Connor Salter joins me to talk about the first "animated" Hobbit, made by Rembrandt Films in 1966 to allow the studio to hold onto the rights for the film. Feel free to watch it here before you listen! It is...something. By the way, I am aware of the fact that the sound is not ideal in this, and I apologize for some of the problems in quality. I am taking steps (as soon as possible) to remedy this. As always, feel more than free to email me at inklingsvarietyhour@gmail.com. Thank you for listening, and I'd love to hear from you. By the way, I have no idea why my software cut off the music at the end, but it seems to have. Hopefully no one was too bothered by that.
Dr. Sørina Higgins joins me to talk about The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe and why adults should read it. If you enjoyed this conversation and would like to take Sørina's course on the same, go here: https://wyrdhoard.com/2025/07/18/come-through-the-wardrobe-with-me/ We get into a lot of really interesting subjects related to Narnia here, and The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe in particular. I don't have time to detail them in the show notes this time. See you in two weeks! There will be far less of a break between seasons this year, as I still have plenty of material to share (and quite a few upcoming conversations). It's just a matter of finding time to edit as the school year begins. Stay tuned!
Chris invites several guests to talk about the following question in a two-hour roundtable special: To what extent is Lewis' The Abolition of Man prescient or prophetic? I really enjoyed this roundtable discussion between: Nathan Gilmour James LaPeyre Joseph Weigel and Jonathan Geltner I hope you will, too. We talk a lot about the following subjects: What Lewis means by "nature" Whether Lewis is, being coy, retreating into simplicity, playing a "forced card trick" or some other manner of knavish chicanery Whether Lewis eternalizes historically contingent ideas, such as the Romantic view of the sublime Wittgenstein McIntyre Barfield The importance of story Whether the difference between moderns and ancients is as great as Lewis assumes Whether we should have that appendix out or not Feel free to shoot me an email if you'd like to add your two cents! I know, this isn't exactly beach listening, but I sure enjoyed it. We'll be back again in two weeks with lighter fare.
The Inklings are often characterized as mostly sedentary men who wrote about people going off on adventures. Yet for a few of them, the highlight of their year was the chance to go on walking tours throughout England. It's unlikely, in fact, that they would have been able to describe the adventures of, say, Elwin Ransom, or the three friends in Night Operation if they didn't take these rambles (and write about them!) from time to time. With me to talk about the Inklings' walking tours are Inklings scholars Sørina Higgins, Don W. King, and (for the first time), Owen A. Barfield, grandson of Owen Barfield. We cover a lot of ground during this conversation. Topics include: What exactly a walking tour is/was The walking tours Jack and Warnie took versus those Jack took with the "Cretaceous Perambulators" (Barfield and others) Why these excursions tended to be documented a bit better than Inklings' meetings at Magdalen Humor and bawdy among the Inklings Connection between walking, talking, and working ideas out "The Inkling Impulse" What different Inklings looked for in a successful walking tour Influence of the walking tours in the Inklings' fiction My thanks to all three of my illustrious guests for joining me. You can find more about them and their work here: Sørina Higgins Don W. King Owen A. Barfield See you in two weeks' time! As always, please do rate the podcast, and if you have ideas or responses, please do email me at inklingsvarietyhour@gmail.com.
Joseph Weigel from the Men With Chests podcast joins me to talk about NICE Alchemy! By which I don't mean, "Whoa, that was some really sweet alchemy you were doing just now, dude! NICE!" But rather, the connection between science and magic as practiced by the National Institute for Co-ordinated Experiments (N.I.C.E.) in C.S. Lewis' final novel in his space trilogy, That Hideous Strength. It's weird stuff. And Merlin's involved, naturally. That guy. This is part discussion, part interview, because Joseph has recently published an article in Sehnsucht about connections between the N.I.C.E.'s experiments and alchemy. Read it here: https://digitalcommons.georgefox.edu/cslewisjournal/vol18/iss1/11/ Also, be on the lookout for Joseph's forthcoming book, Planet Thulcandra. It hasn't come out as of the publication of this podcast, but it's on its way! Be sure to check out Men With Chests while you're at it! There is a lot more to come this season! It seems likely that (because this is only coming out once every two weeks), it will extend well into the Fall. In the vault, I have: A roundtable on The Abolition of Man A conversation about the Walking Tours that members of the Inklings took A discussion of George MacDonald's Lilith A series on the OHEL ...and quite a bit more. Shoot me an email to say hi if you're listening--I appreciate hearing from people who enjoy this podcast! And please do leave a rating and review if you can. It's nice to know when this is actually getting heard by someone!
Ned Bustard and Matt Wheeler join me to discuss J.R.R. Tolkien's great allegory (or is it?) for the creative process, "Leaf by Niggle"! Enjoy! I am quite excited about this episode. And check out Ned and Matt's stuff! I will post links! I will! In the meantime, I've given you the spelling of their first and last names, above. Notable works include, but are not restricted to: Every Moment Holy, The Lost Tales of Sir Galahad, The Wonder of It All. You're welcome. More episode description to come, but it's been another late night editing, and I have small children who wake up early, you monster! Think of them. Liked the episode? Give us a five-star review. Want to weigh in on the red-hot-button allegory controversy? Shoot me an email: inklingsvarietyhour@gmail.com
Katie Wray Schon joins us to talk about Pauline Baynes, the subject of her new book, Painting Wonder! It's been a long-held goal of this podcast to devote at least one episode to Pauline Baynes--who, while not an Inkling, illustrated both the Narnia chronicles and many of Tolkien's short stories--in addition to being one of the best illustrators of the 20th Century. Luckily, Katie Wray Schon has just written and published a children's picture book about Baynes' life, and she joins me to talk about both her work and Baynes'. We talk about Baynes' life--her childhood in India, her discovery of storybooks at dreary British boarding school, her work for the British Navy in WWII, and her career as an illustrator. Sadly, many of the non-Narnian books Baynes illustrated or created are now out of print or hard to obtain. They include, but aren't limited to: I Believe: The Nicene Creed Noah and the Ark Questionable Creatures: A Bestiary Good King Wenceslas A Dictionary of Chivalry, by Grant Uden Miracle Plays: Seven Medieval Plays for Modern Players, by Anne Malcolmson All Things Bright and Beautiful The Arabian Nights, by Amabel Williams-Ellis The Snail and the Caterpillar, by Helen Piers Let There Be Light It would be a worthy project for someone (perhaps a new small press, or even an old, big one) to begin publishing these books again. In the meantime, of course, pick up Katie Wray Schon's book! Thanks for listening, as always! We'll see you again in two weeks! To drop me a note or an episode suggestion, write inklingsvarietyhour@gmail.com To encourage all those (okay, mainly me) who make this podcast possible, leave us (or me) a five-star review on itunes! We've (okay, I've) got a lot more fantastic episodes coming this season, including: Leaf by Niggle with Ned Bustard and Matt Wheeler The Abolition of Man: A Roundtable Discussion Lilith, by George MacDonald The Oxford History of English Literature (O-HEL Yes!) with Katherine Wyma That Hideous Strength with Joseph Weigel Tolkien's Poetry, with Jonathan Geltner Choose-Your-Own-Adventure 80's Narnia Book (That's right), with Matt Wheeler And quite a bit more, but I am tired of listing things...
Sorry for the extra wait for this one! Eric Geddes, Jonathan Geltner, and Charlie Carter join me to talk Tolkien's Father Giles of Ham. Episode description to come! Many more podcasts on the way this summer! Leave me a review! It's really the only way I know anyone is listening.
Matt Wheeler rejoins me for our final episode on The Horse and His Boy. More episode description to come! Featuring "Wonder of It All" by Matt Wheeler.
Musician Matt Wheeler joins me to talk about Chapters 7-8 of The Horse and His Boy, specifically Shasta among the tombs (ghouls ahoy), and Aravis' adventures. At the end of the hour, he's kind enough to share an original waltzy song about Aravis, inspired by a COVID toilet paper run. (Seriously, it's a great song--if you listen to nothing else, listen to it.) Before that, we talk about the following: The right way (or lack thereof) to pronounce Shasta and Aravis (and Aslan) Ghouls, ghouls, ghouls Cats and tombs Lewis' characterization of Lasarleen and Aravis The Tisroc (may he live forever) Freedom Calormene view of Narnian history Lapsed Bear! And after the song, Chris throws a little bit of shade at English pronunciation of foreign words to make himself feel better about the fact that he's been mispronouncing Aslan all his life. For more of Matt's music, click here. See you in two weeks, when Matt Wheeler will rejoin us to talk about the journey across the desert!
It's Season Five of The Inklings Variety Hour, episode one, and you know what that means! Time to return to the enchanting land of-- --record scratch-- --Calormen? That's right, Ed Said. We're kicking off this season the right way, with a little trip to an unprepossessing fisherman's hut and the down-on-his-luck literary ancestor of both a refreshing soft drink and Taran the Assistant Pig-keeper. I'm only talking 'bout Shasta. Can you dig? You know who else is talking about Shasta? I mean, besides Bree the talking horse (no not that one) who abducts him? Why, it's Jonathan Geltner, renowned author of Absolute Music, and Joseph Weigel, host of Men with Chests and also an author! Together, we discuss the following subjects: Calormene culture and Narnian culture Literary analogues (or lack thereof) of The Horse and His Boy Formal language and formulaic language The wider world in which Narnia exists Proverbs (Calormene and Narnian) How Tashbaan is awesome Freedom Books we bring up: The Thousand and One Nights Travels in Arabia Deserta David Eddings' Belgariad Series Huck Finn The Prince and the Pauper The Worm Ouroboros The Faerie Queene Copyrighted Music: Original BBC Narnia Theme Mr. Ed theme (not Ed Said) As always, please leave a generous review if you want higher quality or quantity podcasts! This is a labor of love, and I'm currently only able to get something out once every two weeks. See you in two weeks' time, as musician Matt Wheeler joins me to talk (and sing) about his favorite Narnia book.
Chris is joined by Angela Teal and Marena Bleech of In the Burrow Books to discuss Kenneth Grahame's The Wind in the Willows! More episode description to come! In the meantime, enjoy!
Author Jonathan Geltner and newcomer James Lapeyre join Chris to discuss the question that has doubtless kept all of us awake in the pre-dawn hours: Who was more of a Romantic: C.S. Lewis or J.R.R. Tolkien? Yes, the stakes have never been higher. We also talk generally about how the Inklings' view of their own roles overlapped with (and were influenced by) those of the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Romantics. To what extent were the Inklings the real Romantics of their own age? I really enjoyed this conversation. Thanks to both James and Jonathan for coming on the show. Apologies to all of you for the poor sound quality of my microphone. Also, a little more than halfway through, the Internet goes out--apologies for that, though we do find our footing pretty quickly thereafter. Many, many thanks to James for fixing the sound so that I'm actually intelligible here. Check out his substack at otterhat.substack.com/. Check out Jonathan's at jonathangeltner.substack.com/ I appreciate everyone's patience for this episode! Circumstances have conspired so that I have less time to edit since the semester ended, but I'll keep grinding these out occasionally if you all keep listening! I'll also try to keep putting out the old episodes Saturdays. Also! As always, my wife and I have a Christmas site and a Christmas book. If you're looking for ways to celebrate Advent and Christmas that both engage with the storehouse of tradition available to us--while allowing you and your family to forge your own Christmas traditions, you might find them helpful! The basic premise is that rather than having one day of Christmas (so much pressure!), we spread gift-giving out over the traditional twelve days of Christmas and pair it with reflection and other activities. It's really worked wonderfully for our family. As always, email me at inklingsvarietyhour@gmail.com if you have thoughts! And give us a five-star rating on iTunes (why not, it's Christmas) if you like what you hear. Also, I am planning to record on The Horse and His Boy this month (to be released at the beginning of Season 5 in March). If you'd like to join us to talk about it, just let me know!
Apologies for the audio quality on this one! It's the very first podcast Anika and I recorded, along with my wife, Glencora! It dates from 2018, when audio was much rougher. I'm sure you remember. Cleaned up what I could. Minimal swearing, too. I thought I'd post it in preparation for the C.S. Lewis Reading Day livestream. You can find it here: C. S. Lewis Reading Day 2024 - Pints With Jack
If you already listened to this, my apologies! I think my releasing it the afternoon before Halloween (rather than the week before) meant that it wasn't on many people's radar. I'm quite proud of it (and worked hard on it), so I'm re-releasing. I know it's not Halloween anymore, but, hey--it's also not Christmas, and you don't see that deterring most businesses from playing Bing Crosby.
J.D. Peabody joins Chris once again, this time to talk about the third and (for now) final installment of his Inkwell Chronicles series: Operation Bungaree. Here's the link to the book from JD's page. We've still got a lot of episodes for Season 4. Thanks for the very kind five-star reviews! At the moment, it's all I can do to juggle my teaching load and editing/releasing twice a month, but please do keep the ratings and reviews coming, and as always, email me at inklingsvarietyhour@gmail.com with any responses, requests, or ideas. Next time: The Inklings and Romanticism!
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.
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.
Don W. King joins Chris to talk about Ruth Pitter's Perelandra Spenserian Stanzas! More episode description to come!
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)