The Green Lady in all her purity, the new Eve, is wrestling with Ransom, the interstellar sinner, over “right thinking” about reality. To listen to one smudged by sin/experience and one unmarred, still walking with God in the Garden, we really get to see that disobeying did bring some “new” knowledge but was that worth the price humanity must bear? Could that suffering be avoided in the new Eden? What happens when lying is introduced into a world that knows only truth? Will Ransom be her undoing? Is he the serpent?

Wes Mullins and the gang pull these themes apart in another exiting VFF meeting at our favorite haunt, Drinklings Coffee house.

Ransom finds himself encountering the Hross, the Sorn, and sea monsters. He learns an extraterrestrial language and valuable lessons. Lewis is a master at dialogue. He creates an imaginative atmosphere and then brings in poignant questions to allow us to wrestle with them via Ransom, Weston, and Devine.

The gang breaks all this down while discussing other books and movies that correspond to the topics Lewis brings up.

We are introducing Lewis’s Sci-Fi or Ransom Trilogy. “Out of the Silent Plant is the first in the series. It is also his 2nd book to be published. “Pilgrim’s Regress” was the first, 1933. This book was published five years later. For many in the group it was their first time reading the series. The book is a catalysts for so many other things he will do stylistically and with atmosphere in the rest of his literature. I hope you enjoy our thoughts on the subject.

What can we learn from an ancient text? A lot!! This is the foundational work that has allowed us to enjoy “Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit.” JRR Tolkien was a Beowulf scholar and is so fun to see things words “middle-earth” and reading about throne room scenes that seem to be straight from Rohan! Many think that a book like this is too hard but once you get into the characters and themes you will find the relevant and relatable!

This Tolkien’s translation, but we reference Seamus Haney’s as well. Tolkien’s is like the KJV and Haney’s like the NIV or Message.

This intro is chock full of goodies. I hope you enjoy!!

This is the final and most thrilling installment of “The Nobel Prize on Literature!” This book was “red beef and strong beer” for all of us! Amid all of his counsel Solzhenitsyn leaves us with illuminating hope, “One word of truth outweighs the whole world!” I believe it and I try to live speaking the truth...or at least not lying! Do you??

This is definitely worth a listen!

Solzhenitsyn talks about cultural and social value judgments. He discusses the benefits to cultures being dynamic and not clones of each other. Technology and the speed of information can be detrimental to the heart of a people who are not conditioned for it. Listen in as the VFF gang engage with the questions and thoughts raised by Solzhenitsyn in this section.

Part three of our society’s insights into the book. There are some strands of disagreement within the group about the efficacy of Solzhenitsyn’s philosophies and how they could be applied in today’s world. I love that we are a philosophically diverse group, it truly allows for us to wrestle our own prejudices and heresies in real time.

If you haven’t read this book then you are missing out. It is filled with “earned wisdom” from an artist who survived hell and offers the truths that sustained him, and defeated tyranny. Not many can say their words helped bring down and evil empire.

In this episode we discuss chapter 2 of the 38 page bombshell of a book. He begins with a quote from Dostoyevsky, “Beauty will save the world.” Then he unpacks the brilliant and illuminating truth of it. It is a must read and this is an entertaining listen as our VFF gang break it down from the limits of our own personal heresies and prejudices!! Enjoy!

This is a beginning discussion on Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and his Nobel Prize lecture on Literature. He did not give the speech as he would have been arrested had he given it. It was his book, “The Gulag Archipelago” that helped take down the USSR and Stalin. He spent many years in these Gulags as a political dissident. This may be the most important book you read this year. We begin by talking about the meaning and power of art and the place of the artist among the nations.

Part One is the Jack and Beren take on “A Wrinkle in Time.” We discuss the purpose of literature like L’Engle, Lewis, and Tolkien.