“Just a touch of wildness” — Did Evelyn Underhill inspire C. S. Lewis?

One of my favorite contemplative authors from the early twentieth century — Evelyn Underhill — corresponded with another favorite author, C. S. Lewis.

Evelyn Underhill

Underhill (1875-1941) was the leading English author on Christian mysticism in her day. Lewis (1898-1963) became renowned especially for his imaginative spiritualfiction.

Several of herletters to him are preservered in The Letters of Evelyn Underhill, published shortly after her death in 1941. We learn from the letters that Lew...