Criticism was free, and it could be ferocious. Warren Lewis describes their conversations as “dialectical swordplay” and tells us, “To read to the Inklings was a formidable ordeal.” The language of fighting and warfare is everywhere. Owen Barfield asserts, “You can’t really argue keenly, eagerly, without being a bit aggressive.” Barfield expresses his experience vividly. He says that in conversation with Lewis, he felt like he was “wielding a peashooter against a howitzer.”
