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The Company They Keep: C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien as Writers in Community
This analysis of the high level of mutual influence that characterized the Inklings also provides a lively and compelling picture of how writers and other creative artists challenge, correct, and encourage each other as they work together in community.
Paperback, 293 pages
Published
October 30th 2008
by Kent State University Press
(first published March 1st 2006)
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It is a wonderfully thought provoking book. Easy to read, very clear writing, and incredibly well referenced. The extensive footnotes at the end of each chapter were just as rewarding as the chapter itself.
The book is a study of literary influence, using the Inklings as a case study. There has (evidentially) been a great deal of denial over the mutual influence of the Inklings on any particular member’s particular work. First, the author goes through the four previously defined ty...more
The book is a study of literary influence, using the Inklings as a case study. There has (evidentially) been a great deal of denial over the mutual influence of the Inklings on any particular member’s particular work. First, the author goes through the four previously defined ty...more
I heard about this book in 2008, and ordered it off Amazon, not realizing I'd get a chance to meet author Diana Pavlac Glyer that very month! I haven't finished the book yet, since it keeps getting borrowed by insistent friends (and I'm still prioritizing going through my list of Lewis-authored books), but it is certainly a good take on the creative exchanges that took place between CS Lewis, JRR Tolkien, and the rest of the Oxford coterie known as the Inklings.
Until I read this book, Humphrey Carpenter's Inklings: C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Charles Williams and Their Friends, published nearly thirty years ago, was the most comprehensive treatment of the group that I had ever encountered. It wasn't all that comprehensive, being focused mainly on C.S. Lewis as the central figure. Though the book was an engaging read, Carpenter tended to summarize and judge the Inklings' subsidiary writings for the reader, skipping mention of others altogether. Carpente...more
This is the first book in the C.S. Lewis-Tolkien course being offered this semester by the Mythgard Institute. Can't wait till it starts!
Stephen Hayes
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Recommends it for:
Ann Ahnemann
Shelves:
literary-criticism,
unisa-library
Several books and articles have been written about the literary group known as the Inklings, but this is one of the best and most informative.
The Inklings were a group of friends who met in Oxford to read to each other, and criticise each other's work. There were 19 members of the group, though they were not all present at every gathering, and joined and left at various times. At the core of the group was C.S. Lewis, and most of the other members were his friends. Among the most act...more
The Inklings were a group of friends who met in Oxford to read to each other, and criticise each other's work. There were 19 members of the group, though they were not all present at every gathering, and joined and left at various times. At the core of the group was C.S. Lewis, and most of the other members were his friends. Among the most act...more
The basic premise of the book is to refute the (apparently accepted) claim that the Inklings (inc. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, etc.) had no significant influence on each others work. But what makes the book more interesting is the basic presupposition that all work is a consequence of our interdependence with others. Glyer rejects the notion that demonstrating that an author's work is influenced by others somehow makes it less impressive. This is in contrast with the image of the lone...more
I first became acquainted with C.S. Lewis in college. I was drawn to his lucidity and insight. After reading a few of his books, I couldn’t get enough. In my late college years and early twenties I set out to read everything he wrote. I didn’t read his academic works on medieval literature, but did get through pretty much everything else, fiction and non-fiction alike. Ever since then, I’ve been fascinated by Lewis and his writing. I’ve even been to Oxford and to the Eagle and Child, the p...more
This book is sort of a group literary biography of an influential group of English scholars and writers, jointly known as The Inklings. The author's point is that the men who formd this group influenced each other ina host of informal ways that helped to shapr their writing, over many years.
Heavily footnoted and annotated, the book is a literary scholar's delight, but also has very intresting insights into the writing and the thought processes of The Inklings.
The book is not a quic...more
Heavily footnoted and annotated, the book is a literary scholar's delight, but also has very intresting insights into the writing and the thought processes of The Inklings.
The book is not a quic...more
Excellent study, not only of the Inklings and how they added and abetted one another, but also how many writers--all artists of all ilks--may profit from connecting to a similar community. Well done.
Synopsis:
It has been widely and vehemently put forth that the Inklings, a group comprised mainly of writers (including J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, and Charles Williams) who met regularly to read their works to each other over the course of more than fifteen years, was simply and solely a social club. Biographers, scholars, and in some cases the Inklings themselves have denied that the members of the group either exerted influence over or were influenced by the others. Ms. Glyer, h...more
It has been widely and vehemently put forth that the Inklings, a group comprised mainly of writers (including J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, and Charles Williams) who met regularly to read their works to each other over the course of more than fifteen years, was simply and solely a social club. Biographers, scholars, and in some cases the Inklings themselves have denied that the members of the group either exerted influence over or were influenced by the others. Ms. Glyer, h...more
From the author: The Company They Keep: C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien as Writers in Community is a labor of love, the work of my heart. It tells the story of the Inklings, a writing group that included Lewis, Tolkien, Owen Barfield, Charles Williams, Warren Hamilton Lewis, John Wain, and others. They met in Oxford for a period of about seventeen years, reading their work out loud and encouraging, criticizing, and supporting each other in dozens of different ways.
I rather enjoyed reading this book and might've given it 4 stars if the writing style was not so consciously academic. This is understandable if it was Glyer's dissertation but still rather annoying. Also, her argument is utterly common sense which doesn't always make for exciting reading, though it is interesting to consider how Inklings scholarship found itself on the wrong side of said sense.
Nevertheless, Glyer is a great introduction to Inklings studies.
Nevertheless, Glyer is a great introduction to Inklings studies.
This is one of the most important Inklings studies in the last few years (the others are Planet Narnia, C.S. Lewis on the Final Frontier, The Cambridge Companion to C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams & His Contemporaries, and C.S. Lewis & the Church). If you had to pick just two, I would recommend this one and Planet Narnia. This is a lovely, lively, fascinating study of the many ways that the Inklings influenced one another. As a writer in community myself, I found it very encouraging.
Glyer makes the argument that the Inklings did indeed effect one another more deeply in their works than is commonly believed and explains the various roles writers in general share with their peers while apply it specifically to examples from the Inklings works.
Participated in a seminar with Diana Glyer at Oxbridge. Some very interesting possibilities for small group development in ISP and mentoring groups. Must follow up after I finish it.
Great study of what "influence" is and how the Inkling's interacted on a personal, literary level. Well written!
I liked the concept - looking at the interplay of mutual influences of various kinds within a group of friends who were also writers - but found the minutiae of detail tracing these a little tedious.
These was an excellent book, both on the writing process and on the Inklings. I found Glyer's account of influence, collaboration, and friendship amongst the Inklings lovely. Especially beautiful is how the experiences of this hallowed group line up with those of so many of us amateur or less hallowed writers. It was fun to watch the lines of influence form and merge and diverge, and fun to read about various Inklings interactions.
A fascinating read about the role of community in the creative process, especially in the writing process. The insights about Tolkien, Lewis, and the rest of the Inklings were very encouraging.
Brilliant book on what is one of my eternally favorite subjects -- Lewis and the Inklings. What is remarkable in this work is Glyer's ability to make solid scholarship equally readable and to present ideas about working in community refreshingly clear and tangible.
Kathleen
marked it as to-read
Eric
is currently reading it
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