Such richness

 

I stumbled on this book at BookXcess and quickly bought it, luckily as it turned out, because despite its thickness (512 pages, not including notes and bibliography) which usually makes books unpopular with a reading public that doesn't like to read, it was sold out the next time I went there.

Oh, but it was a trove of richness. If you're a Tolkien fan like me, you would love to read about how The Hobbit, and later, The Lord of The Rings got written. 

To be honest, the only two Inklings I knew were Tolkien and C. S. Lewis. The other two featured (Owen Barfield and Charles Williams) were revelations to me.

But the book was interesting all the way through. It is divided up according to the authors, although some chapters are amalgamations of each, such as the chapter on the Second World War, and you learn how they started out, where they came from, what influenced their thinking.

Despite being a fan, I knew scarcely any of these details about either Tolkien or Lewis. 

I didn't realise that The Lord of the Rings had been basically "channelled" although I had noticed the natural/industrial dichotomy when I read and re-read and listened to the book on Audible.

This book took exception to his sometimes mannered and stately language of Lord of the Rings, although Ursula Le Guin had provided a more than adequate explanation for that in one of her essays (you should read that essay if you're a fan, it lends greater depth to the book).  Also, Tolkien was a mediavelist, so he would naturally follow those conventions. I guess it didn't sit well for some, alongside the more casual language relating to the hobbit, though I think he did a brilliant job of marrying the worlds.

I also read with interest how Lewis went from being an atheist to the most famous Christian apologist. 

One thing I hadn't known was the role of magic in the lives of The Inklings, a semi informal group of writers who gathered at Lewis's rooms at Magdalen and the Bird and Baby pub once a week for good fellowship and to read out their work to each other. 

Lewis's brother, Warnie was also an Inkling and he wrote books on France during the time of Louis XIV. I hadn't realised. In the movie I watched on Lewis (Shadowlands) I had mistaken him for an old dodderer. He did become an alcoholic. But there was so much more to him.

The book glanced on Lewis's voluntary slavery to Mrs Moore and it didn't spare her. Basically, Lewis was only able to breathe once he had finally placed her in a home, where she willed herself to death pretty quickly. Frankly, she struck me as a jealous, evil parasite who preyed on him for as long as she could and shaved years off his life. But if this book is to be believed, he died early because he traded the last years of his life to prolong the life of his much beloved wife, Joy.

Which brings us to the mystical Charles Williams, the uncanny Inkling who believed in and practised magic. It makes for very interesting copy and gives you a reading list of his (and all their books).

Owen Barfield lived the longest and his life only took off later...he seemed like a washed out failure before that, with his books rejected over and over after early success.

He had been close to CS Lewis and ironically, his fame in America, which embraced him in a way that England had never done, came about as a result of this association. 

This book was well written and so satisfying. Well worth it and, as I said, it will give you a reading list to follow up on.