The Novels of Charles Williams

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“I have just read your“Place of the Lion”and it is to me one of the major literary events of my life … There are layers and layers–first the pleasure that any good fantasy gives me: then, what is rarely (tho’ not so very rarely) combined with this, the pleasure of a real philosophical and theological stimulus: thirdly, characters: fourthly, what I neither expected nor desired, substantial edification.”–C. S. Lewis “I want to make clear that these novels of Williams … are, first of all, very good reading. To him [Williams] the supernatural was perfectly natural, and the natural was also supernatural. And this peculiarity gave him that profound insight into Good and Evil, into the heights of Heaven and the depths of Hell, which provides both the immediate thrill, and the permanent message of novels. Williams is telling us about a world of experience known to him … he communicates this experience that he has had. Williams left behind him a considerable number of books which should endure, because there is nothing else that is like them or could take their place.”–T. S. Eliot The Novels of Charles Williamsis a collection of seven gripping novels. These “supernatural thrillers” are all set in the modern world but present human life as being controlled by unseen powers that operate at another level. In this respect, they are very similar to theHarry Potterseries. The reader is shown that the supernatural is, in fact, perfectly natural, and exerts an influence on every aspect of our daily existence. On one level, these novels are gripping stories, but at another, they are a unique blend of fantasy, theology, morality and the supernaturalwhich has not been surpassed, and which leave a deep impression on the reader. Charles Williamswas physically frail and for financial reasons never attended university; however, he had a vivid imagination and an inquiring mind. He was always interested in books, and after school he started life packing books but rose to be a proof-reader and then an editor at Oxford University Press; he was appointed a lecturer at Oxford University, and was even awarded an honorary M.A. by the university. As an author he was very versatile, writing novels, plays, poetry, popular theology, and academic works on literature. He was one of the “Inklings”, a group that included C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien. One can see his influence on Lewis and Tolkien. Williams is most remembered for his novels which are collected in this omnibus edition. This editioncontains the seven novelsWar in Heaven, Many Dimensions, The Place of the Lion, The Greater Trumps, Shadows of Ecstasy, Descent into Hell,andAll Hallows’ Eve,and also the short story,Et in Sempiternum Pereant,which features the protagonist ofMany Dimensions.

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