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The Place of the Lion

Charles Williams

3.87 · Rating details · 1,215 ratings · 162 reviews

Novelist, poet, critic, and dramatist Williams uses fiction to explore how people react when the supernatural enters their lives, and how then to find the path of peace.

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Paperback, 244 pages

Published February 14th 2003 by Regent College Publishing (first published January 1st 1931)

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May 25, 2011 Tara rated it really liked it

Shelves: the-inklings

As an author, Charles Williams writes stiffly, his stories are strange enough to be nearly inaccessible, and his characters who find clarity start speaking in a way which makes The Fairie Queene look folksy. All that being true, I love this man. After finishing this one I slept not just better, but more happily (merrily, even?) then in months. Goodness became more solidly true than usual. A few days later I was taking a shower and suddenly thought of the Idea of the Lion and Plato's Butterfly an As an author, Charles Williams writes stiffly, his stories are strange enough to be nearly inaccessible, and his characters who find clarity start speaking in a way which makes The Fairie Queene look folksy. All that being true, I love this man. After finishing this one I slept not just better, but more happily (merrily, even?) then in months. Goodness became more solidly true than usual. A few days later I was taking a shower and suddenly thought of the Idea of the Lion and Plato's Butterfly and houses in otherworldly flames - well, I started laughing at myself and the book, but not out of condescension. How does a man who writes about things which appear pretty crazy from nearly any perspective make them so rational, so fair? Charles Williams has Plato's ideas crash into our world and it's a rather ordinary thing. In another book the Holy Grail is found, and when the good guys aren't getting into dizzy car chases or bumping into cherubim, they're just hanging out being light-hearted and finding everything a good joke. Or the dead walk into a kitchen and chat with the living because it's the thing to do, or a man shacks up with a succubus, or someone promises to bear the burden of a doppleganger which is terrorizing a friend.

Now, we can encounter those things in a comic-book story, or video game, or one of the many pseudo-sci-fi/fantasy films which mixes an ancient name and time travel (or some variation thereof) into a senseless mess but is fun to look at and kinda rad. But while we abandon the straight, unadorned narratives and tales of good and bad for escapism, we are not supposed to take the shadows behind the stories seriously. Myth must be a synonym for False. All the peoples of the world which did not take a flat, neatly divided and accounted for view of reality were obviously ignorant. They were leading up to us, the people who would condemn their naivety and steal their stories as fodder for the entertainment-consumption industry, while failing to understand the people or their stories on their own terms. The better ones regret the domination, but do not hesitate to ignore, mock, or capitalize on their beliefs.

This isn't an acceptable way to approach any people or their stories, and it not an acceptable way to approach Williams. This story in particular illustrates why this is such a terrible thing to do (I'm being generous picking only one negative adjective). Williams is not intending to entertain you or allow bad ideas to go unexamined. This is not the place for cheap fantasy or a cape of a different color. He wants and intends to make you take all of this magical realism as being, yes, supernatural, but also yes, very very real.

That may seem ridiculous, but while I can laugh and say "Oh, of course it is!", I also find Charles Williams' ideas and vision moving enough that I cannot reject his philosophy/religion. I have to take his worldview seriously because it produces an utterly convincing image of goodness which far surpasses most others I've encountered. We can say we should all love one another and do good, but we seem to be best at not living up to that whatsoever. If we could see the way to do so as clearly as Charles Williams the person did, if our eyes were changed, I suspect we'd find a goodness wildly colorful that achieved far more than our platitudes and good intentions. The supernatural happenings in the stories seem integral to finding that goodness. And perhaps the reason his prose is so heavy and his stories so old and odd is because he has something very good to say which English can't quite contain. The tongue and pen can't say some things without upside-downing the world and living a bit in one age and then another and then outside of time.

I think his works are weirder and more original than pretty much anything else in the past thirty years. Stranger than Murakami (whom I love), more intriguing and provocative than the mind-benders which are yesterday's news in a moment, and there is always the joy of something old and lost like the Grail or Plato being reawakened. The great medieval masters went back again and again to the old stories, not because they could not make their own, but because they wanted to rework the great ones, to make them more true, to reveal something hitherto unseen. Williams is like that. Here are old legends and visions mixed up in our world, and the result gives a better understanding of people and life and death than any rootless fantasy ever could. Unfashionable and clumsy it may be, but here is a book that is both a story and a way to goodness. ...more

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Oct 27, 2016 Mir rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, ideas

I thought I had read Williams' All Hallows' Eve, but I am reading it now and it is unfamiliar, so I think it must have been this one that I read years ago.

Come to think of it, I do have a vague memory of a character seeing a lion... that may be autosuggestion, though. ...more

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May 01, 2018 Mir rated it really liked it

Shelves: ideas

Now that I've reread this I can confirm that yes, it is the Charles Williams book I read like 20 years ago. I think it is less theological orthodox but more imaginative than his other book I've read in between, All Hallows Eve. Giant ferocious animals that are Platonic Forms that are Angelic Powers stalk through a small English town, bringing disaster to those who align themselves too excessively with one quality or another. Because too much of anything is a bad thing! ...more

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Jun 18, 2012 Daniel rated it liked it

Shelves: fiction

Literature can be considered good on any of about four counts: general beauty of language (often found in brevity), character, story, and excursiveness (often found in expansive, sometimes philosophical meanderings). The Place of the Lion excels at excursiveness, stinks at character, and passes on the other two counts. Here's a great excursion from the text:

"His friend. The many moments of joy and deep content which their room had held had in them something of the nature of holy innocence. There ...more

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Sep 02, 2019 D.J. Edwardson rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Some books give you the sense that the author behind them is a brilliant person, but that somehow that brilliance did not translate into a good book. I believe it is more common in non-fiction, or at least the non-fiction I've had occasion to read.

Sadly, such is the case with Place of the Lion. There is a fairly straightforward premise behind it: what if virtues or concepts took physical form and interacted with our world? At least I think that is the premise. I wandered through so many pages in ...more

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May 29, 2015 Richard rated it really liked it

In some ways "The Place of the Lion" is as remarkable as the two previous volumes written by Charles Williams. The supernatural that imposes itself on the mundane world is the Platonic world of primary images from which all conceptual ideas derive. The world of the senses is portrayed as an illusion—a mere reflection of the “real world” from which it derives. This makes for some absolutely spellbinding scenes as individuals find themselves suddenly confronted with a reality they cannot comprehen In some ways "The Place of the Lion" is as remarkable as the two previous volumes written by Charles Williams. The supernatural that imposes itself on the mundane world is the Platonic world of primary images from which all conceptual ideas derive. The world of the senses is portrayed as an illusion—a mere reflection of the “real world” from which it derives. This makes for some absolutely spellbinding scenes as individuals find themselves suddenly confronted with a reality they cannot comprehend.

Again, we see that Williams is able to create remarkable visionary episodes—powerful disclosure moments during which characters must wrestle with a transcendence, the nature of which reflects qualities in themselves. From these experiences they find a “Way”. In the cases of Mr Foster and Miss Wilmot, the Way is evil and destructive for they embrace an evil use of the energies of the Images.

Anthony and Richardson, each adopting a unique perspective, find that it leads to an epiphany. They see that the Images reflect the creative forces within themselves and as such are guides to the Creator.

Damaris Tighe must confront her own distorted attitude to knowledge and Quentin finds himself simply unable to cope with the vision at all. Damaris finds her answer with the help of Anthony and Quentin with the aid of Damaris.

So there is a nice balance with the three pairs of characters. The Images are elemental creations. To worship them as sources of power is evil. To accept them as being Images of the soul leads to sanctity. And some must learn their nature with the help of others.

Some of the visionary scenes are quite powerful. Chapter Ten, “The Pit in the House” is an example. Anthony experiences a completely different reality overlaying the ordinary world. Chapter Eleven, “The Conversion of Damaris Tighe” is another. Here, there is a distinct touch of horror.

But there are areas in the novel which are less successful.
The characterisation is not convincing. At the beginning, Damaris seems a quite believable person. She is devoted to study but perhaps tends to look down on those who don’t share her interests. Anthony loves her and wants to get married. Damaris, though, wants to finish her degree. What’s so terrible about that? Yet Anthony (and Williams) seems to think that she has her priorities all mixed up. I don’t find the “conversion” chapter all that convincing. Damaris does not grow as a person she is simply infantilised in a most irritating way.

Anthony himself does not have a very rounded personality and there is no real need for Richardson who makes no impact as a character. Quentin is another person who is little more than a sketch. It’s hard to care about what happens to him at all.

The final chapters, in my opinion, simply do not work as a reasonable conclusion to the novel. In fact, in Chapter Fifteen, “The Face of Friendship”. Williams seems to have forgotten that he is writing a novel with a plot and we get what is in effect an extended philosophical essay. The final chapter, “The Naming of the Beasts”, ties up the strings concerning Richardson in a most unsatisfactory manner, making us wonder why he has been in the book at all and Damaris has a vision of Anthony as Adam—the primal man which often seems silly.

This is not to say that there are no fine moments in this part of the novel. There are just too few of them.

One last thing—I can’t help wondering if the giant lion in this novel was an inspiration for Aslan in the Narnian series. ...more

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Sep 19, 2019 Jacob Stock rated it liked it · review of another edition

I found it to be very odd, weird in fact, and strange, and while yes, the structure was hard and I got lost several times...low and behold I liked it. It was certainly different than most anything I have read. I did come to enjoy the sense of the supernatural, it was like I too walked with Anthony and did not know why or how, but I didn't need to because I was caught up in the moment. Oh, that I walked daily in the supernatural power of Jesus. Oh, that I just submitted myself to his ways and let ...more

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Sep 17, 2014 Paul rated it liked it

What can I say about this deeply odd book?

I'd read a couple of Charles Williams' novels along time ago. They were out of print and it was fun tracking them down, before the internet destroyed the fun of hunting for books in ramshackle stores.

The fantastical story of The Place of the Lion moves along at a fair pace. Some of the strange phenomena are rather beautifully described. Beyond that? Anomalies and contradictions... Unlike his drinking partners, Tolkien and Lewis, Williams makes explicit ...more

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May 19, 2011 Peet Nichols rated it really liked it · review of another edition

So confusing but so good. I can't imagine how this came out of his head and onto paper. I think that above all is what so intrigues me about him, are his intangible imaginings that become very tangible. For instance, occasionally I feel confused with a bunch of important brain clutter, and I can only fix it by going somewhere quiet and talking out loud to myself in order to marshal my thoughts and make sense of the fender bender of ideas and emotions. He consistently organizes those elusive thou ...more

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Jan 28, 2017 Laurie rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: started-but-put-aside-for-later

I just can't stay with this -- a lion, a butterfly, philosophy -- I think I'll first read more about the author, one of the Inklings. ...more

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Mar 16, 2018 Lee rated it liked it

I really wanted to like this book a lot more, but Charles Williams' status as the odd Inkling out is not entirely undeserved. His style, to say the least, is both dense and eccentric. For the most part readable, but difficult to fully enjoy.
This book can perhaps be most worthwhile if you pretend it's an archaic text that's been badly translated and adapted/revised in places. To Williams' credit, speckled throughout are truly fascinating, "out-there" mystic concepts, and some gems of real wisdom ...more

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Dec 02, 2020 Matthew rated it really liked it

"I am going back to look at my butterflies, and recollect everything we saw [...] It's the only thing I can do. I was always certain they were true." ...more

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Jun 09, 2014 Dave Maddock rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, inklings

I read War in Heaven, Williams' first novel, a few months ago and was underwhelmed. So, I decided to skip Many Dimensions for now (it's something of a sequel) and read The Place of the Lion. In short: it is fantastic.

I expected The Place of the Lion to be decent, but mainly worth reading due to its influence on CSL. Instead, I think Lion is better than anything Lewis wrote (of what I've read anyway). Williams has moved up in my estimation from an Inklings fringe character to a hidden and under-a ...more

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Aug 19, 2019 P.D. Maior rated it it was amazing

Shelves: gurdjieff-post-mod-western-occult, a2-1801-1964-contra-reducio-gencds, esoteric-hebraica-christianity

Platonic realities, archetypes, come crashing in to every day life when a modern day wizard of sorts sets up shop in the UK: the Place of the Lion.

A great book by one of the Inklings (Tolkien and Lewis being other members of such group along with some Anthroposophists). Now for the devil of me, I find it too coincidental Ouspensky, the wizard of the 1900’s, set up shop in his grand mansion called “Lyne Place” just 1 hour east of where the Inklings were meeting in the exact same decade, the 1930 ...more

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Feb 01, 2020 Joshua added it

Shelves: fantasy

Charles Williams, the third Inkling, wrote perhaps the most obscure novels of the three (Tolkein and Lewis). I don't profess to understand all the symbolism of this novel. For instance, I can understand the image of the butterfly as a symbol of beauty, but it's not a particularly common symbol for beauty. Nevertheless, a basic grasp of Christian theology gives you the general logic of this story. **Spoiler warning**

The story opens with a lioness that has escaped, which foreshadows the main probl Charles Williams, the third Inkling, wrote perhaps the most obscure novels of the three (Tolkein and Lewis). I don't profess to understand all the symbolism of this novel. For instance, I can understand the image of the butterfly as a symbol of beauty, but it's not a particularly common symbol for beauty. Nevertheless, a basic grasp of Christian theology gives you the general logic of this story. **Spoiler warning**

The story opens with a lioness that has escaped, which foreshadows the main problem of the story: that the Archetypes or spiritual beings given charge over the forms of creation suddenly begin to break through the fabric of material reality, so that humans encounter them directly. It is never fully disclosed why this occurred, but it seems that a magician (Mr Berringer) did something to provoke this response.

Central to the story is the notion that humans are a microcosm: each person contains all the Principalities in both heavenly and animal form, representing the 'divine' and 'animal' sides of human nature. It is the proper nature of humans to keep their several parts in harmony and balance: not to say that the eye is greater than the hand. Should one part be given more place that is its due, the human becomes demonic and monstrous, subject to a particular vice, passion or evil. It is therefore necessary that a harmonising principle rules our lives, which can only come from God, as he is the only thing whose infinity can encompass the endless multiplicity of our natures and creation. This harmony was lost in the fall, when the connection between God and man was sundered. Central to the Incarnation is solving this problem: Christ took the entire world into himself and harmonised all the different parts of our nature, restoring the connection between God and man. The angels were properly arranged in our nature, and the demonic forces, who parody their angelic counterparts, overthrown. Finally, the animals are seen to represent the Principalities on earth. With this background in place, The Place of the Lion makes sense.

The role of Anthony Durrant is hinted at when he is named as an editor of a periodical called "The Two Camps", that is, he is set up as a mediator between two worlds. The Archetypes begin to appear, beginning with the Lion, then the Serpent, as well as the Butterfly, Eagle, Horse, Unicorn and Lamb, making seven animals in all. The final Archetype is that of the two trees in Eden. The destructiveness of the Archetypes when moved from their place in the heavens is seen, for instance, when all the butterflies are drawn into the Butterfly. As destruction progresses, houses that have not known human use begin to collapse, then those that have known some human use and love. That is, those that do not have any vestige of the harmonising principle fall first. There seems to be some differences between the Archetypes: the Lion and Serpent are the most destructive, while the Lamb and Eagle are less so. I think this may be because, for instance, the Lion represents the opposite of the Lamb: innocence juxtaposed with justice. Only when a little child (Anthony, who is not a literal little child) leads both are they held in check.

It is perhaps also a theme that all the archetypes are representatives of Christ in some way. The Unicorn is used as an explicit symbol consistent with medieval bestiaries, as it appears in a Eucharist service. The eagle is perhaps a symbol of the Holy Spirit, the spirit of philosophy, the Divine Muse. Those who do have not given their love to divine philosophy (or perhaps an archetype in its harmonised form), the eagle (or to Beauty, the Butterfly), are overthrown. They instead encounter the Principalities in their diabolical form: the pterodactyl instead of the Eagle. This is similar to the Orthodox teaching that the fire of hell and the fire of God's love are the same fire, but experienced differently by people, depending on their disposition towards God.

Although there are several images of how man maintains harmony (Anthony riding the Horse with the Eagle on his shoulder), order is ultimately restored when Adam (Anthony), accompanied at a distance by Eve (Damaris; it is interesting to note that they have not yet been married), names the animals. That is, he asserts man's place as ruler of the animals and of the Principalities they represent. Entering the terrible fire of the two trees, one black, the other flame, he is safe, as he is protected by Eagle.

A couple of notes. Mr Berringer and his housekeeper are destroyed by the otherworldly fire that is ignited in his house, which is likely a reference to Adam and Eve who died for their sin. The fire is unquenchable by ordinary means, and is explicitly compared to the flaming sword of the Cherubim.
Quentin appears as the fugitive from the Lion, that is the Justice of God. He is exposed because he is too weak to pledge allegiance to Christ, but yet not so weak as to desire power over others. Only when the Lamb appears with the Church (Damaris) is he saved, and the Lion circles Christ, the Church and fugitive as a guard. Richardson is perhaps the most tricky character. He does not appear to commit to Christ, but rather nothing, or negation, or perhaps God as unknowable: the language is somewhat unclear. He walks directly into the fire and is not seen again. Whether he met God or was consumed is not cleared up. It is possible he performs the function of sacrifice, giving himself up, making himself nothing so that others can be saved, although this is a somewhat speculative conclusion.

Although I understand that the response and transformation of people when the archetypes were manifested to them depended on their commitment to the harmonising principle, that is, Christ, there seemed to be some inconsistencies. Damaris and her father both bury themselves in their work, philosophy and entomology respectively, and thus appear to have the same fault, that of neglecting others, but one experiences their archetype as destructive, the other as beauty. Perhaps a careful re-reading is necessary to sort this out, as it seems a rather obvious error.

All in all, this was a good read. It expresses well a more pre-modern view of the world, where the supernatural is integrated with the material world, and leaves enough mystery to warrant another reading (or two). ...more

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Jan 04, 2010 Roy rated it it was amazing

Once again, Williams has taken me to the edge of the physical and provided a peek of the metaphysical. His allegories are revealing of what we will all face, in one form of another. His reading is not for the easily distracted or for the faint of heart regarding future events.

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Jul 29, 2007 Sørina rated it it was amazing

Shelves: inklings, sff

Here is my summary of this book! https://theoddestinkling.wordpress.co....
...more

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Aug 13, 2017 Russell Fox rated it liked it

Shelves: religious, fantasy, science-fiction, literary

Much better, in my opinion, than All Hallows Eve (which I kind of admired but couldn't ever really get into), though still not really my kind of fantasy. But it's good enough to work for my class; I wonder how my students will respond. In this story, Williams comes up with a fantastical approach to Neoplatonism, which the Forms that stand behind our mental ideals of courage or desire, etc.--Williams usually refers to them as "Principals," though Christian talk of angels is mixed into their descr Much better, in my opinion, than All Hallows Eve (which I kind of admired but couldn't ever really get into), though still not really my kind of fantasy. But it's good enough to work for my class; I wonder how my students will respond. In this story, Williams comes up with a fantastical approach to Neoplatonism, which the Forms that stand behind our mental ideals of courage or desire, etc.--Williams usually refers to them as "Principals," though Christian talk of angels is mixed into their descriptions as well; they appear, without exception, as great beasts like lions, eagles, etc.--come into the real world and, alternately, inspire people or drive them mad or, in a couple of occasions, possess them such that they turn into snakes or unicorns or such. Williams's highly elliptical and mystical style is still very much present, but it's tied to a more concrete plot, I thought, as a few key individuals small English village becomes slowly aware that something very weird is happening to the fabric of reality, and in various ways attempt to respond to it. There is a very, very slight sexual theme present in the book, which I think Williams either didn't know how to or just couldn't bring himself to bring forward more fully; the relationship between the hero and heroine of the book's adventure is, to me, not very adequately (not to mention rather sexistly) expressed, and as a result their triumph over the Forms (again, Williams never calls them that, but that's what I kept calling them in my head)--which is conjoined with their intellectual and emotional connecting with each other--felt kind of anticlimactic. But still, a bizarre and kind of wonderful fantasy story, with multiple powerful scenes (an old man, who had always hunted butterflies, beholding the true Form of a Butterfly was particularly great, as was a later moment where our hero, spotting the Form of a Horse in the street, mounts it and finds himself embodying the idea of Swiftness). The short book is crammed to the gills with references to all sorts of Platonic and Scholastic philosophy (the heroine is an aspiring philosopher studying Abelard), Greek mythology, Christian mysticism and more, but don't worry if the references throw you; unlike the other Williams book I tried, you can still follow the story in spite of all the verbiage. ...more

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Aug 08, 2019 Sally Ewan rated it really liked it

Shelves: fiction

I came to this book in an odd way..... I knew Charles Williams was a friend of CS Lewis, so when I saw a set of his novels in a book sale, I picked them up. But my impression was that he was kind of odd, so I didn't read them right away. Then about six months ago I read an article about Williams that made it clear that he was VERY odd, so I continued my disinterest.

Then I heard Greg Wilbur talk about this book at the CiRCE conference in Louisville this summer, and it really piqued my interest. I ...more

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May 26, 2019 Morris Nelms rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: philosophy-theology

I've never read anything quite like this book. It's easy to see how he was one of the Inklings, because he is as deep and provocative in his way as Lewis or Tolkien. His language is both thrilling and challenging. The book takes a minute to get going, but the conclusion is fantastic. Mind bending writing throughout. I would have enjoyed meeting this fellow. The premise alone is unique. The "forms" from Plato's world of forms are entering the world we occupy. The collision produces unexpected res ...more

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Mar 10, 2018 Jeremy marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Shelves: inklings, fiction, religion

See one review here. ...more

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Aug 13, 2018 Ben rated it really liked it

Weird, complex, and wickedly absorbing. I’m not quite sure how to process this. I’ve never read anything quite like it, but I love it!

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Apr 03, 2019 Conchita Matson added it · review of another edition

Don’t know what to think or what to rate this.

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Dec 28, 2020 Ali rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Weird, delightful, and mysterious as only Charles Williams can be.

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Sep 01, 2014 Jesse Broussard rated it liked it

Shelves: fiction, classic

When first I encountered Charles Williams, I sat stunned at his feet as the heavens were rolled back as a scroll and earth opened to receive my abandoned flesh. This time, not so much.

I give this book a solid 3.5 stars, but Goodreads allows for no such nuance, so I (ever the cheerful cynic) err on the side of "all shall be hell" and just give it three. But don't get me wrong: it is a book well worth the read, just not so, well, not so tight, if you will, as Descent Into Hell. Yet it is vintage When first I encountered Charles Williams, I sat stunned at his feet as the heavens were rolled back as a scroll and earth opened to receive my abandoned flesh. This time, not so much.

I give this book a solid 3.5 stars, but Goodreads allows for no such nuance, so I (ever the cheerful cynic) err on the side of "all shall be hell" and just give it three. But don't get me wrong: it is a book well worth the read, just not so, well, not so tight, if you will, as Descent Into Hell. Yet it is vintage Williams, and therefore like nothing else you will ever read. The prose is still sublime, the characters are still so real as to almost make us mere caricatures of them, and the dialogue disdainfully dares you ever to speak again. I suppose that my discontent lies purely in the premise, which while still furiously fantastical, failed to be as personal as I was expecting after he burned, buried and exhumed me in our last encounter.

But permit me a few samples:

Interpretation of infinity by the finite was pretty certain to be wrong.

They also probably liked their religion taken mild—a pious hope, a devout ejaculation, a general sympathetic sense of a kindly universe—but nothing upsetting or bewildering, no agony, no darkness, no uncreated light.

"I think you're rather unkind," Damaris answered. "We both like each other—"
"Dearest, I don't like you a bit," Anthony interrupted again. "I think you're a very detestable, selfish pig and prig. But I'm often wildly in love with you, and so I see you're not. But I'm sure your only chance of salvation is to marry me."
"Really, Anthony!" Damaris got up from the table. "Chance of salvation indeed! And from what, I should like to know?"
"Nobody else," Anthony went on, "sees you as you are. Nobody else will give you such a difficult and unpleasant time as I do. You'll never be comfortable, but you may be glorious. You'd better think it over."

The book is well worth reading, especially if—like me—you are tempted to attempt to tame the furious ideas of philosophy, or the shattering theophanies that lie within theology, if, in a word, you seek to fit your little world on a leash or teach it to only make wee-wee in the potty. For in this book the Ideas, Powers and Principles break free and nearly unmake the earth before Mercy harnesses the whirlwind so that we feel naught but a slight breeze. ...more

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Oct 02, 2010 Joe Dantona rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: christianity, fantasy, fiction, favorites

Whispers of conspiracy obsessively echo through our era. We are entangled in the kingdom of lies behind lies. Politicians rant of the New World Order, authors write Da Vinci Codes and Golden Compasses, mass-market video gaming produces the likes of Assassin's Creed. Conspiracies inhabit our mind.

But among all the conspiracies, if that is even the real word for this remarkable book, this one stands as a stained glass mural among shattered pots and pans.

When platonic archetypes begin to invade Lon Whispers of conspiracy obsessively echo through our era. We are entangled in the kingdom of lies behind lies. Politicians rant of the New World Order, authors write Da Vinci Codes and Golden Compasses, mass-market video gaming produces the likes of Assassin's Creed. Conspiracies inhabit our mind.

But among all the conspiracies, if that is even the real word for this remarkable book, this one stands as a stained glass mural among shattered pots and pans.

When platonic archetypes begin to invade London and the heavenly world intrudes on our own, the small number of people who know (if they could be said to really know) what is happening react in varying ways. Some attempt to control these rabid Ideas while others run and hide. One ignores their existence and another vows to stop their impending rule.

There is, I believe, a true conspiracy in our midst. I think that Charles Williams knew of it and tried to tell about it. But the conspiracy is not one hidden in Templar tunnels, Masonic temples or Vatican basements. Instead the conspiracy contrived against the world is found in the heart and mind of every man or woman walking the earth. These Ideas, these spiritual archangels, that Williams describes were meant to be ruled by Man and Man has failed to take charge. By now he is even thoroughly unable to do so.

The plot against Man is outlined: God made Man in His image, the Imago Dei, to rule the planet he was placed on. But Man fell, and he took everything under him down with him. When Adam died, all died, and "the creation groaneth." The Ideas of the universe had been meant to be ruled by mankind and now they rebel against him. Man's poor position is one of his own making and maintaining, while at the same time he is in constant danger of strange assassination from the Powers meant to be his loyal subjects. This conspiracy is one in which the conspirators and victims are identical.

Suffice to say that in the end Man attains his proper place, if only for a moment. But Williams looks ahead to the moment when once, for all time, Man will attain his place among the created beings, the animal above the animals, the lamb in the place of the lion.

Charles Williams, you are brilliant. ...more

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Oct 27, 2016 Chrystal rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Why are Charles Williams's books so odd? Why are they so difficult to classify? I don't think he was odd, and I don't think he was attempting to create a new genre. I believe we are the odd ones, we who live completely - or almost completely - in the material world, unconscious of the spiritual forces which occupy their own places therein. One might describe his books as magical realism, but a more precise label would be spiritual realism. He writes of spiritual things as a normal, natural part Why are Charles Williams's books so odd? Why are they so difficult to classify? I don't think he was odd, and I don't think he was attempting to create a new genre. I believe we are the odd ones, we who live completely - or almost completely - in the material world, unconscious of the spiritual forces which occupy their own places therein. One might describe his books as magical realism, but a more precise label would be spiritual realism. He writes of spiritual things as a normal, natural part of human existence, and of spiritual beings as directly influential upon our existence.

I like Charles Williams because of an annoying habit he has of bombarding the reader with confusing images and indecipherable phrases, without explaining anything along the way. As does his characters' dialogue: they understand each other's cryptic utterances, but the reader just gets more confused. At the end, it all unravels (at least the main idea comes to light, but there is certainly a whole lot that just gathers and builds over my head in a great cloud of wonder).

In the "Place of the Lion," spiritual beings (angels/ideas/forces) are breaking into the physical world, in a specific place on earth which represents the original Garden of Eden, causing disorder and imbalance everywhere. The characters (a modern-day Adam and Eve) must find a way to bring back the balance of nature - the restoration of creation - where "the lion will lie down with the lamb." How will they be able to do this? By the way of love, of course. By allowing love in them, goodness IN them (as opposed to goodness OF them), to restore them to their original place in creation. Since the fall of man, the place of the Lion and the place of the Lamb had separated - "strength divorced from innocence, fierceness from joy." Adam and Eve must retrace their selves back to "the moment when man knew and named the powers of which he was made...All music was the scattered echo of that voice; all poetry was the approach of the fallen understanding to that unfallen meaning."

...more

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Nov 25, 2015 Jillian rated it really liked it

I first read this - and all his other works - in the 1960's. I liked them a lot, bought copies and kept them. In the last six weeks I have shed most of my hard copy books but kept the Charles Williams to reread, beginning with The Place of the Lion.

His sentence structure is unnecessarily convoluted at times and his conceptualisation of relationships based on traditional interpretation of the Adam and Eve creation story seems uncritical and limiting to me in 2015. Nonetheless, it is still a brill ...more

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Nov 13, 2009 Mike (the Paladin) rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, christian-theology, christian-fiction

This book is very much "its own" thing. I like it and I recommend it. It is one of the most esoteric reads I've experienced in a long time, but it's a great book. You'll need your brain in gear for this one...but it's worth it.

I love C.S.Lewis and discovered Williams as he was one of Lewis's favorite writers. Williams' books take a little work to track down (though I have noticed Amazon does have a pretty good selection LOL). On the whole they are worth tracking down however.

The (I suppose) Arch ...more

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May 23, 2012 Cindy Rollins rated it liked it

This is a hard book to review. I cannot claim that it is a compelling read. I have now read it twice. Once at 19 and now at 50. At 19 the fantasy was the most alluring part of the story and I spent several years reading many of the books in the style of George MacDonald's Phantastes. At 50, I am better able to understand the philosophy. I now know who Abelard is and I have read much about order and creation. Still the book was a slog. I am willing to admit that I am the deficient one though. In ...more

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About Charles Williams

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Charles Walter Stansby Williams is probably best known, to those who have heard of him, as a leading member (albeit for a short time) of the Oxford literary group, the "Inklings", whose chief figures were C.S. Lewis and J.R.R Tolkien. He was, however, a figure of enormous interest in his own right: a prolific author of plays, fantasy novels (strikingly different in kind from those of his friends), ...more

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Shankar Vedantam, of 'Hidden Brain,' on Using Your Delusions

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“I hope you still think that ideas are more dangerous than material thing," Quentin said. "That is what you were arguing at lunch."
Anthony pondered while glancing from side to side before he answered, "Yes, I do. All material danger is limited, whereas interior danger is unlimited. It's more dangerous for you to hate than kill, isn't it?” — 7 likes

“Have you by any chance an edition of St. Ignatius's treatise against the Gnostics?" he asked in a low clear voice.
The young assistant looked gravely back. "Not for sale, I'm afraid," he said. "Nor, if it comes to that, the Gnostic treatises against St. Ignatius."
"Quite," Anthony answered.” — 2 likes

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