A Charles Williams Reader

by Charles Williams

This reader brings together three of Charles Williams’s best-known novels—Descent into Hell, Many Dimensions, and War in Heaven. These powerful stories represent the high point of Charles Williams’s... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0802839061
• ISBN13: 9780802839060
• Release Date: June 2000
• Publisher: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company
• Length: 752 Pages
• Weight: 1.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.7" x 5.6" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Great writer, overlooked

I have recently begun rereading Tolkien, Lewis, and now Charles Williams. In my reading I have discovered the debt I owe to these mid-twentieth century writers. Their messages are harmonious and I find that I have incorporated them into my life to a degree I had not realized. I have just finished Descent Into Hell from this compilation. Some of Williams' themes include: respect for truth, beginning with respect for fact; the interrelationship between people as a necessary part of life; acceptance of what exists, for life as it comes rather than worrying or wishing it were different (this is useful when the air conditioning doesn't work); and the knowledge of a deep underpinning of joy in our lives - "peace I give to you." These themes consciously shape my life every day, and I had forgotten that they are best expressed in the writings of Williams, Lewis and Tolkien. I can't think of greater praise for a book or set of books, and this book certainly deserves my thanks. Williams' writing is interesting. He cannot simply narrate events because his ideas are deep and complex. So each chapter is a balance between metaphysical description, either from a characters viewpoint or as simple exposition, and plot action. This works surprisingly well in his work. Williams slides from metaphor to metaphor and ties diverse plot lines into the same locale or set of events. The reading is rich but not difficult. The premises and their implications are fun and reminiscent of Philip K. Dick. These books - at least the two I've read - are fun and page turners. If you like good Christian literature that will shape your life even as you enjoy it, I recommend Charles Williams.

The greatest and least known 'Inkling'

Charles Williams died prematurely in 1945. If he had not, I suspect he would have been at least as well known as his great friend C.S.Lewis and almost as much read as his other Oxford'Inkling' friend J.R.R.Tolkien. He is the most intellectually rigorous of them, shared their enthusiasm for books like E.R.Eddison's The Worm Oroborous and David Lindsay's A Voyage to Arcturus, and wrote books of considerable originality and strangeness. Many Dimensions, for instance, deals with Islamic spirituality (via Sufism and its Persian elements) as thoroughly as Descent into Hell deals with Christian theology. Williams'ssense of evil and what evil actually is was far stronger and better worked out that the more conventional villainies of Tolkien, Lewis or some of the lesser Inklings. This is a very fine introduction to his best work, which always starts straight in with a bang and never lets up, taking twists and turns which remain absolutely original, can be utterly terrifying, yet rarely leave the familiar world of the 1930s. He is an absorbing and addictive writer whose work has much to say to us on many levels and who should be read by anyone who enjoys ambitious and adult fantasy of the kind offered by Jonathan Carroll, Michael Moorcock or some of the great modern English fantasts.