C.S. Lewis Lectures on the Novels of Charles Williams

This is just a short excerpt from a much longer lecture available from the Episcopal Bookstore. Here C.S. Lewis talks about the novels of his friend and fellow member of The Inklings--Charles Williams. The photo on the right is Lewis, left is Williams.

Williams wrote many books and slews of book reviews during his tenure as editor with Oxford Press. He is best known for his seven otherworldly novels, of which "All Hallows' Eve" and "Descent Into Hell" are probably the most widely celebrated. Besides C.S. Lewis, T.S. Eliot and W.H. Auden were also both good friends and big fans of Williams.

There is also an excellent DVD movie available about C.S. Lewis from Discovery House simply called: "The Life Of C.S. Lewis". The link below will take you to the cheapest outlet I've been able to find for it (only $12.00).

http://www.christiancinema.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=2295

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[gmdinformation]

@Gawaine687 They're all still in print, so you shouldn't have to look very hard at all. There are also a ton of used copies at Abe's Books.

[Gawaine687]

@aardvark0123 thanks for the recommendation. I actually was able to find some of his novels in some small bookshops around where i live, though it took some finding. I'll go through those, and then start on some of his poetry, the stuff he really cared about writing.

[gmdinformation]

@arch8887 We're talking about Wiiliams here Arch--not Lewis. Williams is the one who had seven novels and one short ghost story. But yes, I've read all of Lewis' fiction too including the trilogy of which Perelandra was his masterpiec in my opinion. Which did you like best?

[arch8887]

@gmdinformation

Have you read his other novels? He has more than seven. There is also his science fiction

trilogy.

[aardvark0123]

In response to "anyone know where i can find novels by charles williams?" I just rechecked this: Enter "Charles Williams writer" in Facebook and an interest group will appear. Five of the novels (I've read several - REALLY COOL!) are listed and there is another notice of free ebooks by Charles Williams too.

A superb intro to all these men at Oxford is the book "The Inklings:" Enter that in Facebook and another interest group appears. They're in my "likes" in Facebook.

Good reading to you!

[rx8694]

@KelvinEriksen we meet in them however

[gmdinformation]

@steps222 Uh-uh.I'll leave purposeful obscurity, veiled references, and symbolic substitution to the dream decorators. The language of the angels ain't for me. Or as one famous policeman said, "Just the facts ma'am." Although I do enjoy an occasional reading of Kimeny.

Actually, I'm pretty good at writing poetry and poetic sounding prose. I just don't care to read the former. Good prose, however, is usually a bit poetic in tone. It took me a long time to appreciate that.

[steps222]

@gmdinformation Hello, and thanks for your response--and the link! I will remember you reply, though it could be some time. I read slowly, on purpose, and I read more than one thing at a time. As to poetry, I taught it--English lit., American lit., and (less) World lit.) to students as advanced as Senior AP English. That all amounted to thirty-three years. So, if you're interested, I might be a source for you.

[gmdinformation]

@steps222 When you get done with the novels, and if you think about it, come back and post about which ones you liked best. I've read all seven novels, his one short story, and most of his plays. I'm not a poetry fan though, so I haven't looked at much of his. I uploaded his short story to Gutenberg's Australian site where his works are in public domain. It's a good ghost story called "Et in Sempiternum Pereant."

[steps222]

Lewis, of course, has it just right. The supernatural world is MORE real than this one, and, as a member of the inklings, and fellow Christian, the meeting of the two worlds, the natural (created) and the supernatural (realm of Creator) is just what Charles Williams is writing about. I read three of his books many years ago, have never forgotten them, and am about to embark on the corpus.

Blessings