Introduction to The Quest of Bleheris

A summary and discussion of Lewis\u27s first sustained effort at prose fiction, published for the first time in this issue of Sehnsucht

C. S. Lewis and George Herbert’s The Temple

This essay explores how George Herbert\u27s The Temple serves as one of the most important “spiritual directors” in the poems, letters, and late prose of C. S. Lewis

Why Lewis’ Poetry Matters

In spite of Lewis’ sustained, earnest, and determined efforts at writing poetry through the middle 1920s, his reputation will always be based on his prose, both fiction and non-fiction. That this is the case begs the questions: Does Lewis’ poetry matter? Why bother sifting through his verse if the real gold is to found elsewhere? Should not Lewis’ poetry simply be written off as so much adolescent self-indulgence? Did not his commitment to older poetic forms and traditions hopelessly date his poetry? While much could be said about the literary merits of Lewis’ poetry, here the discussion is limited to how his poetry reflects upon his spiritual maturation

The Anatomy of a Friendship: The Correspondence of Ruth Pitter and C. S. Lewis, 1946-1962

Chronological study of the friendship between Pitter and Lewis, illustrated with excerpts from their letters to each other and from Pitter’s poetry. Includes her transcript of a conversation about where the Beavers got the ingredients for the lunch they fed the Pevensie children

Review of Companionship in Grief: Love and Loss in the Memoirs of C. S. Lewis, John Bayley, Donald Hall, Joan Didion, and Calvin Trillin

Don W. King: Review of: Jeffrey Berman, Companionship in Grief: Love and Loss in the Memoirs of C. S. Lewis, John Bayley, Donald Hall, Joan Didion, and Calvin Trilli

Into the Lion\u27s Den: Joy Davidman and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Looks at Davidman’s involvement with Hollywood—her short and unlamented stint in the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Junior Writer Program in 1939, and her movie reviews for the Communist Party of the USA newspaper, New Masses, in 1941–1943. Davidman’s incisive wit, impatience with any hint of phoniness, and passion for social, racial, and gender justice come through clearly in her writing

Orbitofrontal epilepsy: Electroclinical analysis of surgical cases and literature review

Clinical and electrographic data were reviewed on 2 of our patients with orbitofrontal epilepsy who were seizure free at 5-year follow-up, and on 2 similar patients from the literature. One of our patients was lesional, and the other was nonlesional. Interictal EEG discharges were lateralized to the side of invasively recorded orbitofrontal seizures in the nonlesional case. In this case, no clinical manifestations occurred until the orbitofrontal discharge had spread to the opposite orbitofrontal and both mesial temporal areas. Unresponsiveness or arrest of activity were the initial manifestations of complex partial seizures in both cases. The 2 cases from the literature with long-term seizure-free follow-up had little impairment of awareness and displayed vigorous motor automatisms. Interictal epileptiform activity was bifrontally synchronous in 1 case. Ipsilateral frontotemporal discharges were seen in both. Invasive ictal epileptiform activity appeared maximal in the ipsilateral orbitofrontal region in both patients. No consistent electrographic or clinical pattern characterized these 4 cases. Seizures of orbitofrontal origin may be characterized by either unresponsiveness associated with oroalimentary automatisms or limited alteration of awareness and associated with vigorous motor automatisms. Invasive monitoring of the orbitofrontal cortex should be considered in nonlesional cases with complex partial seizures that show nonlocalizing ictal patterns and interictal frontal or frontotemporal epileptiform discharges. Copyright (C) 2004 S. Karger AG, Basel

Exile in the fiction of Joseph Conrad and Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Two nineteenth Slavic writers, Joseph Conrad and Fyodor Dostoyevsky, suffered intense personal experiences of exile; the former endured seven childhood years in Russian exile with his Polish parents because of their revolutionary activities against the czar, and the latter spent ten years in Siberian exile for his involvement in anti-government subversion. As a result of their experiences, exile emerges as a central theme in much of their fiction