This is a reprint of one of the original Superversive Blog essays. Let me tell you a brief story. As a child, I distained Cliffsnotes. I insisted on actually reading the book. I would like to instill the same virtue in my children. But recently, I made my first exception. My daughter had to…
This is a repost of an article by an author with the excellent name of William WIldblood. A sentence in John Fitzgerald’s recent post set me thinking. He wrote “The body of work left behind by the Inklings has helped re-mythologise the world and baptise the contemporary imagination”. I haven’t read much by any of the…
“I can put it no plainer than than by saying that Bilbo was meant to find the Ring, and not by it’s maker. And that may be an encouraging thought.” — Gandalf What is encouraging about this thought? Only persons can mean things. If Gandalf is right, someone more powerful than Sauron is at work…
Article by Thomas Davidsmeier We’ve all got a little Grima in us… Grima Wormtongue is the most repulsive of JRR Tolkien’s characters in the Lord of the Rings. This is an impressive feat given the presence of Gollum, orcs, and the Ringwraiths in the story. Maybe it’s his obsequiousness, or the way he stays behind…
The original essay that launched the Superversive blog! Our very first post is an introduction to the concept of Superversiveness by Mr. Superversive himself, Tom Simon! The Art of Courage by Tom Simon Behold the Underminer! I am always beneath you, but nothing is beneath me! —The Incredibles For about a hundred…
This article is by Dr. Alan Snyder Dorothy Sayers was never present at an Inklings meeting. She was never considered as a member of that weekly sharing of readings and thoughts. Yet she is often seen in conjunction with the Inklings because she graduated from Oxford herself and was friends with two of its…
An essay is by British professor, Bruce G Charlton, who maintains a blog inspired by Tolkien’s The Notion Club Papers Fantasy Fiction Is More Important Than ‘Real Life’: completing the argument of JRR Tolkien’s essay On Fairy Stories JRR Tolkien JRR Tolkien’s most famous and influential essay, and indeed by far the most famous and influential…
We live in a fairytale. You might not realize this as you struggle to pay your bills or sit in a traffic jam on your way to work. You might miss the magic as you surf the web or rub your aching temples. You might think that this world is mundane, filled with dreary drudgery.…