Inklings: C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Charles Williams and
Their Friends, Humphrey
Carpenter (4.0)
I cannot recommend this book for every reader, but if you
have enjoyed ‘The Chronicles or Narnia’ and ‘The Lord of the Rings’, I believe
you will find this biography of the authors interesting. Particularly as it
discusses, in detail, their journeys to get those books written. The author
spends the most time on C.S. Lewis. Lewis comes across as the lynchpin of these
various teachers and scholars at Oxford in the early 20th century,
who was the magnet for others to join their non-official group, the Inklings.
He liked the name as ‘a pleasantly ingenious pun in its way suggesting people
with vague or half-formed intimations and ideas plus those who dabble in
ink.’ They met a few times a week to
discuss literature and often read the latest chapters of their writings. I was
jealous of Lewis and his brother, as they were the first to hear the initial
chapters of both ‘The Hobbit’ and LOTR, read aloud by Tolkien in a pub before a
roaring fire. One of the most interesting facts to me was that Lewis (known for
his tale of Christ in a reimagined world of Narnia) was an atheist until he was
in his late 20’s. I found his transition a bit illogical, as explained by
Carpenter, though he insists it was done with logic. I also was surprised to
read that Lewis’s good friend, Tolkien, vehemently disliked the Narnia series.
Somewhat understandably, he didn’t think Lewis took the world of Narnia
seriously, as he wrote the books quickly with many glaring errors with regards
to the canon. In comparison, Tolkien took painstaking care and time to define
his world of Middle Earth. He did not like anyone taking a mythology casually.
I wish there had been more on Tolkien in this book – as he is one of my
favorite authors - but I did start a list of ‘to-read’ books written by Lewis,
Williams and others based on the interesting discussions of their books.
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