SEVEN: An Anglo-American Literary Review

George MacDonald
G K Chesterton
C S Lewis
J R R Tolkien
Charles Williams
Dorothy L Sayers
Owen Barfield

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In 1965, because of the growing interest in these seven British authors, Dr. Clyde S Kilby of Wheaton College conceived the idea of starting a collection. Beginning with a small number of books and letters by C S Lewis, the Marion E Wade Center now holds thousands of manuscripts, letters, first editions and other primary material.

Fifteen years later, in 1980, Dr Barbara Reynolds, Dr Kilby and Dr Beatrice Batson founded SEVEN: An Anglo-American Literary Review. Born out of the need and opportunity for discussion and balanced assessment of these writers, SEVEN is intended for both the general and specialised reader.

From the Managing Editor:

It is a privilege to serve this journal and the work of the seven authors which it represents. Thinkers, novellists, creators of new worlds, poets, dramatists, Christian believers, innovators in all they undertook, they set a high standard of intellectual integrity and imaginative achievement. We have still much to learn from them and about them. Their influence, severally and in combination, continues to be far-reaching and an inspiration to all who value creative excellence.

Barbara Reynolds

“SEVEN will be of enormous interest to anyone who cares about English literature and, particularly, about fine literature which is also Christian.”
Madeleine L’Engle, Writer and Lecturer
“The seven writers highlighted in this journal were by no means artists for art’s sake: they were idea-oriented, involved always with perennial matters. Their deepest concerns are still our concerns, and SEVEN promises to conduct an interdisciplinary dialogue of major significance.”
Modern Language Review

The Wade Center now has its own page all about SEVEN

Current Volume − Volume 25 (2008)

A Myth of Hubris in Till We Have Faces − Chad Shrock

Examining what some declare C.S. Lewis’s best novel, Chad Shrock analyzes the development of protagonist Orual’s prideful vision of herself in relation to the gods, and the process whereby her hubris ultimately crumbles.

The Inhabitants of Cosmo’s Drawer − Reid Makowsky

Reid Makowsky proposes that references to two medieval magicians in George MacDonald’s Phantastes reinforce the cohesiveness of the novel, helping demonstrate MacDonald’s belief in sanctification through death to one’s self.

Death − Owen Barfield

Owen Barfield’s essay, previously unpublished and here footnoted by Amy Vail, reflects the influence of George MacDonald’s writings while shaping his own Anthroposophical understanding of the concept of “death to self”. Introductions by Chris Mitchell and Jane Hipolito posit the importance of this essay for understanding aspects of Barfield’s thought, as well as his influence on and divergence from C.S. Lewis’s thought.

Responses to Norbert Feinendegen’s “Contemplating C.S. Lewis’s Epistemology”

Discussion between Norbert Feinendegen and Stephen Thorson regarding Dr. Feinendegen’s article in Volume 24 on the topic of C.S. Lewis and Owen Barfield’s “Great War”. Comments by Charlie Starr are also included.

Poetry and Transformation − Brian Horne

Brian Horne evaluates Gavin Ashenden’s book Charles Williams: Alchemy and Integration.

Books Reviewed:

Owen Barfield: Romanticism Comes of Age, A Biography by Simon Blaxland-de Lange
G.K. Chesterton: Thinking Backward, Looking Forward by Stephen R.L. Clark
C.S Lewis, My Godfather by Laurence Harwood
A Morning After War: C.S. Lewis and WWI by K.J. Gilchrist
Planet Narnia: The Seven Heavens in the Imagination of C.S. Lewis by Michael Ward
Shadows and Chivalry: C.S. Lewis and George MacDonald on Suffering, Evil, and Goodness by Jeff McGinnis
Alec Forbes of Howglen and the Condition of Scotland by David Robb
George MacDonald: Literary Heritage and Heirs Ed. by Roderick McGillis
Introductory Papers on Dante, Volume 1: The Poet Alive in His Writings by Dorothy L. Sayers
Further Papers on Dante, Volume 2: His Heirs and His Ancestors by Dorothy L. Sayers
The Poetry of the Search and the Poetry of Statement, Volume 3: On Dante & Other Writers by Dorothy L. Sayers
Roots and Branches by Tom Shippey
The Plants of Middle-earth: Botany and Sub-Creation by Dinah Hazell
From Hobbits to Hollywood Ed. by Ernest Mathijs and Murray Pomerance
The Frodo Franchise by Kristin Thompson
The Lord of the Rings: A Reader’s Companion by Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull
The Company they Keep: C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien as Writers in Community by Diana Pavlac Glyer
Mere Humanity: G.K. Chesterton, C.S. Lewis, and J.R.R. Tolkien on the Human Condition by Donald T. Williams

Ordering Information

(including back issues)

Prices per volume, including postage and handling:

USA Other countries

$16.50 each US$22.50 each

USA	Other countries
$16.50 each	US$22.50 each

Volumes are also available for sale in person at the Wade Center for US$12.50.

Payment should be sent with order, by US$ or £ Sterling cheque (note: for payment in Sterling, please check the price with the Wade first), to:

  The Marion E Wade Center
  Wheaton College
  Wheaton
  IL 60187-5593
  U S A

The Center can also take credit cards, which for overseas customers may be the most convenient method of payment due to the rapid fluctuations in the exchange rate. For more details, please see the Center’s own web site here.