Why Ray Bradbury Loved A Christmas Carol

     On more than one occasion, Ray Bradbury was asked about his favorite books. While the answer varied, he consistently spoke of Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol. For those who know and love the writings of Ray Bradbury, it makes perfect sense this was a favorite of his. The theme of living is vibrant in many Bradbury works. So Bradbury spoke with great excitement about the scene in A Christmas Carol where the culminating visits of the ghosts moves Ebeneezer, when he realizes that he has another chance, declares, I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future!  The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me.
     As good as the many movie versions may be, there is a texture in the story that is simply missed in the visual interpretations. In this interview (toward the end) Ray Bradbury speaks about his love of this great Christmas story that is a call to live life. While Bradbury says that his own The Halloween Tree is an homage to A Christmas Carol, his short story The Gift is a nice Christmas season story.

One of C.S. Lewis's Favorites: The Box of Delights

    Of The Box of Delights, C.S. Lewis said, that it is a unique work and will often be re-read…the beauties, all the 'delights' that keep on emerging from the box—are so exquisite, and quite unlike anything I have seen elsewhere. Those of us who re-read the writings of Lewis would recognize some clear references and allusions to The Box of Delights, especially in Lewis's own The Magician's Nephew. 

     The Box of Delights was first published in 1935, and was acclaimed and embraced on a popular level. Some place it on the same level of excellence and as perfect for the Christmas season as Charles Dicken's A Christmas Carol. The plot is simple in that it focuses on the adventures of Kay Harker and a gentleman Cole Hawlings who has a magical box that is most desired by a group of criminals. As you assemble your Christmas season reading list, or gifts for children who are burned out on the most recent dystopian series, this is a delightful read that will be enjoyed by those, young or old, open for an enchanting read.

Visiting Donald Hall's Eagle Pond This Christmas

  For lovers of great poetry, the name Donald Hall is well known. For those familiar with the poetry of Donald Hall, we recognize the fondness Hall has for the particular place of Eagle pond. In Christmas at Eagle Pond, Hall offers all readers a treasure, in the form of a short story about an imagined childhood Christmas experience at Eagle Pond. In the midst of numerous delightful moments, there is an important reflection of a Christmas pageant and the place a Christmas party held in the life of the community. There are simple and elegant back and white illustrations throughout. The value and glory of transmission of folk culture through story telling is pushed to the front of the narrative more than once.

     The story is set in the time of model A's and T's with some still using buggies and sleighs. Among the many worthy moments in the story, there is a beautiful moment and image of prayer. Additionally, the charm of a revised version of "Casey at Bat" is fitting in light of the teller of the tale. While I've never experienced it, I participated vicariously in the process of making popcorn (long before the instantness of the microwave) in a kettle, adding syrup with the intention of making popcorn balls for decoration and eating. 

    My favorite description and one that speaks of one joy of embodiment is when the narrator says, "I walked through their icy bedroom to mine, even icier, and stuffed my hot-water bottle under the sheets to warm my feet. Crawling beneath the covers I shivered a moment, but the quilts were thick, my feet almost too hot, and soon I fell asleep in my familiar goose feather bed at the house I loved most in the world." The prose of Hall is as smooth and flowing as his poetry with some lines singing like his poetry. This is a story to be enjoyed this Christmas season and will most certainly call to mind childhood Christmas memories..

A Picture Book That Calls Us to Books and Living

     My wife is a librarian and daily interacts with children and books. If I were not a Professor, I cannot think of a more appealing calling. We talk daily about the little ones in her school, books, and the relationship between bookish children and their overall demeanor. A picture book that we recently became aware of is The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore. 

     For all bibliovores, regardless of age, this book is for you. It is beautiful in form and content, it is good in form and content, and it is true in form and content. Rarely does one find a children's picture book that so throughly celebrates a bookish life, but also deals with some grand humane themes. In addition to this unique book, there is an app (sorry Luddites) that is interactive with the book.  For the critics of such apps, one can make the case that this app encourages greater interaction with the book and other books. For short film lovers, this wonderful book also inspired the Academy Award winning short film. 

The Glory of the Ordinary Pencil

     Henry Petroski's, The Pencil: A History of Design and Circumstance, is among the most important books I've ever read. It perfectly illustrates the insight of Neil Postman that everything can be studied, and should be, in terms of history and philosophy. 
     Leonard's Read's charming and insightful essay, I, Pencil has been turned into a wonderful little movie that can supplement Petroski's rich book and Read's marvelous essay about one of mankind's most brilliant inventions. 
     In truth, if you have grown up writing with a pencil, there is certainly a pleasure in thoughtfully using one. While I do put things on Evernote and increasingly use Google Docs, I still often find myself reaching for a pencil to scribble down notes and there are times, when I need to carefully and in a most leisurely mode compose, in those special moments, nothing is better than the pencil.

Reading The Great Books in the Midst of the Media Ruins

     My habit was this--wake up, make breakfast with my wife, and as she was going to work, I would read the day's headlines from the "news," and we would talk about it over the phone. Over recent months, especially the last several days, I felt like I was reading more news, and watching more news, and getting dumber as I slipped into a greater ennui.
    So taking a partial cue from Walker Percy's Dr. Thomas More in Love in the Ruins who gathered "cases of Early Times and Swiss Colony sherry . . . [and] the Great Books" for what More felt might be the end of the world, I plan on a modified version of this activity. Minus the Early Times, Swiss Colony, and staying at a Howard Johnson's, but certainly with a mega dose of the Great Books, a resolution has occurred.
    Some additional motivation comes from remembering a Neil Postman book I had read some years ago. Going back and looking at that marked up book, I was ashamed how much I had failed to live the wisdom of that work. Neil Postman, once advised in his book How to Watch The TV News, written twenty years ago, that "The 'news' is only a commodity, which is used to gather an audience that will be sold to advertisers."
     Think of events that bombard us for days and then not a sound. I had thought that it took Michael Jackson a month to die with all the coverage that "news event" received. Postman states, "No one is expected to take the news too seriously... tomorrow's news will have nothing to do with today's news. It is best if the audience has completely forgotten yesterday's news. TV shows work best by treating viewers as if they were amnesiacs."
     Regarding the bias (and they are ALL biased), Postman argues, "TV is not what happened. It is what some man or woman who has been labeled a journalist or correspondent thinks is worth reporting." The silly notion that media is objective was swallowed up with Fox news and MSNBC propaganda, and all media are on their heels.
     Again, Postman contends, "The more information, the less significant information is. The less information, the more significant it is." I decided to start my days not with information, but with truth and wisdom so as to enable me to be fully prepared when the information encountered tends toward the true and good, or tends toward the delusional propaganda. "The preparation for watching television news begins with the preparation of one's mind through extensive reading." So what little news I do watch or read or listen to in the years to come, will be tempered by significantly more reading of the greatest works ever written so my mind is better prepared.
     So starting a few days ago, my new morning ritual is breakfast with my wife, time with the daily lectionary, and reading from the Great Books of which I'll be blogging more. News will get a few minutes a month, if that much.

Fully Accredited Great Books Based PhD is Here!

     Finally, after years of planning and a great deal of hard (mental) work, the PhD that is profoundly grounded in the Great Books is here. It was a dream I had about five years ago to offer a fully accredited Great Books based PhD. Originally the degree was to be a DLitt, but with some possible confusion out there, the degree was slightly altered to conform to the requirements of a PhD. 
    We received word late afternoon on Oct. 29th. We have everything in place and will be taking applications immediately. With already more than 100 people having seriously inquired about the program for the past year, we anticipate admitting the top forty-five. A candidate can opt to concentrate in History, Literature, Philosophy, or aspire to be a generalist in the Liberal Arts. The tutorials are ideal for in-depth research in an era, person, idea, or select writings. 
     This PhD is literally one-of-a-kind in that it is fully accredited (SACS), offered fully distance with the dissertation being defended via conference call with a designated Research Fellow, and the student's full committee having guided the research. This PhD is uniquely interdisciplinary in structure and practice. A number of the highly qualified faculty are generalists and encourage the kind of readings, research, and writing that reflects an interdisciplinary drive.
     Building on our very successful MLitt degree, we use the Great Books and select, highly interactive online tools to provide the best distance education available. If you have any questions or need any assistance, please feel free to contact us through our website.