Winter's Snow Touches "The Kilns," C.S. Lewis' Beloved Home in Oxford, England
Oxford has a way of getting under your skin-I’d been there for Oxbridge 2008, been there years earlier for conferences and such. Churches! Libraries! Bookstores! Spires! But every visit had been characterized by hurrying through Oxford: pushing along the crowded sidewalks, running from one conference session to another, busing en masse to see the sights, all good, so very good, but every trip was a little bit breathless, marked more than anything by being on-the-go.
What might happen if I took a seat and stayed a while?
The more I thought about it, the more I wanted to give it a try. I am currently on sabbatical from teaching English at Azusa Pacific University in California. Being on sabbatical gave me the flexibility to think about journeying across the sea and making a dream come true. That’s how I came to spend two weeks in February living and working at The Kilns.
It was an amazing visit, and, as it turned out, there was plenty to do. I took a red double-decker bus into the city most days, working in special collections at the Bodleian. Once I took the oath and got my reader’s card, I was granted access to their manuscript collection, including poems and stories handwritten by Lewis and his friend J. R. R. Tolkien. I spent most of my days sitting at a long library table, juggling three different kinds of magnifying glass, studying layers of scribbled pencil marks, deciphering marginal notes, working out the patterns of edits and corrections, and trying to untangle the complicated composing processes of these authors.
Diana Glyer writes in the Common Room at The Kilns
Three manuscript pages in particular posed a problem worthy of Sherlock Holmes: Was that little round burn in the corner of that yellowed paper caused from a bit of ash fallen from Lewis’s cigarette? Or could it have come straight from Tolkien’s pipe?
There were other happy adventures, too. I visited several places beloved by Lewis: the Eagle and Child Pub, the Trout, Addison’s Walk, the Eastgate Hotel. I attended Evensong at Magdalen. I presented a paper about Warren Lewis at the Lewis Society meeting at Pusey House. I had the special joy of connecting with dear friends (Donna, Malcolm, Doug, Walter, Michael, Theresa, Roger) and meeting new ones, too. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: C.S. Lewis Study Centre, Diana Glyer, Donna McDaniel, J.R.R. Tolkien, Malcolm Guite, Michael Ward, Oxford, The Kilns, Walter Hooper
For those of you in England or visiting next week, Michael Ward will be discussing his book, Planet Narnia, in Oxford at Oxford Science Live. Here are the details:
