Happy Birthday Gilbert!

 

Gilbert Keith Chesterton, born May 29, 1874.

“The first fact about the celebration of birthdays is that it is a good way of affirming defiantly, and even flamboyantly, that it is a good thing to be alive.” – G.K. Chesterton.

Except, of course, he is no longer alive!

But we will still celebrate. 

C. S. Lewis Sighting

 

One of my favorite periodicals is the St. Austin Review (StAR)..

I just got the May/June 2023 issue, and it is dedicated to C. S. Lewis. 

The issue  includes numerous articles and review related to Lewis, beginning with the editorial by Joseph Pearce: "The Mere Genius of C. S. Lewis."

Other articles include: 

A Literary Communion of Saints: C. S. Lewis and the Power of Literature
The Great Divorce: A Novel Answer to an Immodest Proposal
Ablution versus Abolition in C. S. Lewis' That Hideous Strength
If You Haven't Read Narnia Yet
C. S. Lewis' Genius for Apologetics

And a number of other Lewis-related articles and reviews. I have not read them all yet, but I am looking forward to it.

If you have not discovered StAR yet, and you enjoy intelligent examinations of literature and culture from a Catholic/Christian perspective, I urge you to consider subscribing.

My own contact with Lewis began about the time I first encountered G. K. Chesterton.

As I've noted previously, in the mid 1970's when my faith was wavering I happend to come across some works that righted my spiritual ship: The Confessions of St. Augustine, The Seven Storey Mountain by Thomas Merton, and St. Francis of Assisi by G. K. Chesterton.  

Around the same time, though, I also came across the Chronicles of Narnia by Lewis. I read those all in a one week period!

I continued to read Chesterton after than first encounter - but I read even more of Lewis. The science fiction trilogy, Till We have Faces, The Screwtape Letters, Mere Christianity, The Abolition of Man, Surprised by Joy, The Four Loves, A Grief Observed, and severl collections of stories and essay. 

I read all those works in a ten-year span. You might say I binged on Lewis!

It is only in the last 20 years that I have been reading enough Chesterton to catch up with the Lewis tally. 

Both writers well worth reading.