The life and writings of C.S. Lewis, the acclaimed British author whose work ranges from fantasy to spiritual treatises, will be celebrated at Connecticut College on Monday, Feb. 27, with afternoon tea, a lecture and discussion.
The event marks the 50th anniversary of the publication of the last book in Lewis´ Chronicles of Narnia series in 1956. The first of those seven books, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, was made into a popular film released last December.
The tea and talk will begin at 4 p.m. in the Ernst Common Room of the Blaustein Humanities Center. Daniel J. Varholy of Mystic will speak and lead the discussion. His talk is titled, “Literary Studies: The Labor of Scholarship and the Labor of Faith in the Works of C.S. Lewis.”
Varholy holds a doctoral degree in English language and literature from Oxford University. A native of Connecticut, he has a bachelor´s degree from Middlebury College.
Varholy was a member of Oxford´s Magdalen College, where C.S. Lewis (1898-1963) was a fellow and tutor from 1925 to 1954. It was at Oxford in 1931 that Lewis was converted to Christianity by his close friend, J.R.R. Tolkien. Lewis is the author of such classics as The Screwtape Letters, Mere Christianity and A Grief Observed.
Varholy brings with him a wealth of personal experience. At Oxford he tutored children through a program sponsored by the college´s Joint Action Committee against Racial Intolerance. He also has directed a film for Catholic Solitudes, a contemplative community based in Texas.
Ranked among the most selective private liberal arts colleges in the nation, Connecticut College enrolls 1,900 men and women from 42 states and 41 countries. The college is known for putting the liberal arts into action through interdisciplinary studies, international programs, funded internships, student-faculty research and service learning. Founded in 1911, the college operates under an 84-year-old honor code. The college is located at 270 Mohegan Ave, New London, about two hours by car from Boston and New York. The 750-acre campus is an arboretum overlooking Long Island Sound.
For more information, visit www.connecticutcollege.edu.