2015-2016 [spaces] Literary Journal team
English Department Newsletter
[2015/ 2016]
TWU Alumni at Boston College
In Fall 2015, I moved from one BC to another, leaving my home in Surrey, British Columbia to begin a
Master’s degree in English at Boston College. This new BC is a Jesuit research university just outside of
Boston, Massachusetts, a wonderful city steeped in academia, history, and culture. I am here for a twoyear program, learning to read, write, and teach as a professional academic.
Every week, I work alongside a talented, driven, and supportive group of peers to study literature, tutor
undergraduates, and collaborate on larger projects. My graduate seminars give me the opportunity to
analyze several challenging primary and secondary texts each week and to discover new ways that we
can think about literature. In my classes so far, for instance, I’ve worked my way through James Joyce’s
Ulysses, discovered new favourite poets, examined Romantic literature through several historical and
theoretical lenses, and expanded my understanding of literary texts through readings in book history and
creative non-fiction. I’m also taking a pedagogy course to help prepare me to teach writing to Boston
College freshmen next year. Right now, I’m developing a course syllabus that focuses on language,
violence, and reconciliation to encourage student writers to think about the role that language plays in their
relationships with themselves, others, and their environments.
I’ve also enjoyed the opportunity to get involved outside of the classroom. This year, I’m helping to
organize the English Department Colloquium and I participate regularly in the Graduate Research
Collaborative in Religion and Literature. This research group fits well with my own interests in religion and
secularism in post-World War II American literature. My passion for this field developed while I was at
TWU, drives my studies at Boston College, and, most recently, has allowed me to present my work at
conferences in Albuquerque, Boston, and San Francisco. As I move towards the end of my first year as an
MA student, I’m more excited and grateful than ever for the opportunities that graduate study affords me to
pursue my academic, personal, and vocational interests every day.
Dr. Peter Stiles
Professor & Poet
written of the collection: “Peter Stiles’ Trumped by
Grace is a lyrical triumph. Readers will be moved by
Stiles' wisdom and wit. Writing in the tradition of
George Herbert and Gerard Manley Hopkins, Stiles
discerns metaphysical truth in the everyday material
world, effortlessly producing poetic pieces that speak
of wonder, beauty and truth."
If you would like to purchase a copy of Dr. Stiles’
Trumped by Grace, please contact him by e-mail at
[email protected]. He will then send you an
order form.
Dr. Peter Stiles is an adjunct professor in the
Department of English and Creative Writing at
Trinity Western University. He has academic
expertise in literature and religion and in
Victorian literature, particularly on the writings
of Elizabeth Gaskell.
However he is also a skilled poet. His recent
collection of poems appeared this year. It is
entitled Trumped by Grace and it was published
by Poetica Christi Press. Holly Faith Nelson has
2
Cordelia Shan
“Can you understand English?”
“I cannot. I am reading Chinese translations, but I
am trying to understand English better.”
He sighed. I knew that he must believe that I was
telling him a joke, because there was no Chinese
kid like me at eight who could understand and
engage with Western literature.
Cordelia Shan travelled from China to complete her BA in
English at TWU and then to undertake graduate studies in
TWU’s Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies
(English stream). It is far from common for students from
China to specialize in English at TWU, a topic that
Cordelia addressed in an article published in TWU’s
newspaper Mars’ Hill (Volume 20, Issue 2, October 7,
2015). Cordelia has given us permission to republish a
version of that article below.
Why English by Cordelia Chan
I was eight years old and it was a Saturday morning in
winter. I was sitting in the living room of my music
tutor’s small apartment, holding my clarinet while in
tears. It was snowing outside. My tutor, a young college
student, was hanging his head in resigned silence, and I
knew that he did not want to talk to me. After a while, he
lifted his head. I looked into his eyes. There was only
disappointment and nothing else. Three weeks ago he
gave me a very basic piece of happy and playful music,
but I still played it very brokenly; we both knew that I
never practiced.
After looking at me coldly for a long time, he finally
asked, “Shan Chuanye,” which is my full name in
Chinese, “tell me how much you hate music? How much
do you hate clarinet?”
“Sir,” I answered, “I love music, but I hate playing the
clarinet.” It was really rude for a Chinese child to tell an
elder what she likes and what she hates. A good child is
supposed to obey what the elder says whether she likes or
hates it.
“Then, what do you like?” he asked angrily.
While he was asking that question, my mind was thinking
about the book, The Secret Garden, which was left still
unfinished on my side table at home. “I like reading
books. I like to read English literature.”
3
But he spoke no more. He turned around, took an
envelope from the locker behind him, and held it in
his hands. It contained the money my parents paid
him for my lessons for the last three months. He
said decidedly, “Shan Chuanye, please promise me
that you will go study English, and you won’t do a
bad job like learning clarinet, you won’t give
English up.” I was surprised and nodded.
Studying English as a major was not my original
plan, and yet, here I am. While it has been a
difficult learning process, I continue to keep
reading. For a while, I had considered switching my
major to something else, such as science, but, for
various reasons, I never have.
Once in a while, people ask me why I chose English
as a major. People always tell me, “English is
hard,” “You won’t have a good job,” or “You will
never compete with native speakers.” I have fallen
in love with English because it is more to me than
just simply learning a language. Through English
literature, I am learning to love the nature of human
beings. Studying English lights up and enriches my
life.
It is difficult, especially because English is my third
language. My brain hurts when I cannot delve
deeper into my papers. I sit in despair in the library
by myself.
So why English?
Whenever I try to answer that question, it reminds
me of the cold Saturday morning of my music
lesson. That day, as I was holding the envelope in
my hand, sitting in my father’s car; my father
looked at the envelope and then angrily slammed
the car door. I was shocked and my eyes filled with
tears. My father said, “So far you have never
finished one thing.” I felt like he believed I would
never achieve anything.
But I have. I am about to finish my Canadian BA
degree in my one true passion: English.
Thanks to English Professor Maryann Jantzen for another
great year of supervision of the TWU Writing Centre and
to the many English students who serve as tutors there!
Photo on the left: Professor Maryann Jantzen, TWU, coeditor of Windows to a Village: Life Stories of Yarrow
Pioneers and associate editor of Half in the Sun:
Anthology of Mennonite Writing.
Department Award
Winners
[spaces] Launch Party
Ten years ago [s p a c e s], the official
creative journal of Trinity Western
University, was founded, thanks to an
endowment from those who believed in the
power of art, both literary and visual, to
transform the human spirit. Since that time,
undergraduate and graduate students have
produced an annual issue that includes the
contributions of TWU students, alumni,
faculty, staff, and /or invited guests. Each
year one student is awarded the department’s
Literary Award in Creative Writing. For the
past two years, Nicolas Noble has been the
recipient of that award. For the tenth
anniversary of the journal, he and his
energetic and skilled team brought together
both the new and the old, reprinting selected
works from past contributors and printing
new works, including those by two Governor
General Literary Award winners Rudy Wiebe
and Tim Lilburn. The illuminating and
inspiring launch party, held on March 12,
2106, featured exhilarating readings and
performances of selected poetry and prose
fiction from the tenth issue.
Thanks to generous donors, the Department of English and
Creative Writing offers a number of awards to gifted and
deserving students in the program. This year, our award
winners are Aline Bouwman (Literary Award in Creative
Writing), Jacob Lowell (Dr. Barbara Pell Scholarship),
Kirsten McAllister (Clarence and Helen Stevenson
Award), and Joel Redekop (Anonby, Downey, & Holmes
English Essay Award).
If you are interested in enrolling in the Master of
Arts in Interdisciplinary Humanities at TWU,
please contact Dr. Myron Penner at
[email protected] . There are three streams in
the program in English, History, and Philosophy
and well as a General Humanities specialization.
Read more about the program at
http://www.twu.ca/ graduate/master-of-arts-ininterdisciplinary-humanities/
The English Student Society is looking for new
members. It will start back up regularly in the Fall.
All English minors, concentrations, majors, honours
and graduate students are welcome to join.
Contact Dr. Holly Faith Nelson at
[email protected] for more details!
Recent Publications: Faculty & Alumni
As usual, there is no slowing Dr. Jens Zimmermann down. He published two new books this academic
year:

Reimagining the Sacred: Debating God with Richard Kearney, edited with Richard Kearney

Whose Will Be Done? Essays on Sovereignty and Religion, edited with John Dyck and Paul Rowe
Our department alumnus Jonathan Auxier has published his third book, Sophie Quire and the Last
Storyguard. This book has received exceptional reviews. A Kirkus review concludes with the
announcement, “This novel should be in the hands of every human young enough at heart to be enchanted
by the written word.”
Jonathan’s second book, The Night Gardener, was optioned by Disney last year. Variety magazine
reported that the film version “will be developed by Sean Bailey’s Disney live-action group with Auxier
adapting the script. Jim Whitaker will produce” (May 7, 2015).
You can pick up a copy of Sophie Quire and the Last Storyguard at Trinity Western University’s
bookstore.
Dr. Stephen Dunning and our alumnae Heidi Rennert, Katharine Bubel and Jessica Lamb contributed
to the essay collection White Gulls and Wild Birds: Essays on C.S. Lewis, Inklings and Friends & Thomas
Merton. Professor Lynn Szabo, and alumnae Leah Cameron and Stephanie Redekop contributed to the
essay collection Thomas Merton and the Counterculture: A Golden String.
Thanks to Professors Monika Hilder, Stephen Dunning and Lynn Szabo, our department has provided
many of our students with expertise in the life and works of C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien and friends, and
on the poetry and prose of Thomas Merton. This has resulted in their publication of insightful and
engaging studies of these writers in book chapters and articles, some publishing while still undergraduate
students, an admirable accomplishment.
5
English Student Society
Spring Symposium: Crossroads
On March 11, 2016, the English Student Society
hosted an impressive symposium which featured
papers by Aline Bouwman, Leanne Witten, Ryan
Domingo, Perry Hendricks, Cordelia Shan and
Anna Beresford. Presenters included students from
the Philosophy Department, ensuring fertile
disciplinary intersections. Undergraduate and
graduate students insightfully theorized narrative,
social, cultural, and religious crossroads as well as
identity as a site of intersecting pathways and
properties. Some fascinating moments included: a
consideration of the connection between British
Romanticism and Chinese Taoist philosophy; the
role of references—bits and pieces of
information—in the encyclopedic novel; the sense
of hope that comes from society’s ability to
connect the present to the past; and the power and
potential of choosing, forming, and negotiating
identities.
6
The Inklings Institute
of Canada
The 2015-2016 academic year is the Inklings
Institute’s third. As always, the co-directors Dr.
Monika Hilder and Dr. Stephen Dunning have been
keeping busy providing those interested in C.S. Lewis,
J.R.R. Tolkien, Charles Williams, Owen Barfield, and
others with up-to-date information in the field.
In January 2016, Dr. Dunning taught
a month-long course for the School of Life
and Ministry at St. Matthew’s Anglican
Church. Drawing on the work of the Inklings
and friends, including Dorothy Sayers, he
instructed participants on the relation of art
and spiritual growth.
From May 2015 to May 2016, the Institute hosted or
was involved in seven informative and engaging
events.
In March 2016, Ron Dart, author of more
than 30 books, spoke on "C.S. Lewis and
Bede Griffiths: Chief Companions on the
Faith Journey."
On May 2015, Dr. Hilder participated in in “The
Inkwell Workshops,” offering two workshops at
Regent College on “Writing as an Act of the Moral
Imagination: Representations of Goodness in C.S.
Lewis’s and George MacDonald’s Fiction” and “The
Use of Gender Metaphor in C.S. Lewis.”
Upcoming Major Event
From September 28 – 30, 2016, the Arts +
the Inklings Conference will be held. It is a
joint conference of the Inklings Institute of
Canada and the School of the Arts, Media +
Culture, TWU. twu.ca/vergeconference.
In May to June 2015, the Institute offered sessions on
the Oxford Inklings at the Christianity and Literature
Study Group at Congress in Ottawa, Ontario, focusing
on the relevancy of their cultural critique.
This interdisciplinary arts conference invites
presentations on topics relating to and
stimulated by the work of the group of
Oxford authors known as The Inklings
including C.S. Lewis, Owen Barfield,
Charles Williams, and J.R.R. Tolkien, as
well as friends such as Dorothy L. Sayers,
and their literary mentors, earlier writers
such as George MacDonald and G.K.
Chesterton.
In September 2015, Drs. Hilder and Dunning led a
public discussion on “Why the Inklings Matter
Today.”
In October 2015, a “Tea Party” was held for Alice in
Wonderland’s 150th Birthday" and presentations were
made on “The Logic of Alice” and “The Logic of
George MacDonald.”
Please submit presentation abstracts
(300 words) and a short bio (100 words) to
[email protected] by May 15, 2016.
In November 2015, Prof. Laurel Gasque gave a talk on
“My Friendship with Owen Barfield,” Dr. Grant
Havers spoke on “Barfield’s Biblical Critique of
Idolatry” and Dr. Doede and Dr. Dunning presented on
“Nietzsche and Barfield: Overcoming Idolatry.”
Keynote Speaker: Dr. Michael Ward
Senior Research Fellow at Blackfriars
Hall, University of Oxford. Author of
Planet Narnia (Oxford University Press,
2008).
Photo on the left: Dr Michael Ward,
Blackfriars Hall, University of Oxford
7
Alumni Headed to Graduate School
English and Creative Writing Alumni:
Heading to Graduate School
Three recent or soon-to-be graduates (2016) of
Newly minted graduates of TWU’s B.A.
(English) or M.A.I.H. (English stream) programs
are headed off to graduate school in the Fall 2016
semester with significant funding to support their
studies.
Nicolas Noble and Natalie Boldt will begin their
doctorates at the University of Toronto and the
University of Alberta respectively, while Heidi
Rennert will undertake her M.A. in English at the
University of Victoria.
Nicolas Noble , Natalie Boldt, & Heidi Rennert
All three of these graduates are published authors
of both creative writing and scholarly articles, and
all have professional editorial experience.
Graduates of the Department of English and
Creative Writing have earned graduate degrees at
universities across the globe.
Our students, for example, have continued on to
the Universities of Durham, Reading, East
Anglia, Trinity College Dublin, and the London
School of Economics in the United Kingdom;
Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg on the
Continent; Carnegie Mellon, City University of
New York (CUNY), Baylor University, the
University of Oregon, Houston University, and
the University of Notre Dame in the United
States; and the Universities of British Columbia,
Victoria, Alberta, Ottawa, Toronto, McMaster,
and Waterloo, and Simon Fraser University, in
Canada.
Professor David Anonby wins a
SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship
Our very own Professor David Anonby has been
awarded a two-year doctoral fellowship by the
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council
of Canada for his cutting-edge research on
“Shakespeare and Salvation: Crossing the
Theological Divide.” Professor Anonby has
brought his expertise on the Bard to the classroom
over the past two years. We look forward to
learning more about his findings on the
soteriology of Shakespeare in the coming months.
TWU has its own graduate program, a Master’s
of Arts in Interdisciplinary Humanities. Students
who have taken this program work, or go on to
further study, in, for example, the fields of
education (primary, secondary, and postsecondary), politics, law, ministry, missions,
social services, fundraising, writing, publishing,
editing, marketing, communications, health
management, librarianship,& curatorship.Twelve
of those who graduated from the English stream
have gone on to doctoral studies in the field.
8