Winter 2002 Wheaton

Winter 2002 Wheaton The Wade Center’s New Home Creating a Book dear friends— Everyone, it seems, wants to be a writer. But not everyone wants to write, or at least, to pay the price it takes to write well. The ability to write well is, to some extent, a gift. I recall years ago pouring over some of C. S. Lewis’s original manuscripts in the Bodleian Library at Oxford University. I was astonished by how little editing they demonstrated. On each page of foolscap, covered lovingly in Lewis’s own hand, there would be a single word crossed out here, a phrase altered there. But for the most part those felicitous sentences I so admired appeared to flow directly from Lewis’s pen. But if so, Lewis was the exception. Good writing usually requires, not just gift or inspiration, but heavy doses of discipline. Stare at the wall, drink some coffee, scribble, whether you feel like it or not, says one of the golden rules of good writing.As Colin Brooks put it,“The art of writing is the art of applying the seat of the pants to the seat of the chair.” It’s said that Lewis’s friend, J. R. R.Tolkien, whose own writing required meticulous revision upon revision, was irritated by the speed and ease with which Lewis appeared to generate his gracious prose. But Tolkien’s toil resulted in classics that, in the view of some critics at least, surpass those of Lewis. Novices may think writing is a matter of waiting for moments of inspiration and then scratching furiously as the muses dictate, but veteran writers know better.Authoring anything of substance requires hard work. Wheaton’s Wade Center, as you will see in this issue of Wheaton, is one of the finest places in the world to study the writing of Lewis,Tolkien, and their cohorts. More broadly, the discipline of good writing has been appreciated, studied, modeled, and taught at Wheaton for generations, with the result that the College has turned out more than its share of good writers. In this issue of Wheaton we take the opportunity to celebrate some of them as well. Duane Litfin President volume 5 number 1 Ta ble of Contents Editor p. 2 Wade Center’s new home Georgia I. Douglass ’70, M.A. ’94 Managing Editor Michael Murray p. 47 Mixing media Designer Michael Johnson p. 42 New student center Design Consultant Alice Isoz Chrismer ’70 Editorial Assistants Jackie Noden Inouye ’00 Donna Antoniuk Editorial Advisers Marilee A. Melvin ’72 R. Mark Dillon Alumni Association President A.Thomas Paulsen ’70 Features President-elect 2 Seven Wonders Charles V. Hogren ’58 The Marion E.Wade Center, a collection devoted to the Executive Director Marilee A. Melvin ’72 lives and works of seven British authors, moves into new Professor Emeritus quarters on the edge of campus. LeRoy H. Pfund ’49 Alumni Trustee Representatives 8 The Art of Creating a Book Ray Carlsen ’60 An alumna editor and novelist traces the life of Charles V. Hogren ’58 A.Thomas Paulsen ’70 a book from idea to publication. Board of Directors Class of 2002 Erin Briedenbaugh ’00 Departments Patrick O. Cate ’63 Mary Ann Seume Cate ’65 12 Profiles Robert D. Dye ’73 The Alumni Association honors Professor Herb Wolf ’60 Susan H. Grosser ’71 Janice Stevenson Nickel ’69 for decades of service to his alma mater. David Howard Class of 2003 ’49, M.A. ’52 draws on a lifetime of experience in Randal Ellison ’77 Marilyn L. Himmel ’55 missions to write a book about Wheaton’s place in Dwight E. Nelson ’72 spreading the gospel to the nations. Leilani Perez ’01 Shane A. Scott ’96 Brian J.Wildman ’85 16 Under the Tower Class of 2004 Susan Fitzwilliam Alford ’77 Because of the events of September 11, Homecoming William R. Alford ’78 Ruth E. Bamford ’50 2001 is a time of mourning as well as reminiscing amid C. Kevin Bell ’81 constant activity Carol McEwing Harding ’68 Barbara Anderson Kay ’83, M.A. ’93 On My Mind: Conservatory Director Tony Payne ’79 Estella Moore Tolbert ’82 discusses the changing face of the arts at the College. Wheaton College Scholarly Pursuits: Sociology Professor Alvaro Nieves President Dr. Duane Litfin urges a more vigilant stewardship of God’s creation. Provost Dr. Stanton L. Jones 22 Sports Senior Vice President Dr. David E. Johnston ’65 Vice President for 24 A Word With Alumni / Alumni News Advancement Dr. R. Mark Dillon Vice President for 42 The Journal of Jonathan Blanchard Alumni Relations Marilee A. Melvin ’72 Vice President for 46 Letters Student Development Dr. Samuel Shellhamer Wheaton is published winter, spring, 48 At Last special (catalog), summer, and autumn by Wheaton College, 501 College Ave., Wheaton, IL 60187-5593, 630-752-5047, and mailed free of charge to alumni and friends COVER PHOTO:MICHAEL JOHNSON.The new home of the Marion E.Wade Center at the corner of Lincoln of Wheaton College. Periodicals postage paid at Wheaton, IL (USPS016326). and North Washington streets in Wheaton was fashioned after an English manor house. An English garden Postmaster: Please send address changes to will be added in the spring. Wheaton College,Wheaton,IL 60187-5593. Opinions expressed are those of the The purpose of the Wheaton College Alumni Association is to unite all alumni of Wheaton College into a compact contributors or the editors and do not organization for effective communication with each other and with the College, to arrange alumni reunions, to encourage necessarily represent the official position of the formation of Wheaton Clubs throughout the world, to foster and perpetuate enthusiasm for the College and fellow the College. © 2002 Wheaton College, Wheaton, IL www.wheaton.edu alumni, and to promote alumni giving. SEVEN WONDERS BY J ENNIFER G RANT ’89 Seven Wonders Seven. Between them, they Among them, four were created an encyclopedia Wheaton College’s friends who met of fantastical creatures Marion E. Wade Center regularly on Thursday including orcs and fauns is an international study nights. One was a and hobbits and fairies. and research collection woman. One wore a cape Their stories are peopled of the books and papers and a crumpled hat by mad scientists, of these seven British and wrote while riding detectives, and coura- authors. They are Owen the train. One was a geous children. Barfield,G. K. lawyer. One was a These characters search Chesterton, C. S. Lewis, newspaper columnist. for rings and grails George MacDonald, Two served in World and doors to other Dorothy L. Sayers, War I. Several worlds. Lovers of J. R. R. Tolkien, and attended Oxford. One imaginative literature, Charles Williams. was a 19th century the seven writers The seven had a lasting Scot. All seven were explored time travel, impact not only on Christian writers gifted forays into magic, and contemporary literature, with extraordinary the ongoing struggle but on Christian intellects and imagination. between good and evil. thought. And, their writings gave readers a glimpse of eternity. Wheaton 3 he Wade Center idea was begun in There is a loose arithmetic that explains 1965 by Clyde S. Kilby, then an English why these seven authors are included in the professor at Wheaton. Dr. Kilby corresponded Wade Center and why others—believers, with C. S. Lewis, and their letters were intellectuals, and fantasy writers all—are not. the foundation on which this now impressive At the center of the algorithm is Lewis. collection was built. George MacDonald’s fairy tale Phantastes The late Dr. Kilby is best known as a set afire the teenaged imagination of Lewis and Tolkien scholar. He began teaching Lewis. Chesterton’s articulate and eminently at Wheaton in 1935 and stayed for 40 years. sensible description of Christianity in In a stellar review of Professor Kilby’s The Everlasting Man chipped away at Lewis’s Lewis anthology titled A Mind Awake, a atheism. Barfield, Sayers,Tolkien,and reviewer in the New York Times Book Review Williams were his longtime friends. wrote,“We are all the benefactors of Clyde Today, Clyde Kilby’s vision is realized in Kilby’s years of reading, rereading, and reflecting the Wade Center and its more than 12,000 upon Lewis, of his personal acquaintance with books.There are also letters, manuscripts, audio Lewis, and of his cast of mind, which is entirely and videotapes, artwork, dissertations, periodicals, congenial to Lewis’s.” photographs, and other materials related to the In honor of this visionary scholar, authors, and, since September 2001, they Wheaton has named a Clyde S. Kilby chair in have been housed in a new facility two doors the English department; it is now held by down from the old gray house where Roger Lundin ’71. Professor Kilby and his wife, Martha, lived. The Wade Center features (from left) the Kilby Reading Room, books from Lewis’s library, and Lewis’s chair and desk. Photos by Michael Johnson Photos by 4 Wheaton Seven Wonders Christopher Mitchell is the director of the to serve those who come to use them. Wade Center. He earned a master’s degree The Kilby Reading Room is a researcher’s in theology from Wheaton in 1987 and received dream and is open to those doing reading or his doctorate in research on one of historical theology the authors.The from St.Andrews tables are wired for University in laptop computer Scotland. Professor use.The glass in the Mitchell’s history windows blocks with several of the UV rays.There is a seven authors is viewing room for long, but he said the center’s large that the great holding of audio- discoveries for him visual materials in recent years have including been Chesterton microfilm.

Load more