The Image of the City

by Charles Williams

When Charles Williams died in 1945 there remained to us of his work, besides his published books and those which he had in preparation for the press, a number of essays which had appeared in periodicals and elsewhere, many of which contain important statements of his ideas. A selection of these is printed here. -from the Introduction Charles Williams was one of the finest-not to mention one of the most unusual-theologians of the twentieth century. His mysticism is palpable-the unseen world interpenetrates ours at every point, and spiritual exchange occurs all the time, unseen and largely unlooked for. His novels are legend, and as a member of the Inklings, he contributed to the mythopoetic revival in contemporary culture.

Genres: Theology

276 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1958

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Please see: Charles Williams


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), poetry, theology, biography and criticism. — the Charles Williams Society website

Reviews

[Dan'l Danehy-Oakes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Begin with two quotes from the book:

"The subjects treated by M. Maritain in this collection of essays are many..."
(first sentence of the essay on "The Jews")

"Strictly, this book demands review by a scholar, and it would have to be a scholarly review."
(first sentence of the essay on "The Chances and Changes of Myth")

Both these statements, which Williams makes in reviewing other books, apply thoroughly to _The Image of the City_. Having read it, though, I make free to make a few comments.

Though "the subjects are many," they interact with each other, so that the essays on "literary subjects" veer into theology and vice versa; and the essays on the Matter of Britain into both. Indeed, a good many of these "essays" are actually book reviews in which Williams divagates on his chosen topics.

The thing that had not been clear to me before, which this book has made clear, is the complete systematic _unity_ of Williams' thought. Not that his thought did not evolve and change over time, though these essays are all from the last decade or so of his life, but that his new ideas must fit in with those he already held, or else those must change.

Many of the essays herein are at least a little, and occasionally a good bit, beyond my competence. Williams assumes the reader's familiarity with a vast body of literature, much of which I am _not_ familiar with: to take a single example, I have never read Wordsworth's "Prelude", which is a touchpoint for Williams in several essays. (Strangely, I seem to be on firmer ground with the theological subjects, even though I have never formally studied the subject...) But even when Williams is writing on something I _do_ know about, his mind makes connections and associations that I have to struggle to keep up with; his non-fictional prose is, at times, almost as dense as his poetry.

I would be remiss if I failed to mention the 64-page introduction by Anne Ridler. The first third of it is a very personal (meaning, from her personal point of view) account of Williams' life; the second, a consideration of Williams' "ideas"; and the third, an appreciation of the various forms in which Williams wrote, concluding (as I have on my own) that the Arthurian poems - the _Taliessin_ cycle - is his (sadly unfinished) masterwork, far above any other work of his that I have read in richness and quality.

Williams is very few people's favorite of the Inklings, but he has a special place in my heart and library.

[Alex Strohschein · Rating 3 out of 5]

A mixed collection of essays by Charles Williams on literary criticism and theology (along with some book reviews and notes from his work on the Arthurian legend). "The Way of Exchange" was my favourite piece, as Williams writes on one of his trademark topics - the idea that we can carry one another's burdens.

[Christian · Rating 4 out of 5]

One to own and pore over. I don't and did not, so I'll have to return to it sooner or later.

Many of these short essays are book reviews, which were hard to grasp without knowing what CW was responding to. Most were excellent, though.

I wish I had time to write down all my favorite bon mots. Off the top of my head, some highlights are his thoughts on Christian drama (the awkwardness existed in the forties, too), the Incarnation as precedent to Creation, Milton's Satan as a figure of Cain (I may have put that one together), Church & State (every good thing comes from God, so all good things are worth pursuing together), thoughts on poetry, the way of exchange, and his elevation of romantic love. Anne Ridler's introduction was indispensable to my being able to follow along.

Also, he discusses buttocks in two different places, which tells you almost everything you need to know about how this Inkling differs from his more famous friends.

[J. W. Thompson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some excellent essays in this volume, although the high point was certainly Anne Ridler's introduction and the notes on the Taliessin cycle at the end of the book. I'm not sure if it's just me, but it seems that Williams wanders from the point a lot in his writings, so that he starts strongly and then goes off on a tangent that's hard to follow.

[Zachary Waltz · Rating 3 out of 5]

"The trouble about Shakespeare is that he is both Christian and non-Christian, and it is fatal to call him either. The Transcendental note in Lear - in 'the gods', in Cordelia, and in Albany-is of things happening; the words 'clear' and 'rare' which are scattered over the later plays have the exquisiteness of fact and not of doctrine. It has been said that Shakespeare expressed supernatural values in natural terms; it is as far as we ought to go." p. 39

[Janice]

The Image of the City by Charles Williams (1958)

[Ben McFarland · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a collection of essays, it's hard to give this a single rating. Three of the essays are as good as anything I've read: "Natural Goodness," "The Cross," and "The Way of Exchange." I assigned the first of the three in class to talk about the Fall and the Problem of Evil; the third of the three deserves to be taken seriously by anyone who thinks relationship and narrative should affect theology (by which I mean it deserved to be taken seriously by everyone). Williams coined the phrase "holy Luck" to describe the chance events that bring people into our spheres of influence, and months later I find myself still thinking of that. His theology of "exchange" may be more relevant now than it was in the 1940's. It's not all this powerful: I find the first section and last section to be least relevant because they are very literary and focused on Williams's Arthurian writing, which I have not read. But as for the high points of this book, there's nothing higher.