lewis teaches how to live with the paradoxes of the Christian faith in fruitful and energizing ways. Once again, the camaraderie of spirit and learning pervaded the event and gave proper honor to the work and example of Lewis in the 20th Century, and beyond.-Dr Bruce Edwards.
ASPECTS OF IRISH WRITING Festival, Sunday 27 September. The literary festival had an interesting panel discussion between-
Panel answers to some questions-
* Which single book will Lewis be remembered for?
Hooper- 'The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe', Murphy- 'Allegory of Love', Barrington-Ward- 'Preface to Paradise Lost', Bleakley- 'Mere Christianity'
* What lesson did you chiefly learn from Lewis?
Barrington-Ward - Repentance, Murphy - Writing and speaking clearly, Hooper- God is Love.
PLAY Rodney Loewen writes from Canada- 'Some friends of mine who live in the Philippines wrote me a letter telling me about the Aug 23 musical play production of "The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe." They tell me that it was an all Filipino production well done and well worth seeing. Their favourite scene was the night winter forest scene where the children first enter Narnia. The bare dark trees and the sparkle of the full moon on the snow at night made them feel like they were back in the bush in Northern Ontario.
HARVARD LECTURE , October 5. Stuart Buck writes-'I had the opportunity to go to a lecture tonight at Harvard. The speaker was Armand Nicholi, a professor of psychiatry at Harvard Med School. The subject -- "The Conflicting Worldviews of Sigmund Freud and C.S. Lewis." The lecture was well attended, probably 250 - 300 people there. Dr. Nicholi contrasted Freud's arguments against God (primarily 'wish fulfillment') with Lewis's answers. Nicholi was followed by a short speech by Dr. Francis Collins, the head of the Human Genome Research Project, who gave a short Christian testimony.'
Jack Haynes writes-'On Oct 5 I saw the first of a three evening lecture series at Harvard's Memorial Church on the theme "The Conflicting World Views of Sigmund Freud and C. S. Lewis. The lecturer was ASA member Armand Nicoli, Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and the Massachusetts General Hospital. His first talk was "The Scientific Method and the Moral Law: Is there an Intelligence beyond the universe? Armand drew heavily on Lewis' turn from atheism to Christianity and the many parallels in the early thinking of both men. ASA member Francis Collins was the respondent. After the superb talk to a SRO crowd the two faced questions from the audience, which was a mixture of Christians and non- Christians. Evangelical ABC Medical News Editor Tim Johnson was the moderator. The questions were mainly from skeptics of Christianity.'
CHARLESTON, SC, October 7. Ann Ballard writes-'Dr. Edwin Welch gave a wonderful C.S. Lewis presentation at the University of Charleston. Over 200 attended.'
BLEAKLEY, 15 October. An audience of 150 heard David Bleakley's Lecture for the Belfast Society at the Linen Hall Library, Belfast .
PENNSYLVANIA WEEKEND, 16-18 October. Rodney Loewen writes from Canada– ‘My parents and I just returned from a most facinating journey to Murrysville, PA, where the C.S. Lewis Weekend was held. The area around Murrysville was quite hilly and made for a good challenge with a stick shift, however the tree lined hills were an absolute joy to the eye now that it is fall and the leaves are changing to red and gold….. we heard Douglas Gresham give several talks regarding his life. Mr. Gresham also mentioned how being a Christian is not for wimps but the most demanding and challenging lifestyle there is. I checked with Will Vaus and he says that there are cassettes available of all the 8 talks that Douglas Gresham gave during the weekend. For more information regarding the cassettes you can contact Will Vaus and he will send you an order form with the details. Will Vaus, Murrysville Community Church, 3750 School Road, Murrysville, PA 15668, USA. Tel 724-327-8411, email CHRISTCHURCH Pastor Derick Bingham (see below) is the pastor of Christchurch, Belfast. The church devoted a recent Sunday evening to celebrating C. S. Lewis’s centenary, and Trans World Radio broadcast the service throughout Europe. David Bleakley, Ross Wilson and Keith Getty gave their perspectives.
‘C. S. LEWIS-ULSTERMAN’. Forty people attended James O’Fee’s talk at the Ulster Museum, Belfast, on Monday 8 November, and, in foul weather, twelve attended the same talk at Holywood Arches Library, Belfast, on Monday 2 November.
Newspaper Articles
A.N. Wilson in ‘The Daily Telegraph’ (London) of Sat 14 Nov; George F. Will in the Washington Post of 29 November (available on the Washington Post web site Radio
Mon 23 Nov German-language programme on Lewis on Austrian Radio
Sun 29 Nov BBC Radio 4, Morning Service from Magdalen College, Oxford, focused on Lewis, Sun 29 Nov BBC Radio Ulster ‘Sunday Sequence’ featured Lewis
Sun 30 Nov US National Public Radio’s ‘Talk of the Nation’ had a one-hour C.S. Lewis centenary program, and a one-hour phone-in (main guest Michael Aeschliman).
Kathryn Lindskoog writes-‘ National Public Radio's C. S. Lewis centenary program from the November 30 broadcast of Talk of the Nation. (Hour two, not hour one.)…definitely the best audio tape about Lewis, and it belongs in the library of everyone who collects materials about him. If I were still teaching courses on Lewis, I would play it in class.’ Irene Neasham adds-‘hosted by Ray Suarez [with]..a panel of academics from Wheaton College, Boston University and Georgia State…one of the best ‘Talkshows’ I know.’
Mon 30 Nov RTE1(Dublin) Arts featured an interview with David Bleakley,
Mon 30 Nov-Fri 4 Dec BBC Radio 4’s Daily Service featured readings from Lewis’s books the entire week.
Television
Mon 30 Nov BBC1 National news feature on the American interest in Lewis (with filming in California and Wheaton College), Tues 1 Dec BBC1 Northern Ireland 50-minute Documentary ‘The Man, the Myth and the Wardrobe’(date and time of broadcast changed after the last issue of ‘C S Lewis News’ went to press).
Events
EVENING SERVICE, Sun 1 Nov, Christ Church, Kilkeel, Co Down. A tribute to Lewis. planned and presented by Eva Needham and a friend, which included a dialogue for some young people to introduce Narnia.
TALK, Sat 14 Nov, Honeyridge Baptist Church, Johannesburg, South Africa. Claude Cunningham writes-‘I had a most harrowing Saturday preparing for the presentation: the more I tried to put the structure together as I had planned it, the less it stuck. Eventually at 16:30, half an hour before I wanted to be at the church getting things set up, I gave up, and asked Maureen to pray for me. She did a good job of it, and in the remaining time before the presentation I just soaked myself in the core things that I believed had to happen and be said, and prayed, as we set up the church. Claude has written a very impressive paper ‘C S Lewis 20th Century Giant’, to be published, God willing, in 1999.
LEWIS EXHIBITION, Wed 4 Nov onwards, Belfast Central Library. Mr Tom Watson, Chief Librarian writes- ‘The exhibition has been well received by our users and coverage in the press has been good. I enclose a set of photographs taken on the day of the opening of the exhibition for the C S Lewis Archive in the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland.’
COMMEMORATIVE SERVICE, 22 Nov, St Andrew's Cathedral, Sydney, Australia. Perdita Herbert writes- ‘I rang the Cathedral to check the time and heard that it had been cancelled. The woman I spoke to said that they had been unable to get enough help to run it. I don't know what sort of help they wanted. She assured me that there would be a service for Scouts and Guides that I might like to attend instead! I am _very_ disappointed.’ HORSE DANCE, 12-13 Nov. Shelton Clark writes-‘A dance of "A Horse and His Boy" took place in Nashville, TN on 11/12-11/13. ‘The dance company Epiphany presents The Horse and His Boy, inspired by one of C. S. Lewis' Narnia stories, Sacred Songs, Two X Six, and Without/Within. Artistic director Grete Gryzwana-Teague choreographs three of the pieces. "The Horse and His Boy" features music by Bela Fleck, Craig Bickhardt, Brent Lewis, and Kirby Shelstad. Rebecca Gose choreographs Without/Within, with music by the DuChateau Ehle Duo. Epiphany is a modern dance company-in-residence at the Nashville Ballet. The company's mission is to express faith through dance. The company stages many liturgical and worship-focused presentations throughout the Middle Tennessee area. Since its inception in 1994, Epiphany has enjoyed numerous performance and educational opportunities in conjunction with Amy Grant's A Tennessee Christmas and Ryman Auditorium Productions' Precious Child at Christ Church Cathedral.’ CONFERENCE, 12-14 November. South Central Modern Language Association, meeting in New Orleans. Joe Christopher writes-‘I read a paper titled "The Context for C. S. Lewis's 'Ministering Angels,'" … there were at least two other papers on Lewis at the conference. Shannon Carter, of Texas Woman's University, Denton, Texas, read a paper "Mirroring Emerson, Mirroring Lewis—Amplifying Rhetorical Transcendence.", in the section on Rhetoric. It was a comparison of Emerson's and Lewis's styles in discussing religious matters. In the section on General Linguistics, Lori Kanitz, of Oral Roberts University, Tulsa, Oklahoma, read a paper "Contending with _That Hideous Strength_: The Dangers and Ethics of Persuasive Language Techniques."’
LEWIS CONFERENCE, Wed 11 Nov, Old Bishop’s Palace, Worcester. Margaret Bradley writes- ‘Canon Peter Kerr spoke very well about CSL and what it means to be an Ulsterman, Peter Hall delighted us with his lecture on Lewis as University tutor, Julia Hick told us about Narnia, pointing out and considering the various criticisms of the work, often rejecting them soundly….We did well to get about 30 to each lecture, and it was a very happy occasion, meeting new people. I was interviewed on Drive Time of Hereford & Worcester Radio…We had a great day and will do something similar another time.’
‘JACK’, Thurs 19 Nov. Joel Yeager writes-‘My wife and I were privileged to attend the "Jack: A Musical Portrait of C.S. Lewis" performance last evening in Cambridge. As you know, this is hosted by Douglas Gresham… an absolutely stunning blend of narration and music--very emotionally moving as well, as one hears the pathos of Jack's life recounted through the eye's of his stepson. One of the lyrics that particularly caught my attention was, "In Narnia, dreaming becomes believing." …(I even received my autographed copy of Doug's Lenten Lands!).’
CALIFORNIA TRIBUTE, November 22, 1998, 7:00 pm, St. Luke's Episcopal Church (the church with the Lewis stained glass window) 122 South California Avenue, Monrovia, California. ‘Edie’ of the Southern Californis C.S. Lewis Society writes, before the event-
‘Diana Glyer, English Professor at Azusa Pacific who served as Chair of the Mythopoeic Society's 1998 Mythcon, dubbed "Lewiscon", will remind us why it is good that we honor C S Lewis. TOUR AND DINNER,Saturday 28 November. The Lewis Tour of North Down attracted 15 members of the public. The Centenary Group’s Centenary Dinner had 33 diners. Mrs Dorothy Rogers, owner of ‘Little Lea’, writes-‘On behalf of Denis and myself I would like to thank the C S Lewis Group for inviting us to the dinner in Crawfordsburn on Sat 28 Nov. We enjoyed the evening very much & would like to thank you for the wonderful picture of ‘Little Lea’. We will treasure it always.’
CENTENARY DAY
Sunday 29 November. At Morning Service, David Bleakley presented the Rector of St Mark’s, Belfast, with the first copy of his book, ‘C. S. Lewis : at Home in Ireland’ [see ‘Book Reviews’]. Forty people attended the Centenary Group’s final Tour of the Belfast ‘Trail’ that afternoon. And 50 people attended Tony Wilson’s slide-show ‘C. S. Lewis and Belfast’ in the Heyn Hall, St Mark’s, that evening.
TALK, Sunday, 29 November. at 7 p.m., Mallow Street Hall, Limerick, Ireland, and Monday 30th., 8 p.m., University of Limerick (room C1058). ‘C.S. Lewis: Apostle to the Sceptics’, an illustrated talk by Dr. Peter Childs to mark the centenary of CS Lewis' birth. EVENT, Sunday 29 November, Hamley’s Toy Store, London. The ‘Belfast Telegraph’ reports that Gloria Hunniford, ex Spice-Girl Geri Halliwell (see May 98 p 2), and television presenter Emma Forbes attended a special Lewis Centenary event at which music from ‘Jack’ was performed. No mention of the cast of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’ (see Oct 98 p 8).
TALK, Friday 4 December. Tony Wilson gave his talk on Lewis to 25 Officers and wives in the Officers’ Mess, Army HQ Northern Ireland, Thiepval Barracks, Lisburn.
SYMPOSIUM, Friday 4-Saturday 5 December, Brigham Young University, Utah. Symposium honoring the 100th anniversary of Christian philosopher C. S. Lewis' birth, Elder Neal A. Maxwell challenged listeners to follow Lewis' teachings about discipleship. "Elder Maxwell said we have been invited by Jesus to take his yoke upon us and learn of him. "'In my opinion, as far as discipleship is concerned, this is the only way we ever really learn. Everything else is quite superficial as far as discipleship is concerned."
January 1999
I was expecting that the turn out would not be more than about 20, as the Springboks were playing Wales until almost 19:00, November is a very full month for people with the end of year approaching, there had been some disconnects with trying to publicise the evening in the church, and I have just noticed that it is very hard to get people's attention
lately. We did have an ad in the local paper, and a couple of people, rang up about that.
Anyway over 60 came, and we recorded the whole thing, so I can send you a copy if you would like it. I dealt with Lewis' character, focussing largely on his children's books to bring out his humanity; on his conversion to Christianity, and then led into the tape of his broadcast. Although it was not the smoothest presentation I have done (I had a large array of references to read from and kept having to shuffle through them), the feedback has been strong and positive, and to the effect that we achieved our aspiration - to draw people towards Jesus Christ through the witness of Lewis, alerting them to his books as the most powerful source of material for dealing with the "post-Christian" era.’
TALK, Thursday 19 November. Alistair Devlin, All Saints’ COI Parish Church, University Street, Belfast.
--John Brugaletta, English Professor at Cal State Fullerton for 29 years, specializes in contemporary poetry. He's a published poet and long-time contributing editor of our journal, the Lamp-Post. He will read selected passages from Lewis texts.
--Fr, Gary London, rector at St. Luke's will close with Evensong from the 1662 Evening Prayer, Church of England.’
TEXAS, Sunday 22 November, Lutheran Church, Round Rock, Texas. Margaret Humphreys of Austin, Texas, writes-‘A masculine mix of orange, yellow, and purple flowers in the church will include cattails, giving a kind of natural, wild look. A message will appear in the church bulletin saying that the flowers commemorate the 100th birthday of C.S. Lewis, who was born November 29, 1898, and died November 22, 1963.
NEW ZEALAND CELEBRATIONS, Friday 27-Sunday 29 November. Centennial celebrations/seminar in New Zealand, organised by the Wellington Christian Apologetics Society (Inc.). David Lane writes-‘Rev. Dr Stephen May of The College of St John the Evangelist, Auckland, NZ, a C.S. Lewis specialist, will be the guest lecturer. The programme includes a public lecture at Victoria University, Wellington and a seminar at Turnbull House, 11 Bowen Street, Wellington. We are holding a special church service at Knox Presbyterian Church, 574 High Street, Lower Hutt - 100 years to the day of C.S. Lewis' birth. Do you know of any other similar event in the world on this day? Of course because of our position relative to the international date line we will be the first country to hold such an event on the day! Rev. Dr. Stephen May will be guest preacher: topic "To be a Christian: The Example of C.S. Lewis". We hope to publish material from the seminar in our journal Apologia (ISSN 1171-5863).’
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