About Christine Norvell

Christine Norvell is Senior Contributor at The Imaginative Conservative. A classical Christian educator, she is a graduate of Faulkner University's Great Books program, from which she earned a Master's degree in Humanities. Mrs. Norvell is also the author of Till We Have Faces: A Reading Companion and writes weekly at her website christinenorvell.com.

The Humanity of Huck Finn

By |2024-02-17T17:29:52-06:00February 17th, 2024|Categories: Books, Christine Norvell, Fiction, Literature, Mark Twain, Senior Contributors, Timeless Essays, Virtue, Wisdom|

Huckleberry Finn is no hero, though he does symbolize the American conscience at the time Mark Twain wrote, or at least the conscience Twain hoped for. Yes, "Huckleberry Finn" is a coming-of-age tale and a social criticism and satire, but it also asks crucial questions: Who actually changes? What type of American will change? Huckleberry [...]

How Edgar Allan Poe Ensured That Gothic Stories Will Never Die

By |2024-01-14T20:11:42-06:00January 18th, 2023|Categories: Christine Norvell, Edgar Allan Poe, Fiction, Imagination, Literature, Senior Contributors, Timeless Essays|

At the same time that writers were bringing depth of character to the gothic setting in the 19th century, Edgar Allan Poe revitalized the genre in mid-century America. Suddenly Tales of Horror had a distinctly American flair and a surprising psychological depth. This nuance captivated readers then and still does today. Two hundred and fifty [...]

The True, the Good, and the Ugly in “Till We Have Faces”

By |2021-04-22T09:51:39-05:00September 1st, 2020|Categories: C.S. Lewis, Christian Humanism, Christianity, Christine Norvell, Literature, Love, Myth, Senior Contributors|

In the midst of a dream, Orual’s doubts are finally answered by the gods. Once Psyche gives her the gift of beauty, and the God of the mountain appears and speaks to her, her ugliness is washed away. It takes all of Orual’s life to come to this point of faith and cleansing, and now [...]

Words, Signs, and Reality

By |2020-08-13T15:57:27-05:00August 13th, 2020|Categories: Christianity, Christine Norvell, Language, Senior Contributors, St. Augustine, Truth|

Frequently in public forums, people forget Augustine’s simple truth: Words fail or succeed based on what truth or reality they represent to their audience. Augustine would ask us to further the “mutual intercourse of men” and remember that words serve us by their remembrance, their representation, and their reality. As a literature teacher, I thought [...]

The Sweet Value of Literature

By |2020-07-12T15:33:32-05:00July 11th, 2020|Categories: Christine Norvell, Great Books, Literature, Senior Contributors|

Our literature choices shouldn’t be confined by categories and comparison. We should consider what sustains us, what brings life and hope, what bears fruit in us. Literature can inspire virtue and dispel fear, and Francesco Petrarch would call us to absorb the “precious treasure of learning” through a full feast of literature. As Petrarch hand-copied [...]

Modern Plagues and the Prescience of Ray Bradbury

By |2020-05-14T19:42:56-05:00May 14th, 2020|Categories: Christine Norvell, Fiction, Imagination, Literature, Modernity, Ray Bradbury, Senior Contributors, Technology, Television|

Little did Ray Bradbury know of his prescience in 1951, as he criticized society’s obsession with screens and the far-ranging effects of technology. Could television supersede community? Could it control us to the point of isolation and loneliness? Bradbury’s writing gives us much to think about. I am haunted by a lonely man. At sundown [...]

The Best Shakespeare Story Ever

By |2020-04-22T12:05:00-05:00April 22nd, 2020|Categories: Books, Christine Norvell, England, Imagination, Literature, Senior Contributors, William Shakespeare|

Marchette Chute’s “Shakespeare of London” is a delight to read. With a fluid narrative, Chute has produced a fascinating wealth of research in a most readable form. Shakespeare of London, by Marchette Chute (397 pages, E.P. Dutton and Company, 1949) It was a classic when it was first published in 1949, but it remains a [...]

David Weimer’s “The City as Metaphor”

By |2020-03-26T10:56:58-05:00March 27th, 2020|Categories: Books, Christine Norvell, Fiction, Imagination, Literature, Senior Contributors|

David Weimer’s “The City as Metaphor” traces the concept of the city through a century of American fiction, to find that its depiction has a trend. Where once the city was a symbol of hope, a place to seek one’s fortune, where expectant immigrants and starry-eyed farmboys sought success, all has changed. The City as [...]

A Case for Context: Horace’s “Ars Poetica”

By |2021-06-23T21:24:10-05:00March 11th, 2020|Categories: Christine Norvell, Horace, Imagination, Literature, Poetry, Senior Contributors|

In ancient times and modern, theories of poetry interpretation abound. By Aristotle’s standards, poetry aptly portrays tragedy. Plato equates poetry with art and demeans it as imitation, as lesser importance, because it is reflection not reality. As a successful poet in the first century, Horace not only proffers advice on how to write poetry, but [...]

The Land, War, and Knowing Oneself: Willa Cather’s “One of Ours”

By |2020-02-13T10:38:34-06:00February 12th, 2020|Categories: Books, Christine Norvell, Fiction, Imagination, Literature, Senior Contributors|

After publishing her pioneer trilogy and numerous short stories, Willa Cather turned her writer’s craft to the effects of World War I with One of Ours (1922). A Pulitzer winner, it is often touted as a moving story of war, glory, and martyrdom. Critics responded that it was clichéd, recycling a sappy tale of glory [...]

Saint Augustine on Figurative Language in Scripture

By |2023-10-08T19:42:02-05:00February 8th, 2020|Categories: Bible, Christianity, Christine Norvell, Culture, Education, Religion, Senior Contributors, St. Augustine, Theology|

It’s true that when trying to understanding Scripture we need to establish an analysis of concrete terms. But if we aren’t careful, we just might explain away the beauty of descriptive language the Bible. Saint Augustine of Hippo encountered the same issue, and not just among his youngest students. In humanities coursework, we often train [...]

The Fickle Moll Flanders

By |2020-01-17T02:51:41-06:00January 16th, 2020|Categories: Books, Character, Christine Norvell, Fiction, Imagination, Literature, Senior Contributors|

In “The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders,” Daniel Defoe relates the life story of an English adventuress and her exploits, portraying Moll’s life in such authentic detail that the readers can easily see themselves in her position. However, while reading, we must keep in mind a question: Is Moll’s story a spiritual [...]

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